Walnut and a contrasting wood question.

[NCGrimbo]

Hi all. I'm going to be making a box for my sister's daughter to hold papers and stuff as she grows up. In the past, I've done these boxes using maple and and cherry as contrasting woods. This time, I thought I'd try walnut, but I'm not sure what a good contrasting wood would be. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
NCGrimbo

 

[Ray Martin]

I think you'd have a nice contrast with the maple (blond) that you've been using and walnut (dark brown).

 

[ptt49er]

Maple looks awesome w/ BW!

 

[Bas]

Quartersawn white oak and walnut go together well too, in my opinion. But maple always works. It's like ketchup, it goes with everything

 

[bwat]

Ditto to Bas' comments. Any lighter toned wood will contrast with the darker walnut. Those with the wildest grains (birds eye or curly maple, wormy chestnut, endless list) work best for me.

 

[sawduster]

Personaly I like ERC with Walnut but that is just me. ERC is brittle and hard to work with sometimes and I do mostly scrolling or turning but it works well for me
JMTCW :mrgreen:

 

[NightOwl]

White oak is what first comes to mind. I made a checker board with walnut and sycamore that I liked too.

 

[NCGrimbo]

I was hoping to avoid maple for this project, so it sounds like white oak would be a good choice. Thanks again!

 

[DIYGUY]

I am not overly fond of the grain of white oak in small pieces. Walnut has a similar grain so that may have an appeal. If you want light and dark any of the others mentioned will work, but why settle for the ordinary? If you are committed to walnut, perhaps you might try something only a tad lighter (or even darker!) All those light woods will darken with light and time. Why not dye your alternate wood something interesting - such as blue? Use a color wheel to get an idea of what may work well together. The sky is the limit for your imagination ...

 

[richlife]

A truly awesome light wood to use with black walnut is beech. Very nice color, you can find figure or tight grain and the density is similar. I made a chess board with these two and it truly was gorgeous. Rich

 

[Jeff]

There's a brief, but interesting article by Garrett Hack titled "Using Contrast" (FWW #211, p38, 2010) which you may find useful. Pretty subjective topic, but it's a starter for consideration.

Let us know what combo you choose and maybe your reasons for doing so. By all means include pics to verify it! :icon_cheers

 

[wdkits1]

If you want a really nice contrast try Holly