Jatoba or African Mahogany what to use?

[dan sherman]

SWMBO & I have been diligently trying to determine what wood species to use to make new living room furniture. She really like the look of Jatoba (my preference i like the red) & African Mahogany pieces that I have found on the internet.

I have never used exotics before, and thus looking for a little insight from he pros. I know Jatoba is really hard, but other than that what are some pros and cons of the two?

If you had to chose between the two what would you chose?

[Mike Cutler]

Dan

I don't have any experience with African Mahogany, but I have quite a bit with Jatoba.
If you go the Jatoba route try and stay with grain as close to Qsawn as you can find. Face sawn jatoba does some amazing things as it releases stress when cut.
Jatoba finishes beautifully,and I have found the General Finishes, Seal-A-Cell,and Arm-R-Seal almost foolproof in getting a very nice finish. The extra effort in working with Jatoba is well worth the end result.
If you're a hand tool type of guy set your planes to take a very light cut and have the mouths very tight, you won't be "hogging off" material with Jatoba by hand. Your chisels and scrapers will need to be beyond sharp, and if you use any screws you will need to pre-drill the holes. You are safe using a machinists drill/tap/screw chart with jatoba to select the right size drill bit. You can actually "tap" jatoba like a mild steel or aluminum, and use machine screws. That's how hard it is.

[Julian Nicks]

I have worked with african mahogany quite a bit. It works well, and the quartersawn boards have a beautiful translucent ribbon grain to it that shimmers. It machines fine, but is also pretty hard and heavy. My favorite finish over it is BLO, amber shellac, and wax. It really gives the wood the look of an old mahogany peice.

[Peter Quinn]

Jatoba is hard as advertised, and quite heavy too. For heavily used pieces it may also be more durable than Kayha (African Mahogany). African mahogany is lighter and much easier to mill, though it can be prone to tear out with hand tools given its frequent grain switch backs. Honduran mahogany is more pleasant to work with but quite a bit more expensive than it used to be. Around my way Jatoba is cheaper than African Mahogany.

If using either buy extra wood. Some if it has a good deal of tension. I have had Af Mahog. parts close to final dimension, sawn off 1/4" to get to final dimension just to have them spring beyond use. I have split boards on width that popped with considerable force on the TS, so use that splitter and a good deal of caution and get a feeling for the wood you are dealing with. Other boards have remained incredibly stable and been a general pleasure to work with.

As far as gluing, Jatoba needs longer in clamps and more pressure, African mahogany is a breeze to glue up. With either species there is considerable color variation so if possible buy the boards from a source that allows you to select your wood.

[Larry Edgerton]

Jatoba is hard as advertised, and quite heavy too. For heavily used pieces it may also be more durable than Kayha (African Mahogany). African mahogany is lighter and much easier to mill, though it can be prone to tear out with hand tools given its frequent grain switch backs. Honduran mahogany is more pleasant to work with but quite a bit more expensive than it used to be. Around my way Jatoba is cheaper than African Mahogany.

If using either buy extra wood. Some if it has a good deal of tension. I have had Af Mahog. parts close to final dimension, sawn off 1/4" to get to final dimension just to have them spring beyond use. I have split boards on width that popped with considerable force on the TS, so use that splitter and a good deal of caution and get a feeling for the wood you are dealing with. Other boards have remained incredibly stable and been a general pleasure to work with.

As far as gluing, Jatoba needs longer in clamps and more pressure, African mahogany is a breeze to glue up. With either species there is considerable color variation so if possible buy the boards from a source that allows you to select your wood.


I will second the sneaking up on final size part with Jatoba. I learned to start at least a half inch oversize with rough widths and sneak up on the finish size. Same goes with planing, light passes and flip every time. Do all of your machining as close as possible as it is a stubborn wood to work by hand.

The rewards are worth it, but there will be times in the project when you do not feel that way.......http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Steven Ley]

i have used both woods for turning and found the African Mahogany much easier to work with than the Jatoba. Jatoba has a tendency to chunk if you get too aggressive with it. give it respect!! lol... one wood i have found very easy to work with was himalayan mohogany, however it is much lighter than both in colour and weight.

[Eiji Fuller]

I did an entire 4500 sq ft house of full of trim, beams, columns, and ceilings and an entry set for that house all in ribbon African Mahogany. About 4,000 bft of African went into that house along with 8 months of onsite fabrication and install.
That said I do not ever want to touch the stuff again. It is one of the squirrelliest woods I have worked with and it is relatively soft. I havent worked with Jatoba but Sapele might be a good option. I can get it for a bit cheaper at 3.50 to 4.00/ft than the African at 4.00- 5.00/ ft., it is alot more consistant in color due to the fact that 3-4 different species are sold as African mahogany and are often mixed together. Sapele is much more stable, easier to machine, and IMO has a much more pleasing grain pattern in ribbon or flat grain.

[J.R. Rutter]

I did an entire 4500 sq ft house of full of trim, beams, columns, and ceilings and an entry set for that house all in ribbon African Mahogany. About 4,000 bft of African went into that house along with 8 months of onsite fabrication and install.
That said I do not ever want to touch the stuff again. It is one of the squirrelliest woods I have worked with and it is relatively soft. I havent worked with Jatoba but Sapele might be a good option. I can get it for a bit cheaper at 3.50 to 4.00/ft than the African at 4.00- 5.00/ ft., it is alot more consistant in color due to the fact that 3-4 different species are sold as African mahogany and are often mixed together. Sapele is much more stable, easier to machine, and IMO has a much more pleasing grain pattern in ribbon or flat grain.

Ditto on the Sapele. It is harder than Khaya (the most common "african mahogany") and more stable. Color is closer to Jatoba - more reddish brown.

[guy knight]

i have used allot of jatoba it works and finishes nice and turns a beautiful dark red with age try to get the boards all the same color and what i find is that if i buy the boards close to the width i need and they are flate then i tend not to have as much problem with warping and quarter sawn is even more stable

[dan sherman]

How do they compare when it comes to finishing? Doesn't mahogany have an open grain, and thus require a filler if you want a french polished look?

How well does mahogany hold up to abuse, from people dropping things on it and the like?

[Peter Quinn]

Dan, mahogany is open grained and requires grain filling for a smooth top coat, french polished or otherwise. It is relatively soft, so it doesn't tolerate heavy impact abuse such as a table top might see. Jatoba makes one heck of a durable floor, and one heck of a durable anything else for that matter.

[Ken Cohen]

Ditto African Mahogany comments with emphasis on need for careful board matching regarding color/tone.

In same pile, color ranged from medium dark (what you see in the pictures) to almost light. After carelessly buying a very light board to finish a project, the contrast with the darker boards was so extreme that I actually revised its use to accent the original boards.

However, good news is that medium dark boards match easily due to the strength of the ribbon stripe.

[Tom Jones III]

I've done several pieces in african mahogany and I agree with some of the other posters and completely disagree with other posters on this thread. It seems that you might be sold many different types of wood under the name african mahogany. I think I got sapele and it is very similar to working with honduran mahogany but much cheaper. It is somewhat soft, but that is a relative term. I made a high chair out of it and there is only one ding, and that was from dropping a heavy tool that hit with a glancing blow in the same direction as the grain. I like working with african mahogany and I'll do so again any time I want honduran but don't want to pay the price for honduran.