The cherry for this table came from the client's farm. It had been air dried for years in their barn.  The great thing about it was that it was stacked in the order of how it was cut, therefore, it was easy to find boards from the same tree and in order.  With cherry, this is a big deal because the colour can vary dramatically from tree to tree, and this difference sometimes isn't evident for some time until the wood darkens from exposure to sun.  The top photo shows the pile of boards I was able to select for the table top.  All the boards were originally rough cut to the same width, so all I had to do was trim off the edges a bit and then machine straight and flat.  The pile of strips is the only waste generated which is remarkable; in college said that waste factors range from 25-40%., this project was less than 5%.
The wood for the legs also came from one chunk, so the colour  was again uniform.
I made a large mold to make the bent laminations for the curved aprons.
The two 12" leaves are handy for larger gatherings.