guts
Member
could this wood be mahogany?
wood i.d.
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jaywood1207
Member
Hmmmm. Possibly but also kind of looks like walnut.
Pikebite
Member
Also looks like sapele, which is known as African mahogany.
beamer
Member
I'd say 100% mahogany ... I can't see anything in that picture that would lead me to think anything else.
BigRob777
Member
Is it shiny? Is the end grain rather non-descript? If the answer to both is yes, you probably have sapele. Here's a poor pic of sapele. It shows a bit of the rays, like your pic does, as well as the ribbon stripes too. The pen blank looks more like your picture, than my pic does.
Or it could be mahogany. The bottom pic looks a little like ekki.
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I hope this helps.
Rob
Or it could be mahogany. The bottom pic looks a little like ekki.
I hope this helps.
Rob
whatwoodido
Member
There are lots of different species that fall under the Mahogany banner. Look like one of those species.
BigRob777
Member
I agree with Bill (whatwoodido). There's so much confusion about mahogany, that one major seller lists sapele as the same as African Mahogany. There's a good little blerb about them all here:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/mahogany,%20african.htm
I can't remember hobbithouseinc's name, but he knows a lot more about wood than I do. Many use his site for wood identification, including me. He says that African Mahogany is a true mahogany, but others say that it isn't. The debate goes on. I just know that I like it for furniture, but it is rather plain for pens, if it isn't figured in some way. Yours looks like it may be ribbon striped, which is best for pens, if it is cross-cut, or bias-cut.
Sapele is said by most to be "mahogany-like". As African Manogany does look so similar to Sapele, it would be tough to distinguish between the two, unless you take a magnified pic of the end grain. Most of the top wood identifiers use end grain to ID wood. The other views may look identical, but end grain will differentiate the two. Now, you just need that magnified shot and a way to determine which parenchima (sp?)and so forth constitutes the difference. I have to look at my book and it doesn't list all species. Good luck.
Rob
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/mahogany,%20african.htm
I can't remember hobbithouseinc's name, but he knows a lot more about wood than I do. Many use his site for wood identification, including me. He says that African Mahogany is a true mahogany, but others say that it isn't. The debate goes on. I just know that I like it for furniture, but it is rather plain for pens, if it isn't figured in some way. Yours looks like it may be ribbon striped, which is best for pens, if it is cross-cut, or bias-cut.
Sapele is said by most to be "mahogany-like". As African Manogany does look so similar to Sapele, it would be tough to distinguish between the two, unless you take a magnified pic of the end grain. Most of the top wood identifiers use end grain to ID wood. The other views may look identical, but end grain will differentiate the two. Now, you just need that magnified shot and a way to determine which parenchima (sp?)and so forth constitutes the difference. I have to look at my book and it doesn't list all species. Good luck.
Rob
punkinn
Member
Hmmm.... Andiroba? I agree that it's most likely in the mahogany type family.
Nancy
p.s. HI ROB! [
]
Nancy
p.s. HI ROB! [
]BigRob777
Member
Hi Nancy,
Wow, Andiroba gets some really bad names, like Crappo and bastard mahogany. It does look like it's in the mahogany family (according to two web sites).
Rob
Wow, Andiroba gets some really bad names, like Crappo and bastard mahogany. It does look like it's in the mahogany family (according to two web sites).
Rob
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