Maple is such dense, hard wood. I thought I'd push it to its limits by trying to carve a wearable ring.
I started with a thin slice from a branch I picked up from a neighbour's pile last summer. I used a 1" hole saw drill bit to cut out a circle from that slice, then did some whittling with my carving knife and a whole lot of fine sanding. Got it down to a perfect fit for my wife's ring finger and finished it with linseed oil.
It was fun, and I'm pretty happy with the results.
