My wife has a wonderful piece by Carol Watanabe.

We wanted to frame it. We talked about frame colors. We settled on dark, to pick up a few dark spots in the piece. I made a frame out of cooked ash.

It just didn’t work. We never liked it. It didn’t fit the piece. And in addition, it didn’t work with the  light-colored walls in our home.

We decided to try a lighter color.

I picked up a board of cherry. This then became my first foray into hand-tools-only woodworking. I cross-cut it with a hand saw. I hand planed both pieces flat. I ripped each piece with a hand saw. I made all four pieces four-square with hand planes. I cut rabbets and reveals with hand planes. I mitered the corners with a hand saw and a guide. I glued it up. I planed/scraped/sanded it to prep for finish. I wiped it with Danish oil. In the end, I have my first hand-tool-only woodworking piece. It’s not perfect, but it will go.