I purchased about 40 bd ft of what I was told was Honduran Mahogany. The old timer I bought from claimed that he has had it since the 60’s. Most boards are 12” and wider. He has another 100 board feet that he is offering me for $400 . I am new to the game. I know $4 bd ft is a decent price for African , and an insanely good price for Honduran. When something is too go to be true it usually is. Here are a few of photos of a small piece that I milled and applied a single coat of shellac to a small portion. Is this in fact Honduran?
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Short of sending a sample to a dendrologist, it's impossible to say. Antiques experts have famously guessed wood species wrong, on highly scrutinized pieces, for centuries -- until scientists double checked.
And, the identical tree species, grown in different spots, will yield very different wood.
To me, it doesn't matter very much. Those are nice widths, at a great price. If the grain is pleasing, I'd buy it.
Thanks! I hate the idea of someone lying to me to get the upper hand, but a local hardwood seller has African for $5.75 a bd foot. Either way it is probably a win.
It definitely looks like the real deal to me personally, but I'm certainly no expert. I just love my mahogany woods. It's not that far fetched to find Honduran Mahogany, because most the easily found varieties are "group" labeled as Honduran Mahogany if it falls within the "Swietenia macrophylla" classification. These are usually farmed on plantations now to prevent extinction. If they would have said it was Cuban Mahogany, then you should definitely question it, because it's not as readily available because it was overly harvested and faced extinction around the late 1930's- early 1940's I believe. Overall, if it's not something specifically requested from a client or covering a large area that would be easily noticed, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've remodeled 30' - 130' yachts that have had the most peculiar clients over thier Mahogany interior, yet completely forgot about how peculiar they were the instant their eyes saw the finished product. Just make sure they all match in color and grain, if you're using multiple panels! There's really not a big enough difference between the prices, within this species, to stress over otherwise. I've attached a picture & link that may help you in the future, but I have no doubt that whatever finish you apply, it's going to be gorgeous, regardless!
https://www.wood-database.com/honduran-mahogany/#pics
Looks like Honduran, but like John said; until you actually check...
Mahogony, like many other types of wood, can be from many different species, or sub-species of tree. If I remember correctly, African mahogany isn't really a mahogany at all.
Heck, you can't actually buy mahogany from Honduras anymore. A couple decades ago you could get mahogany 2-3 feet wide, but the ecological impact was huge. Rain forests don't replenish fast enough.
Regardless, $4 is a steal!
Honduran, African or from the moon, either way $4 bf is either going to be a really good deal or one hell of a steal of a deal. At 12+" wide It sounds like it was probably sawed pretty well and you should get lots of good material out of them. As long as they're not all twisted and bowed to hell, go for it.
$4 a board foot rough sawn is about what I pay for cherry. If you like the wood and want to use it (probably the key part of this), I'd say buy it.
Honduran or Cuban mahogany usually refers to the non-plantation stuff with about 50-80 rings per inch. The only legal source I know of is from an organisation that rescued "drowned" logs of mahogany from the rivers of Belize, where they sank a couple of hundred years or so ago when being heavily logged by shipwrecked or marooned British sailors!
Greenerlumber.com (not a secure htpps website, by the way).
It wasnae cheap! In fact, it cost loadsadollars. Still, if you wanted the real stuff.
That photo is not really enough to identify the timber you ask about but it looks most like sapele or utile to me, not mahogany. The price is all wrong too.
Lataxe
Many years ago I purchased some "wormy Cuban Mahogany" from a wood dealer in Atlanta. He was able to get his hands on some CM from a salvaged ship that was sunk by a German U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico during WWII. The ship and wood remained submerged and undiscovered for many years. When it was finally salvaged they found that due to the tides and currents in the water the logs had rolled around in the hull until they became cigar shaped. They also found that it was full of worm holes hence the "wormy Mahogany" name.
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