Tiger Maple is a remarkably special wood, and I particularly enjoy working with it. In rare cases, maple trees produce wood with incredibly prominent figure, in a wavy, holographic pattern (a feature called ‘chatoyancy’ in minerals and woods). This highly sought-after kind of maple is called tiger, among many other terms. Finished with mineral or Danish oil, or high-gloss polyurethane, unstained or multicolored in aniline dyes, these snakes really show off all that makes Tiger so special and valued. The high-gloss finish especially magnifies both the richness of the colors and pops out the tiger figuring.

For more about the wood, see these pages dedicated to describing the splendor of Tiger Maple at Irion Lumber, CR Lumber, the online Wood Database, and—of course—Wikipedia.