Replies

1. 
   ring | Jul 24, 2006 07:35am | #1

   The name "mahogany" gets applied to literally dozens of species that bear only vague similarity to mahogany.  The mahoganies I have worked with tend to have a pungent smell, but certainly not offensive or unpleasant.  I am extremely skeptical about crating being made from Hondouras mahogany or the like.  But if you want to really know what you've got, then you'll need to examine the endgrain with a magnifier and use a manual of wood identification.  At least you'll narrow it down to the correct family.

   DR

2. 
   Rich14 | Jul 25, 2006 01:01am | #2

   I don't know how many times I've heard from people who have gotten wood that was used for crating material, thinking it's a "find."

   Nothing could be further from the truth. The stuff is usually terrible quality to begin with, then it's full of debris (sand, tar, concrete dust, nails, etc) that's been ground into the wood to incredible depth, making any kind of clean up or surface treatment by jointer or planer impossible.

   Sounds like your stuff is in even worse shape. Why mess with it any longer. I would dsipose of it. No telling what's growing in that wood.

   Rich

3. 
   cadiddlehopper | Jul 25, 2006 04:41am | #3

   Why not buy a small piece of the real stuff then plane & cut it yourself & compare them? What you have could be most anything. Santos mahogany is the only one that should have much of a smell. It also dulls cutters quickly. I have recycled Asian "mahoganies" from motorcycle crates. I cut away all nail holes & rusty spots & scrape it with a wire brush. If it still looks suspicious, I don't use it. I have never had a useful piece that was very long. It is generally dry enough, but I check it with a moisture meter to be sure. Some of the crate wood is quite interesting. I have a 2x2 that is pale yellow, very hard & heavy, but almost grainless. Mysterious stuff!

   Cadiddlehopper

4. 
   skidkid | Jul 28, 2006 02:12am | #4

   ZABO,

   Occasionally I'll get dimension mahogany while beachcombing and even covered lightly with marine growth and baking in the tropical sun it doesn't smell badly and it cleans up nicely.

   I would sticker this crate wood outside for a while; see if the smell goes away; meanwhile try and identify it a la Hoadley.

   I dismantled a coal bin once made of tidewater cypress and it stunk for a while but the wood was not reddish blue like mahogany.

   Be interesting to find out what wood you have.

   Pasa bon noche.

    

5. 
   KeithNewton | Jul 28, 2006 07:27pm | #5

   Spanish Cedar looks like mahogany, and has an unpleasant odor, although not fishy, but more bitter spice.

   If you have been sanding, and are willing to touch a moist finger to the dust, then give it a taste, if it is really bitter, then it is likely the S cedar.

6. 
   temujin | Jul 30, 2006 05:23am | #6

   that fishy smell that you are getting is probably fish. Places in South America and Africa, where all the exotic wood comes from,  they could very well be transported by river. It the river stinks because of any kind of waste, the wood that stays in the river, absorbs that smell. I heard this from a master carpenter. And that wood probably came from a fishing place in South America.

1. 
   ZABO | Jul 31, 2006 01:02am | #7

   Thanks for all of the replies. The wood that I'm getting comes from oil drilling sites in South America, I was not told where. From what I was told the wood is sometimes cut at the well site and sawed up into lumber right there. I think they use a chainsaw attachment to make planks. However I'm told that they also use lumber from the drilling company's main yard. The wood I have is pretty rough but it seems to be better than something  which was cut in the jungle. It is used to crate up drilling equipment which is shipped into Houston. It seems to be quite dry and I have had it stacked in my shop and also in a barn for a few months. I have no way of telling when it was cut but I know it had been setting in the yard in Houston for a while. It doesn't have any smell until it's cut. I burned some of the scrap stuff and It had a bad odor also. It looks pretty good and dosen't smell after setting a while so I think I'll use it for something.

   Thanks ZABO

   Edited 7/30/2006 6:06 pm ET by ZABO