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The hammer's handle is made of Asch and the head of Beach. The head actually consists of three pieces, one of which was cut in half to fit around the handle. The hammer was quickly followed by two frames for some needle work made by my mother. The frames are made of pear wood that is now a really lush dark colour.
Two pieces I use frequently are a serving tray and my coat rack.
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The serving tray is made of European Cherry. Its solid wooden bottom is fixed inside a groove that runs all the way around the sides. Glueing was no option as that would have spelled disaster: it would have prevented the bottom from working (shrinking and expanding with changes in temperature and humidity) which would have resulted in ugly cracks. The coat rack is made of American Bird Cherry. It is fixed "blindly" to the wall: no screws in sight. This was done by chiseling out two rectangles on the back and fitting so called "key hole" plates. The two screws that go into the wall are screwed in so tightly that you can just fit the key hole plates over their heads.
When you take up this kind of hobby, you invariably end up with your own quality tools. In this case a set of very nice Japanese chisels.
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Although I did get slightly less protective of these tools over time, I still am incurably careful with them. I use the chisel chest every week to carry them to and from the workshop and am currently planning on making a larger box that will carry not only the chisel set, but my Japanese saw, two planers, and various other indispensable tidbits as well.
Two pieces I use daily are my pen chest and my pepper and salt mill holder.
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The pen chest is made of Mahogony and the pepper and salt mill holder is made of Maple.
Then the piece the resistance: a small side table made from American Cherry that was finished by bleaching and "soaping" the wood. It's the piece on which I developed my skills in using the "heavy" machinery in the machine shop.
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The interesting thing about this table is the drawer in the front. You can hardly see it in the picture of the entire table and that was the intention. I have included the picture of the open drawer just to prove that it is there. If you have a close look at the detail picture of the closed drawer, you may notice that the grain of the wood is almost continuous, yet the space between the drawer and the surrounding table is way too small to allow for the blade of a saw...