Complementary Woods for Mahogany
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Furnituremakers suggest woods to match with Mahogany for visual appeal. July 30, 2007
Question
I am building a plasma TV cabinet from mahogany and would like to add a contrasting or complementary wood to the cabinet to give it more eye appeal or punch. What woods would you suggest?
Forum Responses
(Forum Responses)
From contributor F:
Maple.
From contributor K:
Maple? Yuck! I would go with something darker. Almost any rosewood will work. The warmer more chocolate browns work, like walnut. If you are thinking of a veneer, though, I have combined Pomele Sapele, and Andiroba. Moabi, or fiddleback makore.
From contributor D:
Ebony or wenge. If you must go to a lighter contrasting wood, try bleaching the daylights out of the mahogany.
From contributor V:
For a lighter wood you might try Sapele, or lace wood. It makes a nice contrast if the grain pattern isn't a problem. Wenge is great if the open grain doesn't cause issues.
From contributor J:
Sapele *is* a mahogany. And lacewood is about the same color as mahogany. The question is subject to different tastes but I'd go with contributor K and the darker woods.
From contributor O:
I'm assuming the contrast would be in door panels or of the like? How about crotch mahogany? Its contrasts vary from almost black to gold tones. If the cabinet was plane mahogany, I'm assuming clear coated? And if the door panels were the crotch, it'd be awesome. On the other hand, if you are just adding decorative touches like onlays or something like that, then rosewood, ebony, or something would be better. To me it really depends on where it is going. Purple heart also looks good with mahogany and is very inexpensive.
From contributor J:
Did I read you right? ''Purple heart looks good with mahogany and is very inexpensive''? Can I get the name of the yard where you buy your purple heart?
From contributor O:
I just purchased enough purple heart to do 2-6"x 96" columns, and a 5" x 80" base moulding and it cost less than the price of maple. (I think maple is like 3.75 lineal ft, and it was like 3.60 or so.) I got it from Weber plywood. Now the crotch mahogany, well that's a different story. I purchase a wood on wood 4x8 sheet of crotch veneer (poplar backing) and it costs $650 fat ones. I'm making a cherry entertainment center that will have crotch mahogany door panels, purple heart columns and base (base moulding is doubled, back piece purple heart, front piece shorter cherry). It will go with a table I made last September.
From contributor J:
You buy your lumber by the linear ft?
From contributor O:
Sorry. Board ft. I use lineal ft for estimating jobs.
From contributor I:
Though pricey, koa looks superb as a compliment to Honduran mahogany.
