Tabletop- veneer inlay?

[gwoodwork]

I am planning on making a rectangular dining table out of solid hard Maple. The table will be natural Maple but will have two black squares about 14"x14" centered in the middle of the table. I was thinking about using inlay (Maple veneer about a 32nd of an inch thick). Would this create problems with expansion/contraction in the future? I live in Denver Colorado where the weather isnt that bad- for wood the be affected but just want to be safe. Would this work? I was also thinking about masking the squares off with masking tape and staining the squares instead? Which one would someone who knows better than me recommend? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

[JGS]

[SonomaProducts.com]

I don't have enough detail about how the top is being constructed to suggest a best method but I can tell you that you cannot stain it using masking tape and have it come out looking any good. You will get at least some wicking and probably a lot so it just won't work.

You could pre-stain some Maple and build it into the table but this is very problematic because you can't sand or scrape it. Your best bet will be Walnut or some other acceptable material for contrast.Either built into the table or veneered.

I much prefer solid over veneer but veeneer is perfectly acceptable as some of the best furnitue ever built uses veneer.

I would probably glue up 2, 14 x 15 Walnut panels. Then make a mortise across the 15" ends. Then glue up 3 Maple panels 15" wide by appropriate lengths. Then tenon the 15" ends. Then glue up the 3 Maples with the two Walunts in between. Then trim the whole thing to 14" wide. Now you have a 14" wide panel to use at the center of your table top.

Another possible alternative, if you will bread board the ends, is to do this same process but only use two Walnuts and one Maple in between. Then glue up the whole table top to width and put wide bread board ends across each end. This is the only place I would really worry about the different material expansions and it can jut be handled in the normal manner bread board ends are done with slotted pins and strategic glue.