Mahogany

[user 19915]

What's it worth a old gent was giving this timber away and tells me it's Mahogany and he bought the
mahogany and yew at the saw mills & craft supplies in Radstock!!
Anyway me being a big softy' i just bought it from him after a little of persuasion he accepted the money i give him for it and i am not saying what i paid him yet But i just could not see the timber going in the skip or fire as most of you know i have sold most of my tools so i will be selling it on and hoping i haven't been over generous with what i paid him so called mahogany size 2 in thick 15 wide and 50 tall i realise its still dust and needs better photo's Any suggestions on how i can find out if it 's mahogany ?
Alan

 

[graduate_owner]

Why have you sold your tools Mock? I know you sold your Startrite band saw to go for a Record ( I bought the Startrite off you). Have you given up on woodworking?

K

 

[user 19915]

Hi Keith funny enough i kept the record bandsaw and a mitre saw sold my planner thicknesser '' and startrite table saw '' plus my axminster dust extractor and a few odds and sods how are you both ?

 

[custard]

so called mahogany

There's every chance that's Brazilian Mahogany. These are a couple of blocks of timber that have been rattling around in my workshop for donkey's years.

They're board ends from thick slabs of Brazilian Mahogany, still carrying the John Boddy timber yard stamp and the board price. Today decent salvaged boards of Brazilian Mahogany sell for well over £100 a cubic foot, with thicker boards commanding a further premium as they're now very rare.

 

[user 19915]

don't know if this makes any difference but i just spoke to the old gent and he said it was legally imported from the Philippines.. from Charltons Timber in Radstock.

 

[Rob Platt]

if the first piece has come from the Philippines maybe Malaysian blackwood which can be a lot lighter than African blackwood. I wouldn't put any money it.
all the best
rob

 

[user 19915]

Any suggestions on how i can find out if it 's mahogany ? anybody

 

[Chrispy]

Not trying to be funny but it could easily be Philippine Mahogany, perhaps not so good as Brazilian but still good.

 

[user 19915]

How can i tell can i take a piece somewhere to test it ? or send a piece away ? anyone on here fancy a challenge or even two or three of you all depends on how big a piece you would need of course and what it would cost me to post it to you all Alan
The old gent i had it from tells me i left the longest piece behind #-o #-o and i don't want to throw more money away if it's not Mahogany

 

[ColeyS1]

How can i tell can i take a piece somewhere to test it ? or send a piece away ? anyone on here fancy a challenge or even two or three of you all depends on how big a piece you would need of course and what it would cost me to post it to you all Alan

Just use it yourself and save yourself the hassle ! What are you hoping to achieve by finding out its exact original GPS origin ?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[user 19915]

I don't do a lot i have sold most of my machines i saved it from the skip or fire wood and give him a few quid well more than a few quid for it after a little persuasion' and i would sell it on to some one would would do something with it rather than burn it and make my money back i hope plus a little more and split the difference with him

 

[Chrispy]

The Philippine Mahogany that I know of is also known as Luan or Meranti quite a low grade hardwood used for Joinery so if it's that then no great fortune afraid, but never say never it maybe something else.Chris

 

[ColeyS1]

I guess if someone has a specific allergy to a certain type of mahogany then it could be worth identifying the exact species, other than that I don't think it's worth the hassle tbh

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[user 19915]

That's my problem i can't sell it as mahogany if i am not !100/percent sure'' i think ill just fetch the other piece and see if i can sell it on and get my money back my heart was in the right place i suppose Alan

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Not trying to be funny but it could easily be Philippine Mahogany, perhaps not so good as Brazilian but still good.

There's no mahogany native to the Philippines. The genus Shorea does grow in that area and within that there are roughly seventy species sold as timber with commercial names such as meranti, seraya, lauan, as you mention later, further described by additional words such as dark, red, white, and yellow. In the past some timber merchants used to describe some of the harder, darker and redder species within the Shorea genus as Philippine mahogany, primarily I think because of the superficial resemblance to Swietenia macrophylla, aka American mahogany. I haven't come across a timber merchant calling any of the Shorea species Philippine mahogany for a long time, two decades or more probably, but there are maybe one or two out there still doing so. Slainte.

 

[Setch]

Unless you serve it to a lab for examination and identification, you'll not get a conclusive ID.

One musical instrument members site had a long standing policy of deleting "what wood is this" threads as it was so difficult to ID wood conclusively after out ceases being a tree, at least via a picture.

Smell, texture and colour can get you a pretty good guess, but there is so much variation within species that much more then that is just informed speculation.

 

[user 19915]

Just to finish off

 

[Ttrees]

Lets see some more pics of the grain Alan
Couldn't possibly get an ID from those piccys that far away, and that rough.
plane a few swipes to get an idea of how big the pores are long grain
you might as well plane up the tangental and radial surfaces if you are keen to know.
Is it softish for a hardwood ?
Probably meranti if so....or what I'd call meranti
Planes nicely and gives some blisters on their skin! , I am aware of this and had an inkling that it was a culprit
when planing mixed iroko and meranti boards
I get a mild tingling from on the lips from the iroko, but the meranti make me go into overdrive reaction-wise
to the iroko also, so I won't touch it until I make my iroko bench at the very least.
making sure to have the cap iron set for full influence is very important now.
Tom

 

[user 19915]

I have no planer or anything to plane it sorry and for some reason when i post photo's my fast stone crashed and i have to rest what size should i re set it ?? practise ps i will cut a piece off with the mitre saw tomorrow
Alan

 

[user 19915]

QUICK SANDING I USED A SMALLER PIECE HOPE THIS HELPS PLUS THE SAWDUST