Last weekend, it was my granddaughter Victoria's 1st birthday! We went down to Phoenix to celebrate, but I want sort of empty-handed as far as her gift. I have built her a lovely Arts & Crafts style chest, initially to be used as a toy chest, but eventually as a Hope Chest. I just didn't have a crucial piece of hardware, nor had I applied the finish in time. But, now the chest is done and I am taking it to her this weekend. I haven't taken the pics for the Furniture Gallery portion of this site, so in the meantime, I have these snapshots. (click on the images to enlarge)    Grandpa working on the final finish.      The finished product - hickory with "ebony" details. The "ebony" is interesting. Purchasing ebony can require that one sell one's first granddaughter due to its expense. What is a boy to do? I did a bit of surfing the web and discovered a recipe that allows me to use black walnut and "ebonize" it. Here is the trick... First, make a STRONG black tea. So, if you use one tea bag to make a small pot of tea, for this [...]