Thread: Khaya (African mahogany)

Originally Posted by Exador

Have any of you lot played with this stuff at all? I'm just about to pick up a largish specimen from the Botanical Gardens here in Brissy. The heartwood is a pinkish colour and the sapwood is very pale cream. It's very flexible and looks like it might be OK for turning, as well as furniture and the like.

No first hand experience, but khaya is used in instrument building for the same things as other mahoganies: acoustic guitar backs/sides, electric guitar bodies. Sometimes for necks, especially laminated with something like maple.

Originally Posted by rockola

No first hand experience, but khaya is used in instrument building for the same things as other mahoganies: acoustic guitar backs/sides, electric guitar bodies. Sometimes for necks, especially laminated with something like maple.

Thanks for that. I might look into getting some kiln dried. Thanks for the nice plug on the other thread, as well.

I'll pull some info from the PROSEA (Plant Resource of South East Asia) Timber Volumes I have, and post it tonight.

Sorry Craig, the books aren't with me so I can't post that info.

Originally Posted by Clinton1

Sorry Craig, the books aren't with me so I can't post that info.

Not a worry, thanks Clinton. I've found a fair bit on the net anyway and will post some pics when I slab it up.

Hi

I have made a (large) table from it, it’s reasonably common in Darwin. It has a light red colour and golden streaks through it. I oiled it up with organ oil's hard burnishing oil and it is magnificent. I am in the process of re-oiling it at the moment, should be finished in a few days, and if your interested I'll take a pic and post it.

While the golden streaks really enhance the overall result, they are not consistent so be prepared for non uniform finish (I actually view this as a plus not a problem).

It stands up to humidity changes pretty well, I move around a bit, and so far there has been no major problems with splitting etc from environments like the humidity of Darwin’s wet to the dry of Canberra, but it did take a while to dry completely, but be patient, its worth the wait. Mine has a few patches of rot in it, they seem localized and I used a paint on penetrating mix from Bunning’s (I cant remember its name) which seems to have halted it. It was reasonably easy to work, but I found the wood dust quite “bitter” and unpleasant, I have read recently on a link for here somewhere that its not very good for you (the dust). I also have a chopping/cheese board made from it which hasn’t poisoned me yet.

That’s all I can think of of the top of my head but if you have any other specific questions please ask, and I’ll pass on what I know.

just a q, how did u come to get some form the botanical gardens ?
and in chunks large enough for turing...?

good score i'd say....

any chance of a small 16 cm smaple peice for the collection ?

cheeeeeeeers
john

Originally Posted by TJH

Hi

I have made a (large) table from it, it’s reasonably common in Darwin. It has a light red colour and golden streaks through it. I oiled it up with organ oil's hard burnishing oil and it is magnificent. I am in the process of re-oiling it at the moment, should be finished in a few days, and if your interested I'll take a pic and post it.

That would be great, thanks mate. I can't find a tremendous amount of info on it, other than it seems to be an important timber tree in parts of Africa. The coulour is just fantastic though, judging from the cut ends.

Originally Posted by reeves

just a q, how did u come to get some form the botanical gardens ?
and in chunks large enough for turing...?

good score i'd say....

any chance of a small 16 cm smaple peice for the collection ?

cheeeeeeeers
john

More than chunks, mate , lovely big log and 2 small ones. As to how, it's down to a council tree crew that don't like to see things go to waste. If there's something especially interesting, they let me know and I pick it up. Wins all round, as it helps their budget and I get some lovely timber to mill. Mind you, I've ended up with rubbish on occasion, too, but them's the breaks.

I'll send you a little sample after I cut it up, but that may be a little while...