For those not familiar with red mallee, it is a burl that comes from Australia and is full of inclusions ( little cracks in the wood). No matter how much you sand it, you will just uncover more inclusions. Most people with fill the inclusions with glue and dust, I took it a little bit further. I filled all the inclusions with silver leaf and then put my finish on it. Did this one in an anodized aluminum over slate two sider.