oak and cherry

Red or white oak? Actually, I wouldn’t mix those two. Colors and grain don’t mix well to my eye. Cherry & maple work well, but I like CHERRY.

Steve

-- Steve in KY. 44 years so far with my lovely bride. Think I'll keep her.

steve it is red oak

-- Bill Byron Center MI

Ive mixed them before, a few times actually.The latest was a small table. Oak -legs and drawer front.Cherry- stretchers,apron/skirt,top and knob.It turned out pretty cool.I have also made one walnut,cherry and oak.LoL I usually go for contrast.I dont see anything wrong with your idea,maybe throw in some oak knobs/pulls.

-- They just don't get my chub on.-Bertha on modern handplanes

I think it would play well together except I would probably fill the grain on the oak as it is so much more open grained than cherry. I think this would make them more compatible.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

It’s a matter of taste, of course, so there is nothing wrong if you like the way they look together. My only warning about mixing cherry with other woods is that the cherry will darken considerably with age. So what the woods look like together now is not what they will look like in a few years.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I have to agree with fussy on this, I don’t think that oak goes well with cherry. If you want to mix woods, the maple/cherry would make a good combo. Other good combos would be ash/walnut or poplar/walnut.

-- My mind is like lighting, one brilliant flash, then its gone.....

Interesting question.

My taste says no, something about that combination isn’t right.

Oak and walnut—ok
Maple and walnut—ok
Maple and cherry—ok
Cherry and walnut—ok

Quoting: I planned on using oak.Then while at work I thought about using cherry for drawer fronts and some trim peices.

This will look, I think, like you swept the floor and built it out of what you could find. In general, you want one species to predominate and the other to be small stuff. Drawer fronts different from the carcase will be visually jarring.

This is offered only as my opinion based on years of making stuff that wasn’t so good and learning from it. : )

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

I also think it is a matter of taste. Probably wouldnt be my first choice, but if you like it, that is all that matters. I agree that maple/cherry or maybe even oak/walnut may be more of a “mainstream” choice. Either way, good luck, and looking forward to pics.

Is there a way to look at an image of this combination on some website to get a preview of how different woods look together?

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Woodcraft has a little sample kit of small finished pieces of different woods. Or try going to a wood flooring store to compare different woods.

-- Terri, Rocky Mountain High Colorado!

I take it from the wood as paint concept. If you have the right piece of oak it can be great with anything, but just a plain oak maybe not so much. Maybe if you had a quartersawn oak with a high figured cherry would be nice… making the oak’s light rays echo the black swirls of a cherry … hmmm. I might try that.

-- ~ Eric P Jorgenson: Jorgenson Design

hello thank you for all your advice. I am going to stick oak. I will post pictures as i go cause i’ll need more adice as i go.Thanks in advance.

-- Bill Byron Center MI