The sides are red oak, the front and back are walnut. The top is a 5/8" piece of walnut capped a walnut 'cross' and cherry. I'm not sure if the top will stay together as the vertical walnut piece is cross grain with everything else.
A few simple brass hinges secure the top with no catch to hold it closed. I considered a magnet to hold it closed but decided to keep it simple.
A friend of ours does engraving and I had him laser engrave a brass plate that sits on a lip inside the box, held in place with some oak strips.
The corners are all at 45 degrees with biscuits to increase the available glue surface. A few coats of wipe-on poly to finish it off.
