Composing grain for best effect in furniture

[Mike Brady]

I would like to know your opinions about straight vs. curly or quilted grain when laying out the various panels for cabinetry.  Let me throw in my two cents about the topic:  

I am not a person who feels that only fancy grained woods are worthy when building projects.  I think some woodworkers over-use curly woods almost to a point of distraction.  My main quest here is what your feelings are about having straight grain in the carcase panels and then perhaps having a raised panel in curly wood for the doors or drawers. 

Bryan Boggs, the chair maker, commented in a class once that he uses fancy grains very sparingly, if at all.  He feels that bit of sapwood or unusual grain can make a piece look special without being distracting.  Right now I am building a small display cabinet in cherry.  This piece already features proud dovetails at all corners and some small through-mortises from a horizontal panel that forms the top of an opening for a drawer.  I have some curly cherry for a drawer front, but I'm thinking that just a plain drawer front would be better; letting the joinery be the focal point.  Any thoughts?

[AHill]

I guess it depends on what you (or your customer) envisions for your piece.  Is it to be the center of attention?  Is it to be period-authentic?  Period furniture used curly maple quite frequently.  It's pretty much standard on violins and cellos.  OTOH, some furniture needs to be more muted.  Shaker, for instance.  Mission style furniture (unless you consider QS oak ray flecks too ornamental).  I don't mind using exotic woods or figured wood in boxes.  I have a nice tool cabinet whose panels and drawer fronts are curly maple.  The drawers on my work bench cabinet are curly maple.  Tables and bookcases are without figure.

[Steve N]

First, and I think foremost when sourcing your wood, don't just grab stock willy nilly. Look carefully for grain and color matches even if that really cool one doesn't match anything even closely. Then I just lay whole boards next to each other looking for pleasant matches of color and grain, once I find them I separate the best matches into lots with "hopefully" enough wood to do both sides. You can get a bolder pattern for fronts and tops then, depends on the look you want. A set of 5 pieces you really get stretched a lot more then on onesies. The biggest problem I have is upright frames for drawers, and the horizontal drawers. There I frequently end up changing a time or 5. It sure is a good reason to overbuy stock for any one project, so at least you are talking about the same lot.

Good question, it will be interesting to see what others do.

[YSU65]

I am with you regarding over use of figured wood.  I have used it in panels and for tops of small tables.  I usually use QS or rift for structural items.  I use it as a focal point.  Personal choice.

I was at a craft store where a chest of drawers was on sale, all tiger maple.  I looked at it like a typical ww'er.  Stunning craftsmanship, I could not see ANY sloppy joints or finish problems anywhere.  But it was just too much tiger for me.  Personal choice.

[rwe2156]

Its personal preference but yes, I also believe keep the figured wood as a focal point like a drawer front.

Over use definitely is a distraction.  All one needs do is look at the classic pieces.

[Mike Brady]

There is a guy in our woodworking club who uses only figured wood, mostly maple, in his projects.  Not only that, he uses the Beall buffing sequence after many coats of Watco oil.  He refers to this as "my (his) finish", and actually gives classes on the technique.  This is fine....each to his own..but once I brought something to a club meeting for a "show and tell" segment that we feature at each meeting.  Afterward, he came to look closer at what I had done and after a few moments he complemented me on my work, then added: "Too bad you went to all that trouble and didn't use figured wood".  I think it was a shaker side table; I don't remember.  I never forgot his comment though.

[TomFromStLouis]

Overuse of figured wood is like overuse of contrasting woods: it happens when the maker is slightly more garish in their tastes than we are. Still, I think if the design is simple and clean enough, an entire small chest of drawers in tiger maple could be stunning. This is certainly a subjective thing with few hard and fast rules.

As to the OP, I do not find curl in cherry pronounced enough to make one drawer front out of it and have that highlight a design. For just one drawer in a smaller cabinet consider QS cherry: quietly spectacular. You have to look closely.

[Steve N]

lil

Funny when Dave Diaman posts his Curly pieces he gets pages of OMG, that is AWESOME. I think like anything it's use is correct in some pieces, and not so much in others. Many of the historic pieces our Forefathers made were all Curly, and they still draw crowds to look at them. I think that your own likes should guide the pieces you make for yourself. If you are skilled enough to have paying customers, their likes should drive your work.

My initial response was to the title of this thread, which is misleading. Perhaps Figured yes, or Figured no, would have better described what the OP was looking for. I usually try to answer the question asked, rather than fall into the pit of agreeing, but I'm contrary like that

[Gary™]

Even in Red Oak the use of grain can take an average piece and make it better. Notice the grain running through the front of this desk.

[Paul K. Murphy]

I don't think there is an answer to this question, at least not a one size fits all answer.
Should food be garnished with catsup? Should food contain onions?
With so many articles of cabinetry and furniture, so many styles, there are many answers.
Using highly figured stock for a shaker piece is a choice, but it is a choice that ignores (deliberately or otherwise) that shaker furniture was intended to be plain.
On 18th and 19th century (American) pieces, the show faces are the fronts first, and the top last. That's right, on many the sides aren't even treated like show faces. It isn't uncommon to see showy wood on the front of a chest of drawers with a very modest top and sides.
It really is a matter of personal preference.
The guy who made that comment to Mike Brady really should learn to hold his tongue. What a condescending remark, and all the more ironic for a shaker piece.
A meaningful aside...
I have seen Bureau Mazarin (most commonly lavished with marquetry) constructed without any marquetry at all. We're talking about Boulle style pieces here! They looked great, and it worked, because the artisan had replaced the elaborate Boulle or Gole marquetry with some dynamite, matched, figured veneer. If they had just chosen basswood or poplar, it wouldn't really serve to fill the missing space where marquetry was supposed to be. I've seen those plainest of the plain examples too.