Bird's Eyes: How much is too much???

[John Stevens]

I'm making a chest of drawers for our living room. All of our living room furniture is maple, some of it is bird's eye maple, so I figured I'd make the drawer faces of the new chest from bird's eye maple.

When I bought the wood for the drawer faces, my thinking was that "when it comes to bird's eye, you can't have too much figure." Now I wonder if I was mistaken.

I'm wondering if the visual appeal of bird's eyes is the contrast they make with the otherwise "plain" grain of the maple. When the bird's eyes are so dense that they no longer stand out from the background...well, then there is no background, and the wood just looks "wild" or "wooly," like a snapshot of a swarm of angry bees. At least that's how I'd describe the wood I bought.

How many of you think that "medium" bird's eye maple is more beautiful than "heavy" bird's eye maple?

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I'd really appreciate hearing other peoples' opinions. Thanks in advance!

[Vaughn McMillan]

For me, it's more about the distribution of the "eyes" than the density of them. I'm partial to the "wooly" look, but I'd rather have fewer "eyes", evenly spaced, than a lot of them unevenly spaced. I think in your case, I'd have to see the two contrasting maples to really form an opinion.

- Vaughn

[Alan Turner]

John,
While I can't say without seeing the birdseye maple, if you use it only on the drawer fronts, then I would think it would be appropriate. I might look strong when seated, with the drawers at eye level, it will be fine looked at from standing height since then one would see the top and sides as well.
Good luck, and dovetail well. I love to build chests of drawers.

[Frank Fusco]

To give contrast and bring out the eyes and curls, you might want to use a technique from builders of old-style muzzle loading rifles. Get an acid stain. The stain can be diluted down with water. That way, you can go over and over the wood surface with each application darkening portions of the curl a little more each time. Stop when it reaches a point that most appeals to you.
Acid stains can be purchased from suppliers of muzzle loading rifle parts. Try:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/ or
http://www.logcabinshop.com/ or
http://www.longrifles-pr.com/
There are others as well. Or you could make up your own.