Timber Selection for a box

[lewisc]

Every time I visit my parents, I try to bring a bit of timber back with me. They live in Tasmania which is famous for certain timbers.  Over the last few years I’ve collected small offcuts of some Black Heart Sassafras. I grabbed a few pieces out with the intention of making a small box. There’s really only once piece I think is good enough for the sides and the rest wood be a mix match of parts. 

I grabbed another piece of Tas Oak with some prominent ripple, that I can cut all the pieces from. Does this seem like a good layout for getting the parts I need? With box making, I’d assume cutting all sides from one length of timber would be ideal?

The box is a Gary Rogowski design with lap joins and pins. I suppose matching grain would be good but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a continuous grain flow.  

[wdwerker]

Unless other flaws prevent it I would try to move the sides and ends of the sassafras up enough to get the black streak further into the sides and move the ends to the left so the bold black pattern with the area boxed by black streaks could be used as the top.  

On the Tas Oak I would use the curly part for the top and cut the sides out of what you have labeled for the top.  Both boxes should feature the best grain of the available materials.  That's some nice wood, please share your build process and results with us. It's fun to see woods we don't get over here turn into beautiful boxes.