Contrasting Woods

[Mark W Pugh]

What is your favorite contrasting woods to use together? I have a lot of cherry piled around and was mulling over in my head what other wood would look right with it. I'm a big fan of Waterlox on cherry.

So, it doesn't have to be cherry to contrast with. So what are your best results?

I know, I know, I know, it depends, but just in general.

Thanks

[Dennis Ford]

Maple would be my favorite to go with cherry.
Another possibility would be a very dark wood; ebony, wenge or something dyed black.

[Wade Lippman]

My favorite contrasting woods are walnut and butternut. Half my house in done in that.

I like cherry by itself.
However... we bought our house fully furnished and the master bedroom furniture is all cherry and walnut. It works well, but I wouldn't choose it; I would have preferred all cherry. It was made by local Mennonites; I wish I could do work that nice.

[Jim Tobias]

Not domestics, but a couple I like with cherry are Brazilian Cherry and also Goncalco Alves. IMO their color compliments the cherry well. One of my favorites is Canary wood with cherry.

Jim
Brazilian Cherry
jatoba-sealed-200x200.jpeg


Goncalco Alves
goncalo-alves1.jpg


Canarywood
canarywood-sealed-jh-200x200.jpeg

[roger wiegand]

Seems like a lot of what I've built in the last several years involves cherry frames with birdseye or tiger maple panels. It's a hard combination to beat.

[David Helm]

My favorites are Western Big Leaf Maple contrasted with English Walnut or Claro Walnut or Bastogne Walnut. I don't use exotic woods at all so I wouldn't have a comment on them.

[Chris Padilla]

Walnut and maple for me. Whatever kind of walnut with whatever kind of maple.

[Bill Adamsen]

Cherry frames with quartersawn fir panels are a very attractive pairing for contrast and their structural properties.

[Jim Becker]

For my tack trunk commissions, QSWO fields with black walnut trim has been the most popular...

[Larry Fox]

Big fan of cherry and maple together also. However, if I am swinging for the fences I like bubinga (the curlier the better) and birdseye maple.

[Mike Ontko]

Straight-grained Douglas fir is a good match with cherry, in both grain and color. It's not as light/contrasting as maple, which can be good or bad depending on the amount of contrast you're looking for. I have plans for a set of book cases that I want to do with cherry and maple. But the cabinetry in my house is a warm red cherry while the doors and moldings are doug fir, which appear to have been either stained or shellacked a light amber. I'll try to follow up later with a photo or two.

[David Helm]

Straight-grained Douglas fir is a good match with cherry, in both grain and color. It's not as light/contrasting as maple, which can be good or bad depending on the amount of contrast you're looking for. I have plans for a set of book cases that I want to do with cherry and maple. But the cabinetry in my house is a warm red cherry while the doors and moldings are doug fir, which appear to have been either stained or shellacked a light amber. I'll try to follow up later with a photo or two.

Very much like Cherry, Douglas Fir darkens (toward a reddish color) with exposure to light. It could be that your fir was finished bright and has darkened.

[Bill McNiel]

I use a fair amount of highly figured maple and really like walnut and wenge accents with it. Waterlox as a finish.

[Ryan Mooney]

For my tack trunk commissions, QSWO fields with black walnut trim has been the most popular...

+1 on the Oak and Walnut mix, it wasn't something I'd have thought of myself but having seen some of Jims work and a segmented turner who uses a lot of that (Chas) I gave it a shot on a project and really liked the look. I suspect that cherry and oak would eventually look good together as well especially as the cherry darkened.

Interestingly cherry and walnut together not as much, although adding walnut as a thin boundary layer of walnut or something similarily dark between cherry and something lighter (like maple or oak) helps set a nice line. I used that on a desk I made from cherry 20 some years ago with a maple panel trimmed with a walnut bead and it continues to look pretty good every time I see it (its at my Dads house still).

[Quinn McCarthy]

maple and pupleheart or yellowheart and purpleheart. I use a lot in segmented turning.