Dark Stain Match on Maple/Poplar Table

[Bart Harris]

I wanted to make a table with a hard maple top for durability and soft maple legs for money saving.

I need 6/4 maple for the legs and can only find it in 5/4, so I'm considering poplar instead.

My issue is that I am dark staining the whole table (very dark brown) and want to know if the difference in wood type will be noticeable.

Thoughts? Many thanks 🙏

[Frederick Skelly]

I have a project in work right now that is both poplar and maple. Unstained, the difference in grain is definitely visible to me.

You can hide much with dark enough stain, but my eye can usually tell even then. It just doesn't match.

What I am doing is dyeing the poplar legs black and leaving the maple top natural. It looks fine to my eye, that way because of the dramatic contrast and the fact that it isn't SUPPOSED to match. YMMV.

Fred

[John TenEyck]

Of course it will be noticeable. Don't do it. If you want consistent color, use the same wood for everything. How much money are you really saving between hard and soft maple? Use all hard or all soft maple for the whole table.

John

[Andy Giddings]

+1 on the comments so far. Soft maple is still fairly tough so unless you intend to use your table as a cutting board, it should be durable

[Bart Harris]

Thank you for all of your comments so far. I think I knew this would be the case already but it's great to get this kind of solid feedback.

I was slightly unclear in my phrasing; I was considering using 6/4 poplar for the legs because 6/4 soft maple is unavailable at the leading timber yards in the Bay Area.

I have already prepared my 5/4 hard maple for the top. I will now return to buy 6/4 hard maple for the legs.

Thanks again. This is a wonderful forum and you are all marvellous.

Bart