A small keepsake box of birds-eye maple and black walnut. The walnut is from a tree across the street in our neighborhood that died and was scheduled to be taken out by the city. I contacted the city forester about reclaiming some of the wood and he was gracious enough to allow me to cart off a good quantity as they were cutting it down. After letting it age for about a year or two, I started cutting open some of the smaller pieces and was very surprised how intricate and colorful the wood grain was. I sliced the wood into quarter-inch panels and after planing, assembled with alternating box joints. The lid is from a small piece of birds-eye maple left over from another project.
If you're interested in local eco-friendly sources for materials, this would be an approach to consider.
Altogether, this piece makes good use of materials that might otherwise have ended up in a scrap pile. The finish is a very eco-friendly water-based polyurethane.
