Porch Glider Rehab

[Jim Johnson]

I have been asked to rehab a porch glider from the 50's that has mahogany wood on it that is in tough shape. I'm not sure what variety of mahogany to use as a replacement so I though I would ask everyone's opinion on the type to use.

:) Thanks in advance.

[John D Watson]

Jim, African tends to be small tight grained while South American is looser and larger. There can be a fair color difference as well.

[Mike Henderson]

If it's from the '50's, I'd guess that it was made from Honduras mahogony. Honduras manogony stands up well outdoors.

I don't know too much about how well African mahogony stands up to outdoor use. It usually has wilder grain - Honduras mahogony is usually very even grained and easy to work.

Mike

[Terry Beadle]

I built two morris style end tables out of African Mahogany and it was a reall challenge because the material has distinctive character that is unpredictable. By that I mean you have to be very careful in selecting the wood componet pieces for character matching the adjacent or opposite componet due to the grain patterns. I think if you are matching some old growth mahogany, the Honduran would be a better choice to more closely match.