Thread: Tell me about mahogany...

might be wrong but isnt african a totally different species and not a true mahogany

No good looking here in Australia, 'Red Mahogany' is a eucalypt.
'Rose Mahogany' is a rainforest tree, Rosewood, Dysoloxum Fraseranum,
Forestry Qld has recently announced an auction of Indian Mahogany.
Brazilian mahogany, West Indian mahogany.Honduran mahogany...It's a much bastardised name, but they are all beautiful timbers.
Greg

Originally Posted by Greg Ward

No good looking here in Australia, 'Red Mahogany' is a eucalypt.
'Rose Mahogany' is a rainforest tree, Rosewood, Dysoloxum Fraseranum,
Forestry Qld has recently announced an auction of Indian Mahogany.
Brazilian mahogany, West Indian mahogany.Honduran mahogany...It's a much bastardised name, but they are all beautiful timbers.
Greg

Brazilian, West Indian (from the West Indies), and Honduras Mahogany are all generally the same species; Swietenia Macrophilia. There are some variations in properties between them due to local climate variations and different soil chemistries etc, but they are all pretty much the same thing. There is also a lot of plantation grown Swietenia Macrophilia available from India and Sri Lanka, I know another guitar builder in the UK who has used them all and says the cheaper plantation stuff is actually better, as it's more uniform in quality.

Of course the african stuff isn't bad either and can be had with a wicked fiddle back figure. Depends on what you want it for. I'd be more happy with the honduras stuff for building guitars, but for general furniture making? I'd go with with the cheaper african stuff, especially if you're going to stain it anyway.

Thanks.

Paul B, actually it's going to be used to make hardwood cabinets for guitar amps. So the sound (density, resonance) is important, but not as much as it would be in a guitar body or neck. I mainly want it to look like what I think of mahogany to look like, and it's hard to tell how it will stain by just looking at the wood (at least for me).

I'll go with the African, here in the states it's about $3.20 a bf and $5 or $6 for the figured African, while the Honduras stuff (also called 'genuine') is about 3 times as much at $7.75.

Since you've mentioned "genuine" mahogany, the real genuine mahogany is Swietenia mahagoni or cuban mahogany. This stuff is the bee's knees. But very, very hard to get, and when it is available it's around $US35 per board foot. I didn't mention it before 'cause it's so bloody expensive if you can get it. Some people claim the hunduras stuff is genuine mahogany, but that's just marketing talk. I'll try to post a picture of a cuban mahogany guitar (not one of mine tho )