white oak bench help

[Prashun Patel]

I have a wonderful 3" slab of white oak than I'm turning into legs for a low hall bench. The problem is I don't want to make the top in white oak. Does anyone have pix of an alternate wood that is complimentary to white oak?

I'm not planning to dye or stain the legs; would like to leave everything natural; I'll be finishing with long oil varnish.

Walnut would work well, but I'd like to branch out.

Does anyone have pix of cherry mixed with white oak? Will that combo work?

[Jamie Buxton]

When I do contrasting woods, I find that I like combinations where the two woods have some similarities, but aren't identical. For instance, cherry and maple work well together because they're both fine-grained woods.

You might consider fumed white oak for the top. Then the two woods would be related but not identical.

[Prashun Patel]

Do you have a pic of one of yr pieces? Thanks for the advice. My heart said that cherry and oak are just too contrasting to look nice juxtaposed without any dyeing.

However, I found a cool piece of live edge cherry that has a great white band of sapwood around the perimeter. I think it just might be the thing to tie it all together. I take yr point about grain tightness, but I'm not doing a buildy finish, so I'm not sure it'll make itself known.

[Jamie Buxton]

Do you have a pic of one of yr pieces? Thanks for the advice. My heart said that cherry and oak are just too contrasting to look nice juxtaposed without any dyeing.

However, I found a cool piece of live edge cherry that has a great white band of sapwood around the perimeter. I think it just might be the thing to tie it all together. I take yr point about grain tightness, but I'm not doing a buildy finish, so I'm not sure it'll make itself known.

Love trumps the rules. If you have a beautiful piece of cherry, go for it!

[Thomas Pender]

I agree that Walnut really compliments White Oak - you know what you will get. I guess I am a stick in the mud, that while I appreciate new designs and wood combos, I almost cannot imagine anything that looks better than fumed QSWO and walnut in combo.

[Niels J. Larsen]

Shedua (or ovangkol as it's called here) looks good together with white oak.

I've made a rocking lion (instead of a rocking horse ) for my daughter using that combination. It was finished with cold-pressed linseed oil and I really like the looks of it.

Your taste may of course be different and the look of shedua as the top of the bench might not fit the other interior in the room, so YMMV.

You can find pictures here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...t=rocking+lion

Niels

[Prashun Patel]

That combination and your design are really wonderful...

Thanks!
I've committed to using a curved flitch of cherry. I love the form, the color - not so much, but I will stick with it. Will post pix in a few days after the finish is complete.