What wood to use with Paduck?

[Ralph Barhorst]

I have a beautiful piece of Paduck. It is 15" x 84". I want to use it for the top of a hall table. I don't want to use paduck on the rest of the table so I am wondering what other wood to use. I have some nice mahogany that I could use.

Does anyone have any suggestion or photos oo a table that they have made using paduck and some other wood?

[Craig D Peltier]

You can see this built in out of beech and padouk. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=68851

[Mike Cutler]

I have a beautiful piece of Paduck. It is 15" x 84". I want to use it for the top of a hall table. I don't want to use paduck on the rest of the table so I am wondering what other wood to use. I have some nice mahogany that I could use.

Does anyone have any suggestion or photos oo a table that they have made using paduck and some other wood?

Padauk, and Ebony/ Macassar Ebony are stellar when used together. The cost however can appear to be "stellar" also.

[John Terefenko]

I do not have any furniture pieces but have used to accent alot of scrollsawn clocks I make and will say this that oak looks great with it. Maple or birch is also a possibility. You don't want mahagoney because they are too close in color when aged. You can also go the other spectrum and use walnut as the main wood. I have done this also. It is a nice contrast. The big problem with mixing light colored woods is the bleedover with the dust. One thing to counteract that is to put a coat of dewaxed shellac on the piece and will help control the dust when sanded.

[Scott Rader]

nice contrast

[Brian Kent]

I used padouk with ebony trim on this box. I started not with how much wood I needed, but with what I could do with my little tiny piece of ebony.:)

[Tom Cowie]

Hi Ralph

I have a bunch of paduck that I picked up several years ago. After several projects I still haven't done this wood the justice it deserves. One of the suggestions was maple and another was ebony. Either of the two will take it from one extreme to the other. I think that contrast is a must but I have found that a plan straight grained or Quartersawn wood compliments it nicely. What ever you try please post some pics I would also love some ideas on what to use when making something out of paduck.

By the way ,don't use Purpleheart . I tried that already :eek:

Tom

[Justin Bukoski]

Another vote for Wenge (although it sucks to work with it).

[Mike Cutler]

Another vote for Wenge (although it sucks to work with it).

The closer to Qsawn wenge is, the easier to work with. The "cathedral" or flatsawn grain fragments very easily. The splinters really hurt,

Ralph.

I'm actually very eager to see what you go with, and how it turns out.
I have a 3'x7' and a 3x9' slab(s) of padauk in the shop. Both are 2" thick. They used to be one 3'x16' slab, but that was just too big for me to ever work with, and get home.
I've set them on top of ebony and wenge just to get an eyeball on them.

I got to admit that some of the lighter grain suggestions in this thread have me thinkin'. Dangerous, I know.:eek:

[Joe Unni]

Ralph,

I've done a couple of projects with padauk:

Padauk top with soft maple base.
&
Padauk top with walnut aprons and curly maple legs.

Both customers were extremely happy...as was I ;) .

If you check out my site you'll see examples of both.

Good luck,
-joe

[John Buzzurro]

Hi Ralph,

I like the way maple looks with Padauk.

Box with Padauk lid (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejbuzzurr/woodworking/projects/musicbox/musicbox1.jpg)

Picture Frame (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejbuzzurr/woodworking/projects/picframe/frame2.jpg)

[scott spencer]

I'm working on a maple jewelry box with some paduak accepts....looks sharp IMHO.

[Todd Jensen]

Another vote for maple, I had a friend build a staircase in his house out of maple and padauk and the contrast is fantastic in my opinion. The maple softens and highlights the rich colors of the padauk.

[julie Graf]

another vote for maple

[Jim Tobias]

Ralph,
Here is a pic of a coffee table I made with Padauk amd bird's eye maple. I will tell you that Padauk dust will stain and tint the finish on a light wood like maple if you are not very careful. Also, I have found that Padauk when near a source of direct sunlight will darken considerably (losing a lot of its bright, eddish tone). This coffee table which is in the middle of a room away from direct sunlight has hardly darkened at all.Also as an aside, Padauk dust can be somewhat of an allergy/irritant to your nose. Just a heads up!

Jim

[Steve knight]

yep maple and padouk are hard to get along. purpleheart and padouk I tired that long ago and it sure sucks. but now purpleheart and lacewood is way cool.

[Doug Shepard]

See if you can find some Ambrosia Maple. I've put some next to Paduak and it looks great. The redish streaks in the maple really add to the paduak tone.

[Doug Pettway]

here is a guitar i made with paduak, walnut and flamed maple. i think it turned out to be a great combo and the paduak has a great natural feel to it when used as the fretboard. the tops of the control knobs are padauk also and were made after the neck was made so they are are still a fresher shade of red than the fretboard.

http://web.mac.com/douglaspettway/iWeb/DougPettwayGuitars/004.html

[Ralph Barhorst]

WOW!! Thanks for all of the help. I will use maple. I have some nice 8/4 quilted maple that I can use for the legs. Thanks for the pictures. They really show off the contrast of the paduck and maple.