I’m working on a project for my daughters, but of course, I started way too late. I also didn’t realize that I didn’t have quite enough wood for the project, and wood prices in my area are incredibly expensive right now so I’m trying to avoid buying more at this time. However, I do have some maple and wenge boards that if I mix together I will have just enough to complete the project.
My question is what should I stain the maple to complement the wenge wood? The maple just looks too light up against the wenge for my taste. The wenge is so nice, that I was just going to oil it, so I just want to figure out what the best complementary stain I could use on the maple.
Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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For me, the answers to these questions would greatly depend on how much of each species is used (might be used)...and where? Why don't you post a drawing of your design clearly showing where each of the species would be used? That would be a great place to start.
The project is basically a planter-style box. They want a nightlight in their room, and I'm designing the electronics now using LED lights, motion sensors, and remote control. The LED lights are going to light a piece of acrylic.
Since I'm adding external sensors for the motion control and the remote (which are black in color) I wanted to hide them as much as possible in the grain of the wenge. Basically, I'm making a stripe of wenge in the center around the rectangular shape. The maple would be on top and bottom of the wenge stripe.
I would attach a drawing but I haven't drawn it out yet; however, it's still vaporware at this point while I finish the electronic components.
Trying to make maple look like wenge is an exercise in futility. And even if you stain it to match today, they will age very differently.
If it were me, I'd design it to make the contrasting colors a design feature.
Short of that, you'll have to experiment a little with stains. The pictures and samples they show will color different woods in different ways. Trying to match something is always a little bit of trial and error.
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