Contrasting timber for brown oak sideboard?

[Benpointer]

I bought 7 lovely large planks of kiln-dried quartersawn brown oak at the Stock Gaylard Oak Fair at the weekend, rather on impulse, and need some suggestions...

I aim to build a large modern sideboard over the winter but there's not enough brown oak for that. I'm planning three sections to the sideboard: drawers in the middle section with sliding doors on each side section, possible with inner draws behind. I reckon I have enough oak the top, the ends and the central drawer fronts.

So, what to do the sliding doors, and drawer sides, backs and bottoms in, also the back and base of the sideboard and any inner shelves?

I am thinking something contrasting so a light hardwood? Maybe something with some nice figuring or ripple. I have only really ever worked with oak so I am not sure what would be best - something that not too hard to work with - I want to dovetail the drawers.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[rogxwhit]

Most or all temperate zone hardwoods will mix happily. But they can look seriously uncomfortable alongside more tropical species. A memorable instance for me years ago was seeing a turned item where sycamore and mahogany had been laminated together. The turning technique was flawless but the effect was jarring.

I would also rule softwood out by and large, though if you wanted cedar of Lebanon for some drawer bottoms I'd let that pass ...

Sycamore is mild-working and would give an engaging contrast. Drawer sides, shelves ...

For a piece to have integrity, its back should be as well-constructed as its front ...

For parts of the main carcase structure that you don't have enough brown oak for, perhaps ordinary oak?

 

[Doug B]

did this little cupboard with brown oak & ash a few years back I really liked the contrast, figured ash would have been nicer or maple.

 

[eribaMotters]

Ash. beech, sycamore or maple.

Colin

 

[Yojevol]

Good brown oak is precious stuff. I don't think you can do better than use it for detailing in conjunction with ordinary European oak as here:-

Brian

 

[Benpointer]

did this little cupboard with brown oak & ash a few years back I really liked the contrast, figured ash would have been nicer or maple.

View attachment 142654

Wow, that looks lovely!

 

[Benpointer]

Good suggestions - I will have a think but ash, sycamore or maple all sound good options!

 

[recipio]

You can have too much contrast or too little. I'm not in favour of chunky contrasting woods although have a look at the work of Kevin Ley who writes in F+C. He likes to mix things up. For the sliding door fronts have you considered making your own veneers out of the brown oak ? For the rest any white wood will do. For the drawer bottoms you will be forgiven for using plywood but for the back tongue and groove will always look better than ply.

 

[Yojevol]

Good suggestions - I will have a think but ash, sycamore or maple all sound good options!

Out of those 3 I would go for ash as it has a similar ring-porous grain structure to oak
Brian

 

[Peter Sefton]

A couple of past students Brown Oak projects, the first one with Ash legs and Ripple Sycamore panels, I like the open grain of the Ash to match the Oaks texture. The second project has Spalted Beech door panels which is a warmer compliment rather than the lighter contrast of the Ash/Sycamore. All work well, just a matter of personal preference.

 

[Inspector]

If you can get some unremarkable oak, plain in other words, you could ebonize it and the contrast would be brown against black if that suits you.

I had to make some countertops for the basement and SWMBO wanted black. I took Oak pews I salvaged and applied tannins, used to flavour wine. Then applied Iron Acetate (Steel wool dissolved in Vinegar). I alternated the process over a few days to get it blacker and when happy gave it a couple days more to dry. Gave it a light buffing with steel wool and then applied an oil and wax based finish to it. You can see the oak grain but the colour is an even black.

First picture is with the a couple applications of the tannin solution on it (black smudges were left after the bottom edges and side was done, disappeared when the top side was finished. The second is the result on the store bought cabinets.

Pete

 

[Inspector]

I should mention you can do the same with most woods like Maple, Cherry, Sycamor etc. You won't get much grain showing though like you do with oak or elm.

Pete

 

[rogxwhit]

Sycamor etc

Your sycamore might not be our sycamore? Here, it's Acer pseudoplatanus - a maple, in fact. In America, it's Platanus occidentalis, a plane.

 

[Inspector]

Your sycamore might not be our sycamore? Here, it's Acer pseudoplatanus - a maple, in fact. In America, it's Platanus occidentalis, a plane.

You’re likely right. Sycamore and Plane aren’t all that common in Canada. The point I was trying to make was that any of the tight grain hardwoods would be black and smooth closer to Ebony and open grained woods will still show the pores and some of the figure.

Pete

 

[Benpointer]

A couple of past students Brown Oak projects, the first one with Ash legs and Ripple Sycamore panels, I like the open grain of the Ash to match the Oaks texture. The second project has Spalted Beech door panels which is a warmer compliment rather than the lighter contrast of the Ash/Sycamore. All work well, just a matter of personal preference.

View attachment 142661
View attachment 142658

Two lovely pieces!

Are those ripple sycamore panels in the first example solid boards or veneered? (Ditto the spalted beech?)

 

[rogxwhit]

Veneer spalted beech? You'd be a a better man than me! ;-)

 

[baldkev]

Stock Gaylard Oak Fair

I havent heard of that before.... are the prices good?
I recently bought some nice ash

 

[Peter Sefton]

Two lovely pieces!

Are those ripple sycamore panels in the first example solid boards or veneered? (Ditto the spalted beech?)

The Sycamore panels were veneered and the Spalted Beech are solid.

Cheers
Peter

 

[Jones]

If the oak is particularly well figured I would use that for door and drawer fronts where it will be seen best and use something else for the top which is less visible, (especially in our house where every flat surface soon becomes covered in clutter). I agree that a UK hardwood would be best, there's plenty to choose from depending on the colour and grain or figuring you want, I think a light coloured top in sycamore might work well.

 

[Benpointer]

I havent heard of that before.... are the prices good?
I recently bought some nice ash

There were quite few timber vendors there - mainly air-dried - some cheaper than others.

I am not sure I got a massive bargain, I have decided not to work out the £ per cu ft price I have paid for fear of depressing myself (!) But They do look like lovely pieces of wood and I've reached the stage of life where "you can't take it with you" has become my motto.

It's a lovely show, lots of wood-working crafts on display. It's not full of stalls selling imported tat, which is what you seem to get at a lot of 'country shows' these days. Held every August Bank Holiday Saturday and Sunday in deepest rural Dorset, between Sherborne and Blandford Forum.

Exhibitors | The Oak Fair at Stock Gaylard | Stock Gaylard

I'm not involved, just a regular attendee.