Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently had a chance to purchase a little over 100 board feet of mahogany from a retiring cabinetmaker. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see it in person before I bought it, but it was sold to me as Honduras (genuine) mahogany. After getting it home and having a chance to look through it, I have a hunch it's a mix of species. I bought the wood specifically for necks, so I'm worried that most of it might be meranti/lauan, but between my highly untrained eyes and the array of mahogany look-alike species out there, I have no idea how to tell for sure. I'm hoping someone with a higher "wood IQ" might be able to help me out.

I've uploaded some close-up pictures of a few of the boards here: https://imgur.com/a/x2vod

Do any of those immediately stand out as not being genuine mahogany? I also have a picture of the end grain of some of the boards, but it's pretty rough:



If anyone has any guesses, I'd appreciate it greatly! Thanks!

Most all the mahogany i bought as a cabinet shop unless I specified a distinct species was a mix of about 5-7 different species. I looked through your pics but can't get a feel for the wood, these things are easier with the wood in my hand.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I checked your pix on IMGUR.... pretty sure most of it is lauan.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

It looks like some African Mahogany that my local Woodcraft sells.

Looks like genuine Philippine Mahogany to me

AKA Meranti.

I believe Trevor Gore's shed guitar was made out of it. Asian imports are made with it as well. You can use it. It will make a good enough neck if well quartered or laminated IMHO.

But it is hard to tell just from those pics. Here's an article that explains how to tell from the end grain. You need a 10x loop to do it: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... e-lowdown/

Yep, its luan. Personally, I don't like the stuff. It is really stringy and difficult to get a smooth surface.

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... e-lowdown/

Wood can be difficult to identify even when in hand, much less from a picture. This might help. "Mahogany" is a name given to any wood that resembles the real deal. Many of the look -a - likes are fine woods in their own right, but since they are "counterfeit" mahoganies we tend to discount their value.

First, as already stated, it is notoriously difficult to guess species from photographs, so please take any ID with caution. Second, the color in your stock is so consistent that it is difficult to believe it might not be of one species - whatever that species might be - which would be my expectation for timber purchased from a cabinetmaker, given the nature of their projects.

Third, if there is some perfectly quartered and perfectly flatsawn portions of the stock which could be smoothed and polished, big leaf mahogany has a fine, distinctive, ladder-like medullary ray pattern on these faces...the quartered face will show a larger, but still relatively fine laddered figure with smaller, regularly distributed pore and arc-like patterns of ray figure across the grain. The flatsawn face will show the moderately sized pore structure and very tiny, consistent ladder figure along the wood between the pores. Even in the white, a properly smoothed sample will show characteristic features.





By comparison, the same faces in Shorea (Philippine mahogany) show a much larger scale, more ragged-looking, less regular ray figure laddering on the quartered face and no laddering at all on the flatsawn face. African mahogany (khaya) and sapele likewise have a very different appearance on the flat and quartered faces from big leaf mahogany.





The photo of big leaf mahogany with two coats of pore filler shows just how distinctive the laddering becomes under finish, and why even plain-figured genuine mahogany is such a beautiful and distinctive wood.



Finally, another sometimes distinguishing factor is the density and coarseness of cut when worked, although we have samples in the shop of all of these woods that are easily confused with the other species, due to exceptional density (low or high for species), similar color, or an unusually smooth or coarse feel when worked with a blade.

I hope this helps. You might also consider visiting a cabinetmaker or well stocked hardwood lumber outlet to obtain samples of all of the common mahogany substitutes and make your own comparisons.

Additional remarks: These shots were taken with an iPhone 7 Plus with a 2x optical zoom using the telephoto lens...the OP might consider taking detailed, close-up photos after cleaning up quartered and flatsawn faces on the stock. There is not enough information in the OP's photographs to have much confidence in any identification offered. The boss just mentioned that the characteristic whiteish mineral deposits seen in some genuine mahogany appears to be visible in at least one of the OP's photos. he suggested that - while he has sometimes seen mineral deposits in other substitute species such as Shorea, these deposits are common (but not definitive) in genuine mahogany.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Sanding and inspecting the end grain helps.
http://www.wood-database.com/honduran-mahogany/

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Braedyn,

It's a lot easier to tell from a good up close shots of end grain, quartersawn, and flat sawn face that has been planed smooth with a good sharp plane. Much harder to tell from pix off the saw....

One of the first give aways to look for is "diffuse porous" - aka randomly spaced pores that are just kinda all over vs "ring porous" where you will see pores very neatly arranged in growth rings...

Another give away is the smell of the wood when working it... Some (but not all) mahogany has a smell that reminds me of the ocean... Sapele often reminds me of cookies.. African and philipine mahogany - none....

I don't know about the wood you've purchased, Braedyn, but this is an excellent thread. I can't count the number of times I've stood in front of a stack of "mahogany" and wished I knew how to tell one species from another.

_________________
George :-)