Replies

1. 
   JHARDE02 | Oct 17, 2002 07:49pm | #1

   Honduran mahogany is one of my favorite woods to work.  Lightweight, strong, stiff, and machines well.  I've made a king size, Greene & Greene inspired bed, a 5 drawer dresser and two end tables out of the stuff. 

   After visiting the Gamble house in Pasadena too many times and buying numerous books on G&G furniture, I've found that Minwax, antique maple gel stain most closely approximates the 100 year old look of their furniture.  

   The more I use the wood, the more I like it.  I can get it here in SoCal for about $5 a board foot or so, a little more for the 8/4 stuff. 

   Good luck!!!!!

   John

2. 
   Marcello | Oct 17, 2002 09:15pm | #2

   Jim,

   I have done small pieces with mahogany using Wipe On Poly.  It is a simple finish to use but somewhat two dimensional.  I switched to blond shellac and the difference was unbelievable.  Sand to 320 grit paper, dampen the piece with a wet paper towel to raise the grain, let dry and resand w/ 320; apply tung oil, wait about 5 minutes, remove the excess and apply the shellac; apply four or five coats of blond shellac, rubbed w/ 0000 steel wool in between coats.  This gives the wood a three dimensional depth and radiance I have not seen on mahogany.  Sometimes a grain filler can be used for a mirror-like finish.  I have not done reproduction work, so I am not familiar with that type of period finishing, but I am sure you will have lots of small left over pieces to make small boxes or containers to experiment with the shellac afterwards.

   Have fun. Marcello

3. 
   RW | Oct 18, 2002 05:20am | #3

   It takes stains very well, and also can benefit from pore fillersif you want a smooth finish. I did a fairly large blanket chest out of a single board of 5/4 Honduran for a client a few years back. He said he wanted it shiny. I said "like what, just shiny or grand piano?" He chose grand piano, so I used pore filler and oil stain, multiple coats of gloss nitrocellulose lacquer and rubbed it out. It was a rare beauty. Point being, mahogany stains & finishes as well as it machines, and you'll have a great time working with it. I don't doubt that many finishes can look good on it. That being said, your first question to self should be "what do I want it to look like?" and do it. Several real good finishing books out there (Jewitt, Dresdner, Flexner) which would expand some horizons for you and all would comment on various finishes, pore filling (if you like that route), rubbing out finishes, etc.

4. 
   PlaneWood | Oct 18, 2002 05:22am | #4

   Hmmm, well, I really can't think of a finish that you CAN'T use!

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
   PlaneWood

1. 
   bhamster | Oct 18, 2002 07:20am | #5

   Thanks for the info.  Funny I posted this a couple of weeks ago, no responses, then wham 4 excellent comments!  Again thanks, I'll post pictures when it's completed.

   Jim