Which Woods Pair Well Together?

When discussing hardwood lumber, it can be a little overwhelming. Hardwoods are either considered Domestic or Exotic. Domestics are anything grown in North America and exotic hardwoods are grown outside of North America.

If you’re getting ready to start a project that consists of more than one species of wood, you may ask yourself which types of woods go well together. Maybe what woods would look good together. 

Ultimately, this comes down to personal preference, but we would have some recommendations. 

The first thing is machinability. Find some woods that machine similarly to each other. Harder more dense woods machine differently than softer woods. We recommend finding wood species that machine in a similar way. This ensures the final project has a similar texture and hardness. 

Even though hardwoods are labeled as such, they’re not all “hard”. Some are more forgiving and do not require super sharp tools to mill, machine, and work with. 

The second aspect worth considering is simply which types of woods look well together. Usually woodworks go with a contrasting look. This could be in the form of a darker wood and a light wood. Maybe a simpler wood grain paired with a more wild wood grain.  

When considering contrasting wood grains, we recommend a few options. 

Purple Heart & Padauk

Purple Heart offers a darker, more dull appearance, while the Padauk is a brighter orange color that has more vibrance to it. 

Dark Walnut & Cherry

Both of these are domestic hardwoods and machine similarly. These two wood species have similar hardness ratings and look great together. The cherry is a lighter more pale color that can darken over time to a deeper red color. The dark walnut generally will remain consistently dark and provide a great contrast to other species of lighter wood.