I am thinking of doing some more inlay, and I thought I would ask what woods people like to mix. I know maple and cherry are very good to mix for example, as they have almost identical toughness and expansion properties, and their colors are different enough to make some nice patterns. What else do people commonly use?
John
red oak & purpleheart
I put walnut inlays in to ash. Nice contrast.
I had to read that one twice. The first time I read it, I felt very uncomfortable. :^)
Maple in walnut or cherry looks nice:
The consideration I use is: What do I have on the shelf? Scraps of walnut from the last project (dark) go into light woods such as oak or cherry. I've used cedar and fir, poplar as a light wood, just whatever I had. I no longer live close to a store with exotic wood, so I use the scraps I have. With limited experience, I have had no problems with compatability of woods. Maybe I've been lucky!
Hope this helps.....
Rich
I've never tried it, but I would be very worried about mixing say cedar and walnut. Because walnut is much harder, if you ever tried to sand the two smooth, you would end up taking off more cedar than walnut, and end up with a bumpy surface. I'd also worry about expansion and contraction cracking the wood over time. Maybe I'm just being paranoid...
You're being paranoid.
-Leuf
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