Need alternative for pear wood

[Tom Jones III]

I need to make a chest to go along with a kitchen table. The table is store bought, I don't know where, and is reported to be pear wood. The chest does not need to look like a twin to the table, but they should look good together. Does anyone have suggestions on a wood that is commonly available that will look similar to this table? Any reasonably priced wood is fine (like mahog. or walnut prices), but I would prefer that it was a wood I could pick up myself at the lumber yard.

[Mark Singer]

Tom,
Anigre is similar if unfiguered and a great wood to work with

http://www.redbridgemarquetrygroup.org/Anigre%20-%20Aningeria%20Spp.jpg

[Jamie Buxton]

That doesn't look like pear to me. Pear has finer pores, and being a temperate-zone wood, it has more distinctive growth rings. Your table looks more like a tropical wood. I'd look at mahogany (which is getting very difficult to buy now), or some wood sold as a subsitute for mahogany -- lauan for instance. See what your local yards have.

[Cecil Arnold]

I agree with Jamie, it looks like mahogany to me with a clear top coat (maybe super blond shellac) to seal, then something to hold down the red.

[Greg Scott]

Maybe butternut. Grain is very similar to walnut but quite a bit lighter.

[Steve Wargo]

Looks like Phillipean Mahogany to me. If it's pear you could always go the veneer route. I've got a few flitches of Pear veneer and it's not too expensive.

[Clint Malone]

Looks like Phillipean Mahogany to me.

I agree. It is probably a "pear stain" or some other marketing gimmick.

Doesn't look anything like the pear that I have seen.