mahogany physical properties

In-depth View of Mahogany Properties & Characteristics

• Color. African Mahogany color ranges from pale pink to dark reddish-brown, depending on the age. ...
• Hardness/durability. Even though it’s a hardwood, Mahogany is not very hard. ...
• Workability. Since is a soft hardwood, it’s usually easy to work with. ...
• Stability. ...
• Pricing. ...

Full Answer

What are the properties of mahogany wood?

Types of Mahogany Wood

• Advantages of Mahogany. Mahogany is an expensive wood for a reason. ...
• Types of Mahogany Wood. ...
• The Inner Circle – Swietenia. ...
• Identification of Swietenia. ...
• The Outer Circle. ...
• The Periphery. ...
• The Outsiders (Not Mahogany) A few wood species bear a superficial resemblance to mahogany – enough to earn its name. ...

Is mahogany a hardwood tree?

Mahogany, any of several tropical hardwood timber trees, especially certain species in the family Meliaceae. One such is Swietenia mahagoni, from tropical America. It is a tall evergreen tree with hard wood that turns reddish brown at maturity. The leaflets of each large leaf are arranged like a feather, but there is no terminal leaflet.

Is mahogany a type of hardwood?

Mahogany is a type of hardwood that is valued around the world due to its beautiful appearance. Its style is quite decent & generous that makes it a popular choice among people to construct furniture & flooring.

How to identify mahogany wood?

Tips & Tricks: How to tell if Mahogany is genuine

1. Find a place of the board, or create one, where the wood is perfectly flat sawn, this is the only way this will work. ...
2. Take out your finest honed plane and get a very clean polished surface without damaging the grain. ...
3. Get good light and look really closely at the pattern made by the medullary rays. They should appear as little ovals or ellipses. ...

What are the characteristics of a mahogany tree?

It is a tall evergreen tree with hard wood that turns reddish brown at maturity. The leaflets of each large leaf are arranged like a feather, but there is no terminal leaflet. The small white flowers are borne in clusters, and the fruit is a five-parted woody capsule that contains squarish, winged seeds.

What are the advantages of mahogany wood?

Mahogany is harder than other woods like oak, pine, etc. In fact, it is 70% more stable and harder than other varieties of woods. Its properties of hardness and durability having no grooves or pockets make it water-resistant and scratch-free too.

Is mahogany A strong wood?

Genuine mahogany decking and flooring is a hard wood and an excellent choice for your project. It has a Janka Score of 800-900 lbf. This makes it a strong wood capable of taking a few accidental drops and hits without consistently denting.

Why is mahogany durable?

Mahogany is less liable to warping, shrinking, swelling, and twisting than other woods. This is because of its unusual resistance to moisture and atmospheric changes. Mahogany does not move – it holds its shape.

Is mahogany soft or hardwood?

Oak, mahogany, and teak are some of the better-known species of hardwoods, while pine, spruce, and fir are common softwoods. Not all hardwoods and softwoods are the same. There are differences in strength, availability and cost among the types.

Is mahogany water resistant?

Mahogany stands up extremely well to water and is even used to make boats. It resists welling, shrinking and warping very well. Due to its ability to withstand wear and water, as well as its rich, natural reddish-brown color, it is an expensive option.

What is the strongest wood?

Generally acknowledged as the hardest wood, lignum vitae (Guaiacum sanctum and Guaiacum officinale) measures in at 4,500 pounds-force (lbf) on the Janka scale.

Is mahogany porous?

Mahogany is initially a lighter pinkish brown hue, and can darken to a rich, deep reddish-brown over time. The wood is straight-grained, diffuse-porous, and suffers from very little shrinkage and seasonal movement.

Is mahogany heat resistant?

Most well known hardwoods such as mahogany, oak, maple and walnut are the ones with the highest fire resistance. Hardwoods are naturally more heat resistant due to their thickness and density. This ensures that they take some time to burn when subjected to heat or fire.

Does mahogany scratch easily?

are harder than some oak, walnut, and even maple species, so despite its refined appearance, it can stand up to a lot of wear with minimal scratches and dings. That makes it ideal for the living room, kitchen or other high-traffic area as well as for homes with active kids or large dogs.

Why is mahogany used for furniture?

Mahogany features Woodcarvers say working with mahogany is relatively easy, due to its structure and durability. Mahogany has a straight, fine, and even grain that is usually free of voids or pockets. Because of this, it is suitable to use in furniture, such as chest of drawers, tables, cabinets, and so on.

How long does mahogany wood last?

Genuine mahogany's lifespan is a little different, with an average life of 20+ years. That being said, the lifespan of your wood depends on a lot of factors. The climate and amount of precipitation in your area can shorten or extend a product's lifespan. It is not unheard of for mahogany to last longer than 30 years.

What are the characteristics of mahogany wood?

Properties and Characteristics of Mahogany Timber. The characteristics of mahogany wood – durability, rot resistance and a reddish, warm color – make it a treasured choice for woodworkers. Most of the wood marketed as mahogany today isn’t genuine, however, although some have many of the same characteristics. Trees from the genus Swietenia are the ...

What Is Genuine Mahogany?

True mahogany wood is now available largely from plantations. Mexican or Honduran mahogany (Swietenia humilis) and big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) are the other true mahogany species.

Why is mahogany wood used in furniture?

These mahogany wood properties make it ideal for veneers, cabinets and furniture. Over time, the reddish-brown wood darkens and shows a reddish sheen when polished. Mahogany sawdust can cause an allergic reaction, typically skin and nasal irritation. Boat builders use mahogany because of the wood’s density and resistance to rot and decay.

Why do boat builders use mahogany?

Boat builders use mahogany because of the wood’s density and resistance to rot and decay. Those qualities, as well as the wood’s immunity to some insects, make it ideal in any application where the wood is exposed to constant moisture.

How tall is a mahogany tree?

Mahogany trees are semi-evergreens that can grow as much as 75 feet tall and have a 50 foot spread, but they are more commonly 40 to 60 feet tall.

What woods are similar to mahogany?

A number of other woods, including Lyptus, Mountain, Santos and Andiroba are marketed as alternatives to real mahogany. Lyptus, a trademarked name for eucalyptus grown on plantations in Brazil, is sustainable, grows fast and is in good supply. It’s reasonably priced, and its color ranges from salmon to dark brown red.

Is mahogany wood rot resistant?

Expert Eric Meier warns that plantation-grown trees aren’t as rot-resistant as wild trees. The price of mahogany wood depends on the source, the species and the quality. Because of the limitations put on the export of the product, supplies of true mahogany are diminishing, and the price is increasing.

Why is mahogany used in furniture?

Another reason mahogany is used in furniture is because it has a reddish-brown hue which darkens over time, which makes the it look exquisite and of high quality .

Where is Pacific Coast mahogany found?

Pacific Coast mahogany – said to be a smaller version of the Honduran mahogany species by botanists, but it is smaller and typically found in dry forest in Central America.

What wood is used for strings?

Other tone woods include rosewood, maple, ash, and basswood. Because of this, mahogany has been used to create parts of string instruments, such as the backs, sides, and necks of acoustic guitars, as well as the body of electric guitars.

Where is Honduran mahogany located?

Honduran mahogany – located anywhere between Mexico and as far down as the southern Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

Does mahogany wood rot?

Mahogany resists wood rot when exposed to the elements, especially water; this has made it very attractive to shipbuilders around the world, and a great number of boats have been constructed using mahogany .

Is mahogany wood hard to work with?

Although botanists consider it be to a hardwood, it is not one of the hardest woods available when it comes to woodworking. Woodcarvers say working with mahogany is relatively easy, due to its structure and durability .

What is mahogany wood?

Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus Swietenia, indigenous to the Americas and part of the pantropical chinaberry family, Meliaceae .

Why is mahogany not planted in the Philippines?

In the Philippines, environmentalists are calling for an end to the planting of mahogany because of its negative impact on the environment and wildlife, including possibly causing soil acidification and no net benefit to wildlife.

How many tons of mahogany were imported in 1740?

Importations of mahogany into England (and excluding those to Scotland, which were recorded separately) reached 525 tons per annum by 1740, 3,688 tons by 1750, and more than 30,000 tons in 1788, the peak year of the 18th century trade.

How did the French Revolution affect the mahogany trade?

The French Revolution of 1789 and the wars that followed radically changed the mahogany trade, primarily due to the progressive collapse of the French and Spanish colonial empires, which allowed British traders into areas previously closed to them. Saint Domingue became the independent republic of Haiti, and from 1808, Spanish controlled Santo Domingo and Cuba were both open to British vessels for the first time.

Where do macrophylla grow?

mahagoni grows on the West Indian islands as far north as the Bahamas, the Florida Keys and parts of Florida; S. humilis grows in the dry regions of the Pacific coast of Central America from south-western Mexico to Costa Rica; S. macrophylla grows in Central America from Yucatan southwards and into South America, extending as far as Peru, Bolivia and extreme western Brazil. In the 20th century various botanists attempted to further define S. macrophylla in South America as a new species, such as S. candollei Pittier and S. tessmannii Harms., but many authorities consider these spurious. According to Record and Hess, all of the mahogany of continental North and South America can be considered as one botanical species, Swietenia macrophylla King.

What is mahogany lumber used for?

Mahogany is a commercially important lumber prized for its beauty, durability, and color, and used for paneling and to make furniture, boats, musical instruments and other items. The leading importer of mahogany is the United States, followed by Britain; while the largest exporter today is Peru, which surpassed Brazil after that country banned mahogany exports in 2001. It is estimated that some 80 or 90 percent of Peruvian mahogany exported to the United States is illegally harvested, with the economic cost of illegal logging in Peru placed conservatively at $40–70 million USD annually. It was estimated that in 2000, some 57,000 mahogany trees were harvested to supply the U.S. furniture trade alone.

Where is mahogany grown?

Honduran or big-leaf mahogany ( Swietenia macrophylla ), with a range from Mexico to southern Amazonia in Brazil, the most widespread species of mahogany and the only genuine mahogany species commercially grown today. Illegal logging of S. macrophylla, and its highly destructive environmental effects, led to the species' placement in 2003 on ...

What is the color of a mahogany rock?

This rock is mostly brick red or brown in color and its base material is black in color. When lava erupting from volcanoes cools quickly, then crystallization is not possible and then only Mahogany Obsidian is formed. For centuries, this rock is considered as a lucky gemstone and all because of its power of positivity.

Why do people wear mahogany?

Not only women but also men like to adore such unique jewelry. Many people want to wear Mahogany Obsidian jewelry because of the positive energies reflected by it. The mood of a person depends a lot on what he/she carries or wears, and so wearing such a positive stone will only bring happiness and health.

What chakras does mahogany obsidian cleanse?

Mahogany Obsidian can cleanse the second chakra of any negative energies and also the old wound residues. Thus, blockages from one’s creative energies and sexual expressions are removed. Use of Mahogany Obsidian during meditation between first and second chakra can wipe away all the bad memories of humiliation, abuse, shame, etc. Negative psychic implants are thus removed by this gemstone and one’s spiritual awakening and performance potential are increased. This stone acts as a bodyguard that prevents all kinds of psychic blockage.

Why is mahogany obsidian a natural rock?

Mahogany Obsidian is a natural glass rock because it is rich in silica content. The presence of Hematite and Magnetite in it is responsible for the patches on this rock, which are mahogany-colored. Obsidian stands for being a positive stone that enhances truth and protects from negative energies.

How to clean mahogany obsidian?

Cleansing of this gemstone can be done by soaking it in saltwater, the ration of salt and water should be 3 tablespoons of salt into half-gallon of water. Those who have access to the ocean or seawater can use the same for cleaning purposes. The stone should be soaked in saltwater for twelve hours and then only it could be properly cleansed. However, this is a way of cleaning several gemstones, except the ones that get dissolved in water.

What is the best combination of mahogany and obsidian?

When it comes to jewelry of Mahogany Obsidian, then silver is the best combination used with this semi-precious stone. Pendants, rings, bracelets and many other jewelry items are made of silver and Mahogany Obsidian. People look for silver and Mahogany Obsidian necklaces, earrings etc. to adore themselves.

Where does mahogany obsidian come from?

Mostly, Mahogany Obsidian is found in Mexico, however, it also comes from Afghanistan, Japan, the United States of America and South America. The use of this stone in human civilization is not new because it has been used during the stone age as well. Native Americans had discovered the locations where this stone was being used for various purposes.

Where is mahogany grown?

It is naturally grown from southern Mexico to the southern Amazon basin of Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru (Anoop et al. 2014).

What is a big leaf mahogany tree?

Big leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla Roxb.) belonging to family Meliaceae is a most valuable timber tree species of the world. Due to the dwindling timber resource base, large scale cultivation of this species has to be enhanced through introduction to other suitable ecoclimatic conditions of the world.