What Exactly is Book-Matched?

Occasionally, I am asked about book-matching. What exactly is book-matching?

To enhance the beauty of wood’s grain, I choose to resaw one solid piece of wood and book-match the two resulting halves. I use this particular technique on our wooden Serving Trays and on some our inspirational Wall Art.

Here are the steps taken:

In this particular application, I start with 6/4 Cherry –

After sizing the lumber and squaring it up on my jointer, I set the fence on my band saw to resaw the Cherry vertically, right down the center –

After the cut –

I liken it to opening the pages of a good book – revealing the mysteries within –

I then machine a glue joint on the two halves and join the two. The image below is of the joined pieces with a clear hand-rubbed oil finish –

The image below is of the joined pieces with our warm stain and hand-rubbed oil finish as used on our wood Serving Trays –

JIM