Composing grain for best effect in furniture

[Phydeaux]

I agree that it's easy to overuse figured or contrasting wood. They add accent and interest when used carefully and, to my tastes, detract when they become a major feature.

A cake isn't as good if it's all frosting. Or half frosting...

[handi]

Stock choice is very personal and should NEVER be taken lightly on fine projects.

When gluing up panels, I always want to use pieces made up from the same board if possible. When cutting apron parts, I try to take them sequentially out of a board so that the grain pattern "wraps around" the frame. A small detail, but one that, in my opinion, sets a project apart.

Fancy grain versus plain is a personal choice. I love a bit of interesting grain as accent, but I personally find an entire highboy made of birds eye maple to be too busy and distracting. But that is just my opinion.

I used to make high end stair cases. The company bought about $5 million dollars of lumber a year. When you buy that much, every so often you get some figured boards. Most were beautiful, but you simply cannot have one figured board in a staircase of 'regular' lumber. So I often bought those figured boards at standard pricing. 

One such was fir that for whatever reason ended up with an amazing pattern that looked like tapioca. Tiny oval swirls between 3/8 and 1/4" long with grain lines running around them like a stream around stones. I used this as the field for a dressing table for my wife. The frame of the top was figured mahogany that had a wonderful deep looking Chatoyance. Overall, understated but elegant in my opinion.

[Mike Brady]

Thanks for the many interesting replies to my question.  On the piece I am currently working on, I have decided to not use the very quilted cherry stock for the drawer front, but rather a very nice section of another piece of air-dried cherry that has just enough figure to make it special, and also has some slight pitch pockets.  I do feel that there are pieces of furniture that do call for fiqured wood, and only figured wood.  In the same club I mentioned above is a very talented craftsman who makes cherry period furniture such as high-boys and desks.  He told me that these classic pieces dictate the need for figured wood throughout.  We were discussing a bow-front chest he recently completed, and he commented that he had to pay $700. for the board he used just for the fronts of the drawers.  It was over three inches thick and was 12' long.  The finished chest is magnificent and I have to agree that anything less than the wood he used would have diminished the impact of the piece.

[BillMcD]

Good topic.  It's a treat to look at a piece and relates to why the maker may have chosen the pieces s/he did as it relates to grain and figure.  Material selection has both structural and aesthetic jobs to do.  I'm sure we have all looked at something and immediately seen that no thought was given to the material selection.  Other times it is apparent that a great deal of thought and care was given.  Nice that there is a community of people here who care about such things and strive to improve their own compositions.

I used to think that you were not skiing hard enough if you didn't fall from time to time.  I am still tempted to ski beyond my ability -- and to similarly use dramatic grain, figure and contrast.  But with your help, I'm getting better about the woodworking.

Please pick up my goggles on your way down and pay no attention to the door panel.

[PedroOhare]

There was an article in I think Popular Woodworking that examined this very issue. It showed a bunch of panels with figured fields, rails and stiles in different combinations so that you could make up your own mind. It was a while ago, so I can't refer you to a specific issue.

Pedro

[Bibliophile 13]

I like figured wood for accents, or for focal points. I think figured panels in plain frames or figured drawer fronts are really cool. I also think that figured wood should be used with some rhythm--that is, for more than just a single element. So if I were building something with a single drawer, I wouldn't use figured wood on the front, unless I also had some frame and panel construction and could use figured wood in the panels. And if there were more than one drawer, then figured fronts would probably look better.

[EricU]

I like plain wood and I like gaudy figure.  If you mix the two, it is a bit more work to make it make sense.  Historically, people would put fancy grain on a panel or other feature and frame it with plainer wood.