Spalted maple and ebony compass box

Two squares of spalted maple for the top and bottom, with thin ebony sides. I made the box as one solid piece and then sawed it in half, so the lid and the base line up exactly. Inside, it holds a brass replica compass.

This was my first time working with ebony. It’s lovely stuff, but it’s dense and it chips if you’re not careful, which I now know.

It’s finished with hard wax oil, which brings out the contrast between the pale maple and the black ebony.