Here is another photo of Peruvian walnut showing just how dark and uniform it can be.
On a side note - I dont know how many others have experienced this, but a pull saw cuts a very nice thin kerf - too thin actually! The edges of the hatch cover and cutout are always prone to abuse so in order to make them tough and completely waterproof it is necessary to provide a good build of thickened epoxy. The thin kerf of the japanese pull saw does not provide enough room for this to happen so I've found it helpful to double-scribe the cut line (the lines being 3/32" - 1/8" apart). All I need to do is keep the saw within the lines, then once the cut has been made, sand back to the scribed lines. This results in a perfectly symmetrical hatch cover with no wandering gap between the lid and the edge of the opening.
It's easy to double scribe - tape two utility knife blades together (or exacto knife blades) with enough tape between them to give you the desired scribe width, and then run them around your template (it's best to build a poster board template that has a little beef to it so as to act as a fence for the scribe). The pictured scribe lines were introduced with a compass scribe as this hatch is round.
With all this being said, a jigsaw blade will introduce about the right amount of kerf for epoxy build, but one must be very attentive or risk being turned into the "Symmetry Police"!

Joe
Redfish Kayaks

: I'm taking a college woodworking class and am making my project out of strips
: much in the same way as a kayak. I'm trying to find a darker, somewhat
: flexible wood to use as accent strips with ash and mahogany. I've used
: darker cedar before but for this project I'm really trying to stay away
: from cedar. Any suggestions?

: Thanks.