Steve Klein leaned over his workbench, plane in hand, and moved the sharp tool smoothly forward across a cherry panel. Behind it, an infinitely thin curl of wood fell to the floor. This was fine tuning for a piece that would divide compartments in a sideboard, sitting partially assembled a few paces away. Even without its top, doors, or the coats of clear lacquer to come, the sideboard was a beauty; clean Mission-style lines, carefully matched grain, tiny square curly maple inserts on the ends, just to add interest. Each piece of furniture Steve completes; dining set bed, dresser, multi-compartment jewelry box; is a unique blend of opportunity, creativity, and wood. "I always have a vision in my head of what I want to accomplish," he said. "I have to figure out exactly how to do it as I go."

Klein, who calls his business Dovetail Designs, works out of a red pole barn behind the rural Leslie home he shares with his wife, Susan, and two daughters. Chisels, planes and other hand tools line up neatly in drawers of cabinets he built himself. A bookcase full of back issues of Fine Woodworking magazine hangs on the wall. Sketches for upcoming projects; from a cherry railing to a new back deck Susan requested; lie atop file cabinets under a window. In a storage area, finished cabinets share space with rough-sawn slabs of wood. A sample board contains small pieces of wood from around the world, ranging from pale maples to dark brown cocobolo and fine-grained ebony.

Klein had always enjoyed working with wood. When he was a student at Lansing's Everett High School, a counselor put him in a typing class to prepare for college. His parents helped get him out of typing and back into woodshop. Despite his interest, "I never had an inkling that I could or would make a career out of it," he said. Even without the benefit of typing, he earned a degree in biochemistry at Michigan State University. He opened his own shop in 1979, starting out refinishing and repairing old furniture. He found it frustrating. "You're dealing with everybody else's mistakes," he said. "It just wasn't what I wanted."

He started showing his own designs at art fairs, beginning with pieces turned on a lathe from goblets and bowls to round boxes. He moved on to jewelry boxes and small chests. One jewelry box, for example, made from laminated birds-eye maple and cherry, ahs a wavy, six pointed star, revealing the layers of wood. Even with steady commission work, he still does several art shows a year, including the East Lansing Art Festival each May. He has built several showpieces to wow customers. One of them is a chest with  spalted maple door panels. Spalted refers to wood where a fungus has set off the wood grain with black patterns. Klein speaks with delight of his other showpiece, a curved 10-drawer cherry chest with ebony drawer pulls and trim. "The only thing flat on that piece is the top," he said. Fitting 10 drawers; each 15 percent larger than the one above it; into the cabinet's curved sides was a challenge both in planning and execution.

Klein doesn't like metal hardware, so he uses it as sparingly as possible. A jewelry box might have wooden hinges; chests have hand-turned or cut wooden handles made from a contrasting wood. When he has to use metal hinges, they are top quality solid brass. He doesn't use stain, preferring to show off the wood's natural colors. He finishes each piece with coats of clear lacquer, rubbing it until it is as smooth as glass. It protects the wood but leaves the grain visible.

Steve talks about each wood as if it has a personality. A particular tropical hardwood is oily and "ornery." Cherry is pretty, compliant and fun to work with, while maple is not so nice. Supplies of high-quality walnut and oak form large, old trees have mostly been used up. "Wood has a lot of limitations, but it also can be quite versatile," he said. "Look at the things made out of wood. Musical instruments, houses, boats..." And that furniture. "I cater to a very small portion of the furniture-buying public," Klein said. "But these pieces are heirlooms, and the clientele knows that."

Kathleen Lavey, The Lansing State Journal