Entertainment center design lumber selection question

Look at anything on my projects page! This is standard practice for those of us in the real world. Completely solid wood projects are few and far between. Especially in casework like you are describing. Ply for the boxes and solid wood for the frame, doors, drawer fronts and trim.

-- Sam Hamory - The project is never finished until its "Finished"!

I totally get that. I did cabinet work for around 12 years. My problem is more along that lines of will it look funny with the ply areas being normal Maple/Cherry with all of the face frames/drawers/doors being curly maple/cherry. I am afraid of it making the exposed ply parts look unfinished.

-- - "But old news can change, as memories float downstream. So don't judge me by my failures, only by my dreams"

Veneers are your friend!

-- Brad, Texas, https://www.youtube.com/user/tonkatoytruck/feed

I built an entertainment center piece (more like a tiered shelving unit) out of solid maple. It was one of my first projects. Looking back, if I were to do it again, I would definitely use plywood for the majority of the work. Much easier to work with when you get to panels that size.

-- - The mightiest oak in the forest is just a little nut that held its ground.

You can get curly ply, but not at the box stores, or lay up your own veneer. Lots of work and expense that probably won’t be noticed by anyone but you. Also, depending on your design, you only really have two end panels exposed. Make those out of curly ply or veneer, much less expense than the entire unit.

-- Sam Hamory - The project is never finished until its "Finished"!

If it were me, I would include some curly stuff if you like but make the rest of it about your joinery and do that well. That’s what you will be most proud of and people will notice more than whether it was all curly or not. Also I would be afraid that once all the curly stuff got together it would not all match. Either way it sounds like a great piece and fun to build.

-- Bill M. "People change, walnut doesn't" by Gene.

On a piece that is that big, I think curly can get overwhelming (I know not everyone agrees with me). And I love curly maple. I would use ply and then use the curly a bit sparingly, but to really good effect.

Hood manufacturing in Louisville will sell almost any kind of ply with a $100 order. Don’t know if there is one near you or another source.

The other part of me also thinks that you have two conflicting visions: using ply for ease and cost and maximizing curly lumber which is expensive and hard to find in ply—maybe the veneer is your savior.

-- "Man is the only animal which devours his own, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor." ~Thomas Jefferson

Joshua, I like the maple / cherry combination. In your shoes I would go with figured wood for the framing that shows the most, but not for the panels. I made a TV stand from maple and cherry last year .. no fancy woods, though.

Thanks everyone. I know veneering the exposed panels would be the way to go but as has been said I don’t want want the curly woods to be too much. I think the more it has the less it will stand out. I also have never worked with veneer nor do I know anyone in my area that has. Watching edited videos online are one thing but 99% of them are in a “If everything goes perfect” scenario. You don’t get to usually see all of the problems that were edited out. They are a great tool for learning but nothing beats seeing someone 2ft in front of you do it with your own eyes. I would much rather play with veneer for the first time on something small like a box or something.
My plan was to only do the face frames and door frames out of the curly material which would not cost me that much more in lumber, but I am still undecided. The only other thought I had was to do the opposite. Make the entire thing face frames and all out of regular Maple/cherry but then have the drawer fronts & door panels be curly. I could probably do that for less money and may look better

-- - "But old news can change, as memories float downstream. So don't judge me by my failures, only by my dreams"