Oak Wine Barrel Lath and Cherry Stained Birch Checker/Chess Board

I made this chess board in the winter of 2008. I spent a week in the shop anywhere from 3 to 6 hours a day. The pulled the oak lath out of some wine barrels my dad has (well he has over 2000 of them) and dried them out. i then jointed and ripped them to the right width and planed them down to about 1/4 inch. I then got some cherry stained birch we got up at Aura Hardwoods in Modesto and did the same thing. I then edge glued them and glued them to a sheet of 16”x16” plywood. After it all cured, i glued a cherry stained birch edge on it and rounded over the edges. I later made the box out of some plywood i had that was similar in color to the cherry stained birch. I made the drawer with the same plywood with a hardboard bottom. I faced the drawer with a piece of lath and put a pull on it i found at Home Depot for $3. I finished the project with 3 coats of Tung oil and 2 coats of polyurethane.

-- Mark Duncan, Central California