My niece works for an oil drilling co. in Houston and she has given me some crating wood which she says is mahogany. She says that the wood crates come in from Venezuela. I haven’t heard of mahogany coming from that part of South America. Does anyone know anything about this? The wood looks like mahogany. If it looks and quacks like a duck maybe it’s mahogany.
ZABO
Edited 2/19/2006 5:37 pm ET by ZABO
Replies
Mahogany is native to most of Central and South America. There are many different species that resemble Swietenia macrophylla. All species of Swietenia are protected by CITES. Venezuela is known for not following good forestry practices. Mahogany is grown on sustainable plantations now, in many Central American countries. It is often sold as South American Mahogany. You can usually tell mahogany from the Americas because it has worm holes. The plantation mahogany I have used has a bit more ribbon than Honduras. The grain can also be reversing which makes milling difficult. In the rough, it can be oxidized to a very dark purple red. Free wood is good! You may have something interesting to work with regardless of the species.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Edited 2/21/2006 7:33 pm ET by hammer1
Thanks for your reply hammer. I've got quite a bit of the stuff, nice long boards 5/4 and 3/4 x 10 X all in the rough. However a lot of it will vary from 3/4 to 5/4 in the same board but I'll make use of it somehow.
ZABO
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