what a mistaka to maka

sunnybob · 14 Apr 2016

Went to the only place i know that sells smaller pieces of hard wood rather than 5 metre 1/4 ton planks. Its a dingy corner of a large warehouse that holds all the exotic stuff. Found 4 pieces of mahogany about 20cm x 70 cm x 3cm.
Perfect for small boxes.
Took them to the front counter to pay, and was amazed when the guy said "iroku". I havent worked with that before but in the rough sawn state it looked similar to mahogany so I bought it.
Got it home, sawed a piece and smoothed a side. Spread a bit of oil on it to see the colour, and its orange!.

'er indoors didnt like it (I'm making a big jewellery box for her).
So back I go tomorrow, this time I'm taking a torch with me.

Any special things I can do with iroku to use it up?

marcros · 14 Apr 2016

can you not dye it?

Bale · 14 Apr 2016

I made some garden furniture out of mine, but I doubt you've got enough for that. The orangeness goes to a dark reddy-brown with time if you oil it. Outside and unfinished it will weather to a grey, like teak. It can be used in place of teak. Birdbox or bird table maybe?

Pete

RobinBHM · 14 Apr 2016

Is it iroko? -im guessing not as that is not orange. Its usually from straw yellow to deep chocolate brown.

if it is iroko, it will change colour very quickly, the straw colour will darken to brown in sunlight even in a day. I once did a garden seat in iroko and while working left a spanner and a square on the seat -when I tidied up at the end of the day they had left a clear outline in the wood....oops

Phil Pascoe · 14 Apr 2016

marcros":2q1zjk8a said:
can you not dye it?

If it is iroko, probably not very successfully as it's oily.

sunnybob · 14 Apr 2016

Hmmm, definitely not enough to make furniture with.
Didnt even think of dying it.
i shall have to check further tomorrow (its night time here now).
maybe my "orange" is a bit of an overstatement. yellow to dark brown would be a good description. a couple years ago I got some Meranti wood. This reminds me of that a lot.

I'll leave a lump in the sun tomorrow and see what happens. If it doesnt change, I can use it for other bits and pieces.
I definitely need a brown or maybe red wood for the project.