Question on Hardwood Purchase

[Kris Cook]

I recently purchased about 60 board feet of African Mahogany for some trim work I am doing. After initial planing of some of the boards I notice they were cracked across the grain. It appears this probably happened before they were even milled though I am not sure.

My question - Is this acceptable "breakage" or should I try to take the boards back to the vendor for a refund?

[Ted Derryberry]

I don't know how to answer your question, but I've seen that before in hardwoods. I don't work with exotics much and don't remember what species it was, but likely some type of mahogany or sapele.

I guess it can't hurt to ask your supplier. Worst case maybe you get a discount on some additional material or a future order. I'd try to work around it if possible, but then it seems half my time is spent working around defects anyway.

[Mel Fulks]

I have never used African "mahogany" without bitterly complaining. So I suggest taking it back. Some places actually sell that "ribbon stripe " stuff you have for about 20 percent under the same wood slab cut as the flat sawn is considered the better fake look for real mahogany 'stunt double'. I just think the stuff is more trouble than money saved.

[Kris Cook]

Thanks guys for the input. I will take the boards back and see what they say.

[Marshall Harrison]

Thanks guys for the input. I will take the boards back and see what they say.
Please be sure to let us know how that turns out.

[Art Mann]

I know African Mahogany isn't Honduran or Cuban but I think it is attractive anyway. There is a door fabrication shop in our town and short pieces are relatively cheap and abundant from them. I was planning on buying some for building boxes. Is there anything I need to know about the species other than appearance? I have never worked with it.


I have never used African "mahogany" without bitterly complaining. So I suggest taking it back. Some places actually sell that "ribbon stripe " stuff you have for about 20 percent under the same wood slab cut as the flat sawn is considered the better fake look for real mahogany 'stunt double'. I just think the stuff is more trouble than money saved.

[Mel Fulks]

It moves a lot. To be on the safe side the pieces should be cut in the rough close to finished size. You can machine a piece perfectly straight and flat ,rip a one inch piece off ....and both will be too twisted and crooked to use. I once dressed a piece to shape a few pieces of "run 'n rip" moulding. The first ripped piece was horribly twisted and crooked and so was the 'mother piece'. But some believe in it and will triumphantly hold up a good piece like they just found a piece of gold.

[J.R. Rutter]

I don't warranty Khaya mahogany cabinet doors. Whenever possible, I steer people towards Sapele instead, which is bad enough.

OP: the cross grain checking is not uncommon, but shouldn't be showing up in every board. Maybe 20% has some degree in the loads we get.

[Art Mann]

I am starting to wonder if the door shop wood is the same species we are talking about here. The shop I am talking about builds high end full custom doors to order in odd sizes and shapes if required. It doesn't seem to me they would use a species that is so prone to warping. I need to investigate further. When I Google "African Mahogany", a whole bunch of species and sub species show up.

[John Jenkins4]

I've been told that these types of cracks happen when the trees are felled. I've taken to asking the yard to skip plane my wood so I can inspect them as I load.

[Mel Fulks]

J.R., since you have used both real mahogany and the African ....and therefore know the waste percentages...would you comment on the percentage price difference on same size order for both? I've seen designer sales ladies who don't understand the difficultys of using the African and complain about not saving more.

[Mel Fulks]

Art, just saw there was no answer to your question. The stuff I was referring to , and I think others were referring to ...is also called khaya.

[Art Mann]

I was reading a little more on the subject and I suspect the door shop I mentioned is actually using Sapele instead of what is normally understood to be African Mahogany.

[David Eisenhauer]

I have never used any other wood that moves as much as my one experience with African Mahogany. I built a batch of kitchen cabinets with it after a client chose the wood. I checked it for moisture content and all was OK. Wow, straight, flat and twist free was a moving target thereafter. It is pretty to look at after smoothing and finishing and may be OK for boxes, but I recommend leaving the individual timbers oversized until you have time to cut the pieces you need for a particular section of your project and then joining the pieces up as immediately after cutting to size as you can. Sticker and clamp/weight down leftover already-cut-to-size pieces at the end of the day.

[J.R. Rutter]

J.R., since you have used both real mahogany and the African ....and therefore know the waste percentages...would you comment on the percentage price difference on same size order for both? I've seen designer sales ladies who don't understand the difficultys of using the African and complain about not saving more.

I don't use true mahogany. I've used three different African mahoganies: Khaya (what you typically get as "African", lightest weight and softest, great shimmer to the ribbon grain) Edinam (similar to Khaya, but more brown and not as shimmery, more stable, medium hardness and weight) and Sapele (harder and heavier than the other two, more chestnut color, broad range in grain shimmer from QS to rift, smells good).

For me, I can usually chop the checked boards into smaller parts for door rails, etc. so initial waste is similar. But the Khaya tends to continue to move around, so there is some extra waste after parts are cut and milled.