Phillipine Mahogany

Timbuks' recent score of a nice beam of Mahogany reminded me of some cants I know about. I just went and looked this morning. They are 38' long, 18" deep, by 12" wide. There are 3 of them. Silly me forgot my plane, so I could not confirm the color. She said these came from Indonesia, I am guessing Phillipine Mahogany. The grain looks nice, areas of ribbon, and just decent stuff. The grain looks like Sweitenia, though if it is from Indonesia, Sweitenia there is plantation grown. There is another 'half' of one of these that has been kept indoors. It has a nice reddish color, like Honduras, I would have guessed it as Honduras, and am still waiting for a phone call as I think his wife may not remember all the details exactly. Another case of trees blown down by typhoon. These folks also used to be wood brokers.

These are available to me 'for a song' They have taken a weather hit, as they have not been stored well. However, for uke necks, the yield would be very high. I know that there is a huge, huge amount of usable wood here.

Does anyone use Phillipine Mahogany for necks? Any reason not to, other than maybe the color? Structurally, my gut says the wood feels fine, it is tough, and as hard as Honduras.(this wood, in the past, I stay away from Phillipine Mahogany, and am not convinced that is what this is.)

I am going back out this weekend to look, with a saw and a plane this time, to dig in and confirm what it actually is. I remember looking about 6 years ago at these, I thought it was Sweitenia, based on the grain, though the color was grey.


Phillipine Mahogany for uke necks? if that is what this is...

Why not? But it could also be nato... And Honduras mahogany plantings were made all over SE Asia; I had some from India at one point. After all, it was "British Honduras" at one point...and at that point, the Brits had India as well. The sun never setting...and all that...

Ok, interesting story at least... The boards are not blow downs. They were cut way back in the wooden ship days for the purpose of ship building, intednded to go to England. When the market for wood dropped out, if I heard correctlly, due the the rise of the iron ships, these trees were left on the forest floor. Being some sort of Mahogany, or similar species, they are still very intact. Going back over in an hour or so to dig in and see what's what.

I do have access to a 32" resaw at my shop location. This could be a fun project...

Nevermind.. whatever it is, it is more dense than Honduras Mahogany, or Spanish Cedar. Another case where the Genus species is what counts. This was called Mahogany. I think it may be Nato, which does have a history in the ship building world, and also fits the other criteria, and happens to be called 'Eastern Mahogany' I have never touched Nato (previously) so have no reference.

The thought of a 38' x 18" x 12" Honduras cant, and 3 of them, that excites me... bummer.. These are BIG boards...... Hope this stuff finds a home someday..
thought for a minute there that I found a lifetime supply of neck blanks, and lots for sale too.

The hunt continues.....

There is still a lot of Swietenia Machrophyllia in North America... However buy Spanish Cedar - forget mahogany.

Yes, Spanish Cedar is what I have been buying, I buy billets when I have a little extra wood money, or when I feel like I can live without food for a while. I figure it is a good thing to start stocking up immediately as much as possible, so the wood will be ready to use. I have decent amount of Sweitenia also, 16/4 leftovers from when I bought a bunch about 17 years ago. The Spanish Cedar feels best. I like how lightweight it is... and good looking, like the smell... yep...

I felt what a heavy neck does to a uke the other day, went into the local music store and looked at their ukes. They were "Greg 'S'" something brand, (written in some bourgeois calligraphic font) a common Indonesian name I am guessing. They felt like war clubs. The tap tone was the same for the soprano, concert, and tenor, a quick and quiet thud. They were not tuned, so I did not give much of a listen. One of the tops had a crack running through it. They were brutal. The price range was $100-$200

Hi Pete,

I was wondering if the cedro, if you had experienced any bleed through?

Seen the horrible mess in humidors they can made....

Terence

Depends which type of Cedar and where it comes from. here in the UK we have a variety from Africa which doesn't bleed.

I hope you guys don't mind a hijack, since you're talking about Mahogany.
I scored some Mahogany-like wood the guy called it 'Sipo' Mahogany, much harder than Honduras.
Any experience?

Uhg...so many different woods are called Philippine mahogany you never know what you're getting. I'm sure there are some good finds out there, but its mostly crap for luthier purposes.
Good thing you know what you're doing Chris. Maybe it would be good wood for some uke stands

I am not sure I could even lift one foot of one of these cants by hand, I do not think so. There is a forklift available along with the resaw, but for the amount of work, unless that stuff was Hondo, it is just not worth the effort, it is less expensive to buy instrument billets. Had it been Sweitenia, I would have had another side income, and I would be celebrating. I first saw these boards about 7 years ago, they are gray, and the weathered grain looks like Mahogany, I was told it is Mahogany. As I did not need it then, they were forgotten about.

This stuff is nice wood, it is not the common soft light greyish brown stuff I recognize as Phillipine Mahogany, it is easily as hard as the very hardest Hondo I have worked with. (which is harder than the softest stuff) It has pretty color, like Honduras, but is too dense. I am forgetting about it again as I type these words..

My personal shop is small, and I am very picky about what 'scrap' I keep, and give away a lot of really nice stuff. I try to be mindful of what it is that I make, and remember not to be a collector. My racks and cubby spaces are messy enough as it is. Learning to build ukes has expanded what I do with my off-cuts, I am really happy about this, cuz there is some cool stuff. If I ever want to make (a) uke stand(s) there is plenty...

My eyes and ears are always open for wood.. Sometimes I think I could probably be happy hiring someone to do the building for me, and just travel the world looking for wood.. actually that's my plan after I make my first mil' buildin' ukes....

Cheers everybody.. sorry for the lame thread... should have called it ' adventures of a mad wood hunter'.....

Chris, I think it is a sickness.

just one more board, then I'll kick... promise.... maybe a couple, if it's really good stuff...

Just build some work benches out of the stuff.

ksquine said:

Uhg...so many different woods are called Philippine mahogany you never know what you're getting. I'm sure there are some good finds out there, but its mostly crap for luthier purposes.
Good thing you know what you're doing Chris. Maybe it would be good wood for some uke stands

Click to expand...

If you're going to state such a strong opinion it might be use to state how you arrived at it.

with all due respect... YOU build some work benches out of it.. If you want it, I can connect you with the owners. I do not want to mess with it. It is too big, and is not in line with what I want to do. It just started snowing here tonight, and Winter will last for 6 months. I did have a thought like it would be a cool foundation for a house.. just a couple pads for the beams, shape the ends kinda funky like, and build away... maybe design in a drain for water at the junction between the (tiny) house, and the deck... no... not....

that stuff is not coming into my world....


For work benches.. I am re-doing all my benches with European style cabinets built from 19mm Baltic Birch with drawers and sliding shelves, Baltic Birch flush doors and drawers, no face frames. I just did the first bench, and absolutely love it.... By next spring, I hope to have about 30 drawers, and as many sliding shelves, with some being purpose built so I can stash turntable projects as they progress, rather than having all this precious stuff laid out everywhere. I wish I could take off for six months and just do the changes to my shop.... major HEPA air filtration is also underway... as silly as it might sound, all my work stations will have down draft HEPA air in large quantity. Actually, that shouldn't sound silly to any of you who have any occupational exposure to processes that create dust... Dust kills... I feel my body telling me to clean up my shop! to clean it up like a Silicon Valley lab... or as close as possible....

I like what Rick said, make a workbench. I bought a old workbench from a local recovery lumber place here in town for 5 bucks and it was made from 8 inch thick 12 inch wide tight grain fir beams. It was the tightest grain fir I have ever seen. The top was four boards wide and about 7 feet long. I made so much nice stuff out of them beams and yes it was work. Some of the nicest fir. Now why cant I find a Koa workbench, LOL

Never seen a koa bench but we just spent a couple of days with friends who have a koa rocking chair. Not just koa but spectacularly curly koa. Sadly, I couldn't talk them into letting me make it into ukuleles and it was too big to sneak out in my suitcase.

Chris_H said:

I am not sure I could even lift one foot of one of these cants by hand, I do not think so... Had it been Sweitenia, I would have had another side income, and I would be celebrating...the weathered grain looks like Mahogany, I was told it is Mahogany. This stuff is nice wood, it is not the common soft light greyish brown stuff I recognize as Phillipine Mahogany, it is easily as hard as the very hardest Hondo I have worked with. (which is harder than the softest stuff) It has pretty color, like Honduras, but is too dense. I am forgetting about it again as I type these words...

Click to expand...

Um, Chris, I wouldn't give up on the celebration just yet. Likely Sweitenia after all - just not Honduran. Sweitenia Mahogani , what we used to call Santo Domingo Mahogany, and is now often called Cuban Mahogany, was planted all over Indonesia. Brought from the "West Indies" to the "East Indies" by my ancestors in the Dutch East India Company way back in the 1600s (famous plantsmen, you know).

Has all the charateristics you describe, but usually never makes it out of Indonesia as timber. I had an offer once to go over there to a furniture factory. The government (wisely) only allows its export as a finished product. The plentiful supply of old growth San Domingan made the furniture project very tempting.

It's listed in CITES Appendix II, so it would need to stay in the U.S., but then again Honduran is the same.

Pour a glass for me!