sapele

[Dan Cameron]

Are sapele (sapelle) and ribbon stripe African mahogany one and the same?

Dan Cameron

[Mike OMelia]

I love questions like this... excuse to go out and look at wood! African Mahogany is Khaya Ivorensis. Ribbon striped refers to the quarter sawn version (I think). Sapele is another type of Mahogany from Africa and it is called Entandrophragma cylindricum. I am no expert, but I do work with Sapele and love it (except it is brittle). The figure under finish is beautifal and my guitar work.

Mike

[Jamie Buxton]

Maybe. "African mahogany" is a loosely defined name. Sometimes it is used to mean any of several species -- khaya, sapele, makore, and others. However, sometimes it only means khaya.

And...true mahogany is from the Americas, and those species from Africa are not true mahoganies.

[Victor Robinson]

They are not one and the same, but often mistaken for one another. Sapele tends to be a bit darker and a little bit denser, at least compared to the Khaya (African mah) species sold in my area.

[Kent Chasson]

As Jamie says, "African Mahogany" is not a tree or a wood but a trade name. Khaya is probably the most likely wood sold as African Mahogany and the most aptly named as it grows in Africa and is in the mahogany family. Both khaya and sapele tend to have ribbon figure when quartered due to the interlocking grain. Khaya tends to be much softer and stringier.

By the way, someone once told me that the interlocking grain that causes ribbon figure is only found in trees that grow in the equatorial region. Something about the relationship to the sun causing the tree to spiral and reverse direction on a regular basis where trees farther from the equator tend to just spiral in one direction. I don't know if that's a fact or not but I thought it was interesting.

[Mike OMelia]

Kent, that is a very interesting bit of information about figure generation. I was just reading an article about "The Tree" (a giant mahogony tree felled in the 60's, http://www.guitarbench.com/2009/10/07/the-tree-mahogany-feature-article/) and they mention "spiraling" that could be seen on the tree. Whatever that means. I'd like to know what that means! If you've ever seen the figure that came out of The Tree, you would be amazed!

Mike

[Dan Bowman]

There is ribbon stripe sapele as well as flat-sawn sapele. Personally I prefer ribbon stripe sapele to African mahogany. Much richer and easier to work.

[Jim Matthews]

This stuff is a nightmare to plane. The ribbon is from interlocking grain. It will split easily along the grain lines...227572

[Mike OMelia]

I've thought about using Sapele for guitar bodies, but the brittleness scares me off. I suspect bending could be a serious PITA. But for flatwork, no issues. Love it. I don't plane it. Scrape or sand.

Mike

[Kent Chasson]

Mike, spiraling as I understand it is simply the tendency of a tree to rotate as it grows. One reason I want to believe that explanation above is because you can really see it in the bark of some softwoods in northern climes. But I really don't know. From some stuff I've read online, it sounds like the cause of figure in wood may not be well understood.

Sapele makes great guitar wood, by the way. But it can be a pain to bend. Probably not as difficult or at least not as threatening to the wallet as bending stuff from "the tree".

227597

[david brum]

That is a great link to the article about "The Tree". It's hard to imagine $800/bf wood, but it is unbelievably beautiful.