mahogany ID

[Bruce King]

I bought several planks of mahogany about 20 years ago and still have two and a half of them.
The 13ft long ones were the darker wood and one shorter piece was this lighter wood.
I think the long piece pictured is going to be the darker stuff but starting to wonder.
I don't remember what I bought but it looks like African mahogany, agree?

[Brian Tymchak]

All the African Mahogany I've seen is fairly uniform in grain and color and fairly light in color. The second picture looks like African Mahogany. The first picture I'm not sure. Looks more like Honduran Mahogany or maybe Sapele.

[Mel Fulks]

Sight down the the edges. Or as Foghorn Leghorne used to say " edgewise I say ,edgewise !" The straight one is the
real stuff. Probably .

[Zachary Hoyt]

I have bought African mahogany that is lighter and darker than what is shown in the pictures, and I sent samples to the free ID lab in Wisconsin to confirm that was what they were. This is not to say that I am sure what you have there is African mahogany, just that it all looks plausible to me. The lab said both samples I sent were in the Khaya family but did not attempt to identify the species, there are several species of Khaya that are all called African mahogany. When I use it for building instruments I try to stick to one color in one instrument, but I did once make a banjo with different colors in it for contrast. I thought it was sort of nice, but it didn't sell for over a year, so I guess it was not a popular combination.

[Jim Becker]

The lighter colored sample looks like Sapele to me...often used instead of mahogany. The darker one is something else, but clearly similar in appearance to mahogany.

[Bruce King]

I’m very sure it’s all mahogany from close up examination but I was just wondering if it might be Honduran. I remember now it was called Genuine Mahogany when I bought it. I guess you can have genuine Honduran and genuine African ?

[Joe Jensen]

the lighter one looks just like the sapele I use and I have used maybe 500 bd ft

[John K Jordan]

I bought several planks of mahogany about 20 years ago and still have two and a half of them.
The 13ft long ones were the darker wood and one shorter piece was this lighter wood.
I think the long piece pictured is going to be the darker stuff but starting to wonder.
I don't remember what I bought but it looks like African mahogany, agree?

This has some information about genuine and look-a-like mahogany: https://www.wood-database.com/wood-a...s-the-lowdown/
You might examine the end grain with a razor blade to cut a clean spot and a magnifier.

JKJ

[Bruce King]

Awesome information on several woods!

[Bruce King]

Don’t think this is Sapele. Sapele has a certain smell, African mahogany does not have a smell that stands out.

[Alan Lightstone]

I know you don't think it is, but I use lots of Sapele, and that's what the first looks like to me.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Alan...that looks identical to the many board feet of Sapele I have in my shop.

[Warren Lake]

left photo top sapele, bottom african,

right photo and hope that board is not sitting on the floor too hard to tell, it even looks a fair bit like rough cherry, I havent seen Honduras in many years but likely close to that one.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I purchased a lot of wood that looks like that sold as African Mahogany. My understanding is that Sapele looks sufficiently similar that I could not tell the difference. I just looked up some pictures and that seems to agree (that they look similar).

[Bruce King]

From the link John Jordan sent above and other sources Sapele is not very available and smells somewhat like cedar.
The picture from the link, below, Sapele looks more like Luan than mahogany. It’s also heavier.
I looked at the end grain under 10x magnification and compared to the end grain pictures in the link and none of mine is Sapele. Could it be that suppliers are giving you African when they have no Sapele since price is similar.
first pic is Sapele end grain with 10x magnification.
2nd pic is Sapele.