Spanish Cedar has also been naturalized to grow on plantations in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Spanish Cedar is popular for use in a variety of applications including exterior millwork and trim, siding, window and door manufacturing, architectural panels, and cigar humidors. The South and Central American softwood is especially popular because of its resistance to attack by termites. It is very well suited for exposure to outdoor elements. The heartwood is a reddish brown hue and can contain small streaks of gum.
Click here to learn more about Spanish Cedar. Sapele Entandrophragma cylindricum is a moderately priced substitute for traditional Genuine Mahogany. Sapele lumber is indigenous to several countries in Africa; most of J. The color of Sapele is a dark brownish red and can sometimes move into a purplish red hue. Gibson McIlvain separates our Sapele according to flat sawn cathedral and quarter sawn straight grain. Occasionally, we get in a shipment with several highly figured Pomelle boards.
Click here to learn more about Sapele. I have no immediate plans for another book at the moment. Would you know of any products that will allow me to maintain the colour while protecting the wood? I absolutely love it like this also attached a close up of the other random, softer wood in case you have any advice for it. The main desk top appears to be black walnut. Not sure on the smaller piece, but it could be a type of mahogany.
Thanks, Eric. Thank you again for your help. But if you mean change in regards to color, then water based poly is the most neutral and colorless. Basically, stay away from oils if you want to keep color as neutral as possible.
Most people prefer to oil walnut though, since it is already a fairly dark wood, and the oil gives it warmth. Hello, I purchased these lovely Henredon nightstands from Facebook Marketplace. The ad says they are walnut?
I would be so grateful for your opinion on the type of wood. I thought they looked like mahagony. I just love them and want to treat them with respect by calling them what they are : Thank you so much! Looks like a very nice walnut to me, if you can show an end grain I can tell you for certain.
Henredon uses pretty good wood and this just looks like very nice walnut. Good morning. I wonder if you could be so kind as to identify the type of wood this sideboard is. I would very much appreciate your help with this. Thankyou in advance Jenny. Where are you located, or where did this piece come from?
Thankyou for getting back to me so soon. I actually live in Shrewsbury, a small town in Shropshire, in the UK. I worked for a family 18yrs ago and they gave it to me because I would comment on it all the time. Again, they were in Shrewsbury. Perhaps someone with better knowledge of imported or domestics woods in that region and time frame will have a better idea. The piece looks American rather than being native to the UK.
Are there any maker marks on this piece? That info is based on the appearance of the front, better pictures will get you better info. Try to take pics from every side and even underneath if possible. Did the previous owners have any background … Read more ».
Thank you for helping people! I cut out a piece and it really looks like mahogany, now Im curious about what type, my guess is that it looks like african Kaya but could be some other hardwood too.. Pretty heavy and no smell but it has probably been lying there for years… Can you figure it out from my photos? Your piece has regularly banded parenchyma and very large, mostly solitary pores. Otherwise, one possibility might be a Pterocarpus species, but more likely something else. Hi, Thank you very much for your fast reply!
The log has been there for a long time, and the sample I took is from the outer part of the log.. When I compare with Pterocarpus I find it closest to the the Padauk?.. It is a fairly distinct anatomical feature, and rules out a fair number of possibilities, one of which is merbau. Ah ok! Strange enough it has no smell at all when I saw or sand it..
Are there some other identifying methods I could use to find out? You could try checking for fluorescence in a freshly cut area. I have an even better one,, what about Ekki? To me it is the best match of all I have seen, and the popularity in maritime installations could have brought it to the beach….
It looks like a Meliaceae family. Bought this impossibly cheap guitar built in China for a beginner friend and I am amazed by the tone and light weight of both body and neck.
Would need to see a much clearer shot, preferably of the endgrain to tell much more. Have you considered possibly a Shorea species, sometimes known as meranti? They come in all sorts of colors and weights. Great article. This one surprised me once I took all the layers of grime and varnish off. Any help would be appreciated. I took an endgrain shot of the bottom of … Read more ». It does look like a type of mahogany.
To me it most looks like African mahogany in Khaya genus rather than Honduran mahogany in Swietenia genus, based on lack of marginal parenchyma bands in endgrain. You can help support the site by buying one of these resources, designed and published by The Wood Database. The specific links on this site are affiliate links as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases and help support the site at no extra cost to you.
See my page on donating wood samples for more info. Mahogany Mixups: the Lowdown. From the top-notch mahogany of yesterday, one would expect to encounter the following characteristics of the wood: Excellent workability.
Mahogany is known for its cooperative nature and easy sanding and machining, with a Goldilocks-esque balance of density thats just hard enough but not too hard. Excellent stability. Flat pieces will remain flat. Joints and glue-ups will remain intact. In the midst of seasonal changes in humidity, mahogany exhibits minimal shrinkage and swelling. Decent rot resistance. Perhaps not to the same level as Teak or other exotic tropical timbers, but certainly respectable.
Beautiful grain. Mahogany can sometimes be rather plain and almost utilitarian, but on other pieces, it ascends to the heights of sophistication. What antique bombe chest would be complete without exquisite crotch mahogany veneer drawer fronts? Large, clear lumber. Mahogany trees get huge. Cuban Mahogany Swietenia mahogani. Honduran Mahogany Swietenia macrophylla. Honduran Mahogany endgrain 10x. Flatsawn Honduran Mahogany x2.
African Mahogany Khaya senegalensis. African Mahogany endgrain 10x. The Periphery: Meliaceae Along the outermost fringes of what most consider to be called mahogany, there are a handful of other genera and species that are technically related to mahogany: much like the African Mahogany species in the Khaya genus, this somewhat eclectic group of hardwoods are all members of the Meliaceae family.
Sapele Entandrophragma cylindricum Similar to mahogany: Very large trees yield clear quality lumber that resembles genuine mahogany in both appearance and mechanical properties. Sapele endgrain 10x. Bosse Guarea cedrata. Bosse Guarea spp. Spanish Cedar Cedrela odorata Similar to mahogany: Grain can be somewhat similar to genuine mahogany, though color is much paler.
Andiroba Carapa spp. Avodire Turraeanthus africanus Similar to mahogany: Sometimes called White Mahogany, Avodire fits the description well. African Walnut Lovoa trichilioides Similar to mahogany: Despite its common name, African Walnut is not closely related to the true walnuts in the Juglans genus. Outliers: Not in the Family Despite any superficial resemblance to genuine mahogany, there are still a number of wood species that are completely unrelated to any of the mahoganies in the Meliaceae family.
Light Red Meranti Shorea spp. Mountain Mahogany Cercocarpus ledifolius. Are you an aspiring wood nerd? Notify of. These plantations most certainly exceed the natural density of Mahogany trees within a forest, yet the teeming ecosystems that thrive under their high canopies remain.
Once a tree was felled, it was customary to entrust the prodigious task of hauling the logs over these trails, to cattle in the America, and in Africa to man power. Throughout the twentieth century, despite technological advances and the wide use of tractors, it was still often necessary to resort to men or oxen to pull logs from their paths.
Anderson, This practice continues at a rate representative of the size of the mahogany industry today because of the difficult natural terrain and the inherent destructiveness of large machinery on the ecosystem.
Cuban mahogany was in such widespread demand that it could not contest or abate the rate of its commercial consumption. It was desired in a seemingly-limitless number of applications, ranging from furniture, decking and instruments to patrol boats used in World War II.
This species of Mahogany was used by Spanish explorers in the early s to repair their seafaring vessels and construct canoes.
Lamb, Fine pieces of cabinetry constructed from this timber marked the Spanish renaissance. Because tradition in England called for the use of domestic oak and walnut lumber in furniture, Cuban mahogany was not adopted as their preferred wooden medium until circa From then on Swietenia mahagoni was the choice of the royals, officials, elites, businesses, and really anyone who could afford it.
Once adopted by the English, Cuban mahogany almost overnight became the most popular in France and Italy. Aronson, By the early s, furniture pieces made from this wood were even popular in the Americas. The Mahogany tree is a unique species that warrants obvious protection because the same characteristics that bestow its legendary status also sentence it to a life of danger.
As Cuban mahogany slowly evaporated from the commercial marketplace due to price inflation caused by overharvesting and export restrictions, Honduran mahogany developed into the commercially dominant species on a global scale. This type of wood become so prized as a primary material for use in a wide range of high durability and high complexity manufacturing processes, because of its inherent qualities. All of the notable and classic lines of furniture produced in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were produced and sometimes reproduced in beautiful genuine Mahogany.
Mahogany panelling, cabinetry, musical instruments, and even boats embodied the attitude of the era and the spirit with which both the commercial and consumer marketplace viewed the genuine mahogany timber. Military efforts during both World Wars but mainly WWII resulted in the depletion of vast quantities of mahogany, triggering supply constriction.
As supplies dwindled, large segments of demand were being unmet under current market conditions. Illegal logging had always been something that existed since vigilantes had the means to transport felled logs from a remote area to some form of transportation.
These vigilantes could be domestic peoples or extra-territorial plunderers, but for their illegal ventures to succeed they must be able to find a buyer that is not concerned with the source of its material. The supply constriction had the effect of causing industries heavily concentrated on production of Mahogany goods not used in war to be seeking any available source for the lumber they needed.
At this time, certain industrialists began to vocalize the fact that genuine mahogany would be a viable plantation grown tree for centuries to come if not indefinitely. Genuine Mahogany trees began to be grown in commercial and governmental plantations that would ultimately aim to provide a sustainable source of this unique wood for generations to come. Government economic philosophy combined with both commercial and botanical desires to establish plantations of tropical hardwood trees such as genuine Mahogany.
Even the scattered, remote, but majestic Mahogany tree was no match for the pace of 20th and early 21st century industrialization. Beginning in the early 20th century, commercial lumber plantation were beginning to be carved from what was originally large swaths of indigenous land that were now controlled by the local government. In many cases logging was unregulated and illegal logging seems to have taken an irreparable toll on the native habitat of genuine Mahogany.
Placement on Appendix II ensures restrictions are enforced that would prevent the species in question to enter a state where its extinction is looming. The visual beauty on the face of genuine Mahogany became a tradition, and so for most people it is the most familiar characteristic of the wood. To wood technologists, however, wood is a matter of pores, grain, figure, and colour. To a builder of wood furniture and other wooden utilities, it is a matter of physical properties.
In all, Mahogany shows superior characteristics. For example, when you look at the end surface of mahogany the pores show up even to the naked eye as tiny dots or pin pricks.
On more or less longitudinal surfaces, these pores appear as fine pen lines, dashes or dots, according as the cut is with the grain or slightly across it. Although uniformly scattered, the pores vary somewhat in size and some of them appear to contain a dark glistening substance. Looking again at the end section, you will see that Swietenia Mahogany displays concentric growth lines while African mahogany does not.
To produce a tangential surface, the log must be cut at right angles to the radius. On such a surface, the pores show as long and irregularly parallel lines with numerous very short fine dashes appearing between them when observing the wood under a magnifying glass.
These are the end views of the pith rays. In American Mahogany they are staggered. Mahogany is less liable to warping, shrinking, swelling, and twisting than other woods. This is because of its unusual resistance to moisture and atmospheric changes.
Mahogany does not move — it holds its shape.
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