African Mahogany

[miziomix]

Does anyone have experience working with this wood? It's apparently know also as Nigerian, Benin, Lagos or Degema Mahogany, Krala, Mangona, Munyama, Mbaua, Mbawa, Mkangazi..... oh well....

I came across some very pretty billets, with beautiful grain.

Thanks.

 

[pie_man_25]

I've had some experience with it, and it's been pretty darn good. I generally find that with this wood more than others, if you're hand-planing it it will plane very well in one direction and not plane well at all in the opposite direction. Other than that, it's a good alternative to real mahogany.

 

[mikeyswood]

I prefer African over Caribbean.

 

[GBassNorth]

I think I've also heard some people refer to Black Limba as African Mahogany, not sure if that's accurate. If so, it's fairly easy to work with.

 

[miziomix]

Cool I was hoping to hear positive feed backs. I took one piece for testing and it looks very nice. I've noticed that billets vary in overall colour, from slightly more golden to decidedly reddish. It might have to do with be different degrees of dryness.

AFAIK, albeit similar in some ways to Mahogany, Black Limba or Korina is from the family Terminalia superba whereas AM is part of the Meliaceae family therefore a 'genuine or 'real' Mahogany.

 

[Musiclogic]

See my Avatar? That body is Khaya(African Mahogany), it is a pleasure to work with, I have a top going on a new 5er that will just blow away the striping on the bass in my Avatar. It can be absolutely gorgeous, works much like Genuine(South American)Mahogany, sands beautifully, and like it's South American/Central American counterpart is slightly porous. It has become one of my favorite woods to use.

 

[dremy2006]

I love me some AM.!.. awesome wood to work with... and this piece was light..looks good under oil finish too...

 

[T2W]

Khaya is definetely a real Mahogany, and definetely not Black Limba... In the Khaya family alone there are 7 species. If I recall correctly there are over 500 species in the entire mahogany family. having worked with literally thousands of feet of Sapele, Sipo, Honduran and Khaya in the window and door industry, I have become sold out to Sapele, more than Khaya... I can hardly tell the difference as far as looks, and workability is also about the same, however I find Sapele is a little more stable, and less tearout too which is amazing !

 

[Stone Age]

Good stuff. Not as soft or light as honduran from what I've seen, but it works just fine.

 

[FBB Custom]

The swietenia I have used has worked more easily and been more stable than khaya. YMMW. Khaya varies widely in density and often has interlocked grain.

That said, it's a lot cheaper than swietenia and I just bought some today.

 

[Musiclogic]

Here Genuine (swietenia) and Khaya(African - Meliaceae) are about the same price, with the Genuine being about $1.20 bf more, so I feel fortunate that when I want the less weight of the Genuine, I can use it. I have had no stability problems with either, but have had sapele move on me, I think it's more luck of the draw, as I do hand select all of my woods from large lots at my broker, but I am sure Matt does also. I haven't had any tear out problems with Khaya either, but I generally choose for straight grain and not too much cross grain. They are all great woods to work with. I still prefer Khaya for tops, Genuine for body cores and Santos for necks, buit this is these are the applications I have had the best luck with, and that is only my experience.

 

[FBB Custom]

Genuine $10 versus African $6 where I went yesterday. African is $4 if you buy 30bf+ of 4/4 shorts.

I agree, they are all great woods. But swietenia is the most fun to work.

 

[miziomix]

Wonderful... I'll find some time this week to return to the mill and choose a few billets. Then I'll post some pictures. thanks. Interesting, as always.

 

[Musiclogic]

Genuine $10 versus African $6 where I went yesterday. African is $4 if you buy 30bf+ of 4/4 shorts.

I agree, they are all great woods. But swietenia is the most fun to work.

LOL Matt, the most fun is when you are emptying your dust collector 3 times in a week, That's when you're really having the most fun.....LMAO or at least I am.

 

[miziomix]

There you go. I went to the lumber yard yesterday and bought a billet of AM. Planed and sanded just enough to show the grain. the area is wet with mineral spirit. Looks really nice, doesn't it?

They have a few billets left from a very old supply. Some quartersawn, some flatsawn. I'm probably going to confiscate the loot

Does anyone have preferences as far as grain orientation goes? I'm going to use it primarily for bodies.

Thanks

 

[FBB Custom]

The ribbon figure shows on radial surfaces, so, I think I'd clean them out of the quartersawn wood first.

 

[Musiclogic]

The ribbon figure shows on radial surfaces, so, I think I'd clean them out of the quartersawn wood first.

Precisely!!!