I recently read an article about roasting wood in Pop Wood and was fascinated.  I tried an oven-full of scraps/shorts and this box was the first project result.  The slides of this box are in maple, that I roasted at 360 for four hours.  It takes on a rich brown color, but the depth really increases as well.  

For the top and little insert that holds and lifts the top, I went with cherry.  I wanted complement, not contrast and I think that does it.  As the cherry darkened a bit, I like it even more.  The straight grain calms the maple that was on the verge of too wild; and the little pin knot with the streak of extra color is my favorite part.

I'm a little disappointed with the grain match around the box and from top to bottom.  I did resaw and bookmatch one piece, which should have given a good match.  Normally I would also flip the board inside out, but the roasted color was better on the outside, so I went with that - maybe that was my downfall.