Complimentary Wood to Mahogany

[Keith Starosta]

I'm using mahogany for the first time, and would like to add some accents to the piece. What wood have you folks used in the past to compliment the reddish tones of the mahogany?

Thanks!!

- Keith

[Rob Luter]

You don't say how large a project you're working on, but I made a mortise and tenon frame out of Mahogany in a blend of Greene and Greene and Stickley styles, and used rosewood to peg the tenons instead of ebony. The color and texture is very complementary. It turned out so nice I'll use it on a larger scale next time.

[Dale Osowski]

I used Wenge to accent this mantel.

[Brian Brown]

Not exactly flatwork, but I like the compliment of Maple with Mahogany.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=69460

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I like the look of both wenge and maple.

In this case, I am making a flag display case/shadow box for my church. I'm going to use maple for keys at the miters, but was thinking about something else as well. We'll see.

Thanks, again!

- Keith

[Jamie Cowan]

My telecaster is mahogany with a maple neck and fretboard. I think it looks good.

[Bill Wyko]

Black ebony is a beautiful accent. I use 1/4x1/8th stripes to outline a frame. It's expensive but you can use just the smallest stripe in a groove or a dado to make a beautiful accent.

[Bill Wyko]

Check out www.bigwoodslabs.com , they have inlay that is very intricate and not that expensive.

[Doug Shepard]

Another Maple vote (or even the ebony too). The problem with a lot of other stuff is that once you get some finish on things and sunlight too, that a lot of things that didn't start reddish-brown turn reddish-brown and there's just not enough contrast. Just my 2 cents.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Like Doug said, you need to have an idea what the finished product will look like. So if you could get a scrap of this and that which will be pretty representative of what you're thinking of using and a scrap of the mahoganey and put a finsih on to get a good idea how the finished product will look. Of the pieces I've seen, the larger the piece the less contrast looks better.....you don't want the difference of night and day, i.e. black and white.

[Brian Brown]

IF you are already using maple and mahogany, you might try bloodwood. A lot of red colored woods are sold as bloodwood, but some do not turn brown with age. I can't tell you which species change and which don't, or how to tell what species you are buying. That might be a question for Jim King. He seems to be our man for bloodood knowledge.

[Frank Drew]

I've used both boxwood and ebony stringing and thought both worked well, with the ebony a more subtle approach. Anything dark would give much the same effect.

[Bill Wyko]

Here's a pic of an Ebony stripe next to Bubinga and Maple along with an inlay from woodcrafters that was about 7 bucks for 2 ft.

[Keith Starosta]

Thanks for all of the replies, guys! You've given me some good things to think about. I have made up my mind that I'll be using maple accents for this particular piece, but I love the way the ebony looks. I think I'll incorporate that into a bunch of mahogany picture frames I'll be building very soon!

- Keith

[Josiah Bartlett]

I have an old Guild D25M guitar, which is all Mahogany with a rosewood fretboard and black banding. I think the rosewood looks nice but Ebony would look better. Besides, you can't get Brazilian rosewood anymore.