Walnut and Cherry vs. Greene & Greene/Mission style furniture

[Wayne Sparkman]

I hope this is the right forum for this question.

I'm looking at making some bookcases and other furniture in the Greene & Greene style, or possibly just Mission/Arts & Crafts. Had also come into possession of about 120 bf each of walnut and cherry.

Quartersawn oak is of course the mainstay for the A&C style, and most of what I'm seeing in books on Greene & Greene is made of mahoghany and teak.

Is cherry an appropriate wood as well? What about walnut?

[Jamie Buxton]

If you want to reproduce exactly what the A&C designers did, then you have to use the species they used. However, if you just want to build a beautiful piece of furniture, you are free to make your own modifications to their style. Cherry looks gorgeous, no matter what you build with it.

[Wayne Sparkman]

Turns out there was some previous discussion along these lines:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=11769&highlight=greene

[Sam Yerardi]

Wayne

Both cherry & walnut will look beautiful, but as in the previous posting, it won't be consistent with original G&G. One thing you can do, and this drives a lot of cherry-staining purists nuts and that is cherry can be stained to mimic mahogany so closely that if done correctly can be difficult for even experts to tell the difference. This was sometimes done all the way back in the 1700's on some of the top-rate furniture (what is now referred to as 'period furniture'. So if you are looking for the look & color, that could be one option. Of course you can't sell it as a mahogany piece but for home or a friend I don't see a problem with it.