Yellowheart

[Travis Gudenkauf]

Does anyone work with yellowheart on a regular basis? Currently my shop uses lots of Congona (White Mahogany), I am thinking about switching to yellowheart but have never used it before. I found one site that said it is prone to twisting which is what my problem with Congona is. Congona is usually under crazy amounts of stress, I throw away more than I can use. I have found that if pick through my 8/4 material and find the more radial sawn wood I have more luck with it staying straight.

[Jim W. White]

I would look into "Avodire." My local supplier carries it and I've often referred to it as a "white mahogony" at least in looks. It is much harder than mahogony though. It is intergrained and looks like a peice of mahogany was bleached to a very pale beige but when you pick up a stick of it it's twice as heavy as what you would expect if you had "mahogany in mind"

Jim in Idaho

[Travis Gudenkauf]

Thanks Jim, but I failed to mention that I build cabinets for jets, I would rather stay away from a real heavy material. Avodire does have the right characteristics, but the weight is a big problem.

[David DeCristoforo]

"Yellowheart" can be really....well.... yellow. You might want to get a piece and see for yourself because it in no way resembles any of the woods called "white mahogany" (prima vera, congona or whatever.) I made the mistake of ordering some thinking I could substitute it for satinwood (some suppliers actually refer to yellowheart as satinwood) but the yellow color is in no way subtile and I could not use it. Fortunately, I did not invest a great deal in it and was able to use it for some accent pieces.

YM

[Troy Donson]

Does anyone work with yellowheart on a regular basis? ... I found one site that said it is prone to twisting which is what my problem with Congona is. Congona is usually under crazy amounts of stress, I throw away more than I can use. ...

Travis I don't know if this will help you or not...

This was one of the first things I built (as you can probably tell) for the Love Of My Life. It is NOT the lightest weight wood I have worked with, either. It did not warp or get stessed out when it was cut. It did not tend to splinter or give me any trouble when I was cutting dadoes. It is fairly resistant to sanding though... And it IS pretty yellow, even before the tung oil is applied... The wife likes the color it has, though.

I will answer any questions you have if I can...

[Gary Keedwell]

I enjoyed working with it...machine nice and had no adverse effects.
Gary

[Travis Gudenkauf]

The reason I need a light colored wood is to formulate a stain to match the veneer that is applied to the cabinets. I can see yellowheart may be too yellow for certain veneers. The Congona that I currently use is quite yellow itself, but the yellowheart does look a bit more yellow.

[Bert Johansen]

Travis, I don't know if you considered lyptus, but it is a lovely straight-grained wood that is light pinkish in color until dyed. It can be made to look like mahogany, but I like using an American Maple Aniline dye to give it a champagne color. Machines well, too.

[Travis Gudenkauf]

Ohhh Bert, I know all about lyptus. The grain is right but we do not bleach our hardwood here, not sure why, something about the type of finish we use? Back to lyptus, It is actually one of my favorite looking woods; at my old shop we did an entire, extremely upscale($50 a plate min), restuarant all lyptus. It is also too heavy for aircraft use but thanks for the advise Bert.

[Mike Cutler]

Thanks Jim, but I failed to mention that I build cabinets for jets, I would rather stay away from a real heavy material. Avodire does have the right characteristics, but the weight is a big problem.


Ahh... Now I see why you were inquiring about the wood you have been.
I was wondering, What is Travis into that requires all these unique woods?

I'd love to see some of the pictures of Jet interiors you do. Very Cool.:cool:

[Greg Cole]

Travis,
Not even sure why I'll continue with this since you say you don't bleach anything, but my $0.02 would be to bleach mahogany.
Anywho...

Greg

[Travis Gudenkauf]

I would if I could Greg, that part of the manufacturing process is way out of my hands. I have asked the finish supervisor about it and all I get is that we don't do it because it causes problems down the line. What problems? I don't know. I do appreciate any $0.02 though. Thanks Greg