What wood to compliment Padauk?

[Jeff Clow]

I bought some real pretty boards to make a dining room table top. I was thinking of making the frame & legs of a different wood, but not sure what would look good with the Padauk.
The legs will be turned, if that matters.
I would like something that looks good with the Padauk, but don't want it to draw too much attention away from the top.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
Jeff

[Tony Bilello]

Inexpensive and does not conflict with the padouk.
I love contrasting woods.http://sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=136&pictureid=1365

[Tony Bilello]

http://sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=137&pictureid=1369Padouk pieces were too narrow to make plates and platters from so I used a pinstripe of oak in between the 2 pieces to make a larger platter.
Oak was also used for the base.

[Matt Zettl]

I think it's important to keep in mind that the padauk will be much, much darker in a couple of years than it is now. In fact, it loses most of it's reddish color, becoming a deep reddish brown with black streaking.

If you can find someone close by with some old padauk, it might be better to select your secondary wood by comparing with the older padauk than with the fresh stuff.

If you're looking for something that doesn't contrast a lot, then wenge might work well. If you're looking for high contrast, I've always thought that padauk and maple work well together, although I've always used maple as the primary wood and padauk as the secondary. I think you have something else in mind.

Hope this helps a little.

Matt

[Julian Nicks]

I'd go with a light tight grained wood like maple, or you could stick with the african hardwood theme, and get some anigre. I've got a bunch of curly anigre veneer that looks very close to tiger maple, but it's just a bit more tan.

[scott spencer]

I like maple constrasted with Padauk:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/Projects/jewelry%20box/000_0737.jpg

[Bob Hallowell]

I like maple with it also.

Bobhttp://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r111/bobha8/pplat.jpg

[Jim Flynn]

I have a trestle table made with a Padauk base and a bubinga top surrounded by bloodwood bench seats and figured bubinga seatbacks. The key thing to remember with Padauk is that no matter what finish you use, even those with a high degree of UV protection, over time it will definitely darken from it's initial bright orange/red to a rich brown/red to a very dark brown red if exposed to sunlight. Bubinga is much more color consistent over time and retains it's original tone and color much longer. The two in my opinion complement each other well.

Others have recommended a maple or birch complement and this is striking when first completed and the light/dark contrast works well as the padauk darkens.

Both will look great to start and age well together.

[Prashun Patel]

+3 on maple.
I'd amberize with oil or dye to soften it a little.

A grainier or darker wood doesn't feel right on that.

[jason lambert]

+4 on maple. + it is a nice tight grain and Padauk tends to have this fine red dust, just makes things easer than oak or something else with a more open grain.

[David Keller NC]

"I bought some real pretty boards to make a dining room table top. I was thinking of making the frame & legs of a different wood, but not sure what would look good with the Padauk.
The legs will be turned, if that matters."

To help with your decision process, I'd first decide whether you want the base darker than, lighter than, or about the same shade as the top. "About the same shade as" will be the hardest, since as some posters have noted Padauk will change color rather dramatically.

If you want darker than, I would suggest an ebonized base. That would work well if made of oak, though it will be very open-grained, and in some sense looks "cheap", because oak's used a lot for inexpensive furniture in big stores. If you want closed-grain, I'd suggest going with poplar (because it will be easy to turn), and ebonizing by supplementing the tannin in the wood to get a good ebonized effect.

If you want lighter than, I would suggest mahogany (genuine - not the wood sold as "african mahogany"). There's a slightly reddish cast to Honduran mahogany that would complement the Padauk well, and while mahogany will darken over time, it won't get as dark as the Padauk for a century or more. Mahogany's also readily available as turning squares (4" on a side), machines beautifully, and is generally a pleasure to work. Because you're not using very much of it, it will be reasonably cost-effective despite a $10 a b.f. price tag.

[Doug Shepard]

Another vote for maple with paduak. If you can find ome ambrosia maple, that might also look very nice. You'd get a bit a streaking of color that's rather close to the paduak.

[Brian Kent]

I would not do a Paduak table with maple legs. The lighter wood draws the eye and the main part of the table is the table top.

I would go with a darker or less rich colored wood.

[Jeff Clow]

Sorry to go against the general consensus, but my chief designer (wife) agrees with Brian that the light maple would draw attention away from the table top.
The way I am leaning so far is toward Wenge, or possibly some Brazilian Rosewood (Pau Farrow), or maybe even a dark walnut. Babinga is in the running too. I have a project coming up with Babinga, so will take a closer look at that.
I think having the base darker than the top would be a better compliment.
Thanks for all the input. I'll keep thinking about this, as the start of the project is still a ways off. (school & other projects are in front of it)

Jeff

[Brian Kent]

I took a trip over to the local lumber store and they had shedua stacked next to the Paduak. I did not check the price. It was a beautiful complement, darker and a little more towards neutral gray tone. The wenge was also a beautiful contrast, but I haven't worked it and I hear about many lovely splinters. The walnut looked great if you can get enough heart wood.

Have fun!

[Daniel Shnitka]

Ebonize a tight grained wood, avoid Douglas fir. If you are on a buget, Alder is an inexpensive choice. Better design magazines will feature such style, have your be less an issue of contrast, do you want the appearance of having the table leg "jump out at you" ? Or do you want to feature the broad palette of shades of color that come from the padauk table top?
Do a small scale model and use water colors to help you visualize the finished project.

[Jim Tobias]

Jeff,
I have usually used padauk as the base wood (legs, frame, etc) and a figured maple (bird's eye or curly) for the centerpiece of the top. But in your case, I would look at canarywood. It is a meddium gold/brown wiht varying streaks and some of the streaks can be a reddish/orange tone like the padauk. It should still look very nice as the padauk ages. The padauk (im my experience) will darken, but it can retain a lot of its reddish tones if it is not in direct sunlight. I made a padauk mirror frame that hangs on a wall in a lot of direct sunlight and it is very, very dark red/brown at this point(3 years). I also made a coffee table with solid padauk frame and legs and bird's eye maple veneer center. That padauk is away from direct sunlight and has changed very little over the last 4 years. It darkend some originally from the oil finish. See site below for pictures of table.

www.hjtwoods.com/gallery.php

Jim