Mahogany substitute?

[curlywol]

I'm about to make some furniture out of mahogany I have had in stock for a while. I intend to use veneered ply or mdf for the panels, drawer sides etc.
My local stockist has sapele veneered boards and says it is sufficiently like mahogany to mix the two.
Does anyone have experience of using these woods together?

John

 

[Anonymous]

Hi john

I have used both and in many cases you would be hard pressed to tell the difference, especially if you intend to add some stain.

Not absolutelky sure about mixing both in a single project as my 'true' mahogany is a little darker than the Sapele I have

 

[ByronBlack]

I can also vouched for sapele, I mixed it with some mahogany for a console table and it was quite hard to tell the difference, espeically after the finish was applied

 

[curlywol]

thanks for the input.
I do intend to stain the pieces.
Its just that even with the same wood type, veneers and solids can show a big colour variation.

John

 

[JFC]

What mahogany do you have ? Sapele is a mahogany .

 

[Anonymous]

What mahogany do you have ? Sapele is a mahogany .

I thought the general concensus was that what was originally called mahogany is south American (Cuban) whilst sapele and several other species are 'African mahogany' but usually referred to by name rather than the collective noun.

I had this in mind when replying above and didn't think to ask about the origin of the mahogany you have

 

[Chris Knight]

"Mahogany" seems to cover anything in the Meliaceae family these days, whereas I think a better usage is for Swietenia Mahogani (Cuban) and Swietenia Macrophylla (big leaf).

As an aside, I use Khaya as a balancing veneer. It is cheap, can be very good looking depending on cut and staining and is part of the wider family.

 

[Offcut]

From the web

The sapwood is pale yellowish or whitish. The heartwood is pinkish when freshly cut darkening to typical mahogany colour of reddish brown. Sapele is characterised by a marked and regular stripe on the quarter cut face.

Sapele in much harder than African mahogany and is equal in strength to English oak. It dries rapidly with a tendancy to distort quarter sawn material is less likely to degrade in drying.

Uses
The commercially important wood is reminiscent of mahogany, with a distinctive figure, typically applied where figure is important. It is sought after as flooring for its durability and beautiful graining. Among its more exotic uses is that in guitar manufacturing, in the back and sides of acoustic guitar bodies as well as the tops of electric guitar bodies, for example by well known guitar manufacturers such as Ibanez (Japan/USA), Taylor (USA), Martin (USA), Larrivee (Canada) and Esteve (Spain).

Andy