The main structure and top is made out of Walnut, the drawer and base of the secret compartment are made from cherry , the buttons and hinges are brass.

I built three identical "frames".  The top one has a bottom and conceals the secret compartment.  The middle one has a channel slide to track the drawer.  The lower one keeps the legs in check.  I build a tablesaw tapering jig to make four identical legs with the straightest grain I could find.  I used a top bearing router bit with a homemade template guide to carve out the notches in the legs for the frames (i removed the bulk of the material with the drillpress to make routing easier.  

Once the structure was assembled, I mounted the top using two solid brass hinges on the back, drilled the holes for the buttons and fit a drawer made from cherry with a solid brass handle.  The buttons are off the shelf items, but five of the six have been modified so they don't function anymore.  The top left button releases the pin in the top and allows the top to lift.  

The whole thing got two coats of paste varnish.