Story is I got a bunch of cubes of heavily varnished 80mm cubes of unknown timber that had been candle holders or something, for £2 in a charity shop. added it to the pile of wood to play with on a rainy day, and until today hadn't even looked under the varnish.
Turns out they are a glue up of small batons, cuts very fine so fine the smaller shavings went upwards to the air filter rather than fall to the floor. It is quite brittle plus of course being a glue up care needs to be taken as I didn't make the joints, but it has a charm, that in this time of clearing up the odds and ends in the workshop make me want to use it.
In picture 3 ignore the top inset and the joint band, they are other timbers I know about! second picture is unpolished end grain.