Thread: wood species

No.

Why do you think it's not "Philippine mahogany", Rusty? That's such a catch-all for so many species from all across S.E Asia both legitimately & not so legitimately traded under that moniker, along with "luan", "meranti" and other names dreamed up to appeal to buyers (or disguise its true origins). One of those pieces at least, looks to me like it could easily be Shorea sp., which is the principle genus in what's traded as Philippine mahogany, but that's not a very useful advance, it's a lot like identifying a piece of wood as a Eucalyptus spp., & thinking you've nailed it!

The question I'd ask the OP is, "why do you ask?" If it's because you want to match the wood to make repairs, then good luck! I haven't used a huge amount of the stuff, but what I have used over the years has varied enormously, from pale, light, almost spongy stuff to one lot of really nice, dense dark brown wood that could actually pass for true mahogany both in working properties & appearance (if you didn't look too closely & critically). There is such variety in the woods sold under the name; you might get lucky & find a close match easily, or you could have a very long search through many piles that don't....

Cheers

Wood ID is risky even with a piece you can touch, smell, weigh, scratch, check the end & all facets of the grain, and even do a burning splinter test. Having a guess from a couple of images of a stained sample is even riskier.

I would not emphatically say no, nor would I be confident in saying its a specific species. The trade names "Balu", "Luan", "Meranti" or "Philippine Mahogany" is a pretty reasonable ID to me.

That's why I said no. To me there is no such thing. The amount of timber species that have been branded as PM is nothing short of rediculous.