its sapele20170529_075951.jpg
its sapele20170529_075951.jpg
Last edited by Mark Salomon; 01-08-2021 at 12:39 AM.
Sipo Mahogany
it doesnt all look the same there, that looks like quarter sawn sapele any time ive bought it just not so wild, just thought if we were guessing, is there a prize?
I would like to recommend this book for anyone that has a itch to build with Mahogany.
Aj
The Hidden Life of Trees comes to mind. Thanks for sharing.
Rustic? Well, no. That was not my intention!
Pretty much, yes, but Sipo is a specific wood that a good supplier will sell as Sipo. It has characteristics that makes it preferable for me: Darker reds, frequent mineral streaks (which I like), wild figure, and fairly hard. It is a pain in the wazoo to work with initially because it has a lot of pint up tension. Just yesterday I was cutting some and the offcut curled as it came off the saw. That said, when you get it stable, it’s solid and makes great doors. I build a lot of doors. I build way too many doors.
I can easily tell Sipo versus African (true African) and Sapele, because I use it a lot, but they are very close to each other. Sapele has a much cleaner grain and is more stable. African has an orange hue. Sipo will be deep reddish-brown in UV and plane to a pinkish color. It’s not always cut and dry, no pun intended, with Sipo and African Mahogany. I have seen some African lately that was much more reddish-brown.
Anyway my guys found the sister to this board, and now I have even more ideas for it.
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I was so taken with this board that I had to show my wife!
That looks fantastic.
So what’s the plan?
Today I am headed to the shop to just look at it, and believe it or not, pray about it, and figure out what it wants to be. (*respectful of SMC rules on religious posts, but this is important...) I feel like God hides a masterpiece in every tree, and it is my job to find it, and build something to properly display it. I really do pray to God to enlighten me on what I should make with the wood I was gifted. I originally wanted to make a table, and when I found the second matching piece, I leaned towards a table with center stripe of this wood, and maple surrounding it, and a cabinet with door panels of this wood and frames of maple. I have a bunch of 8/4 maple that I could resaw and use for such a project.
Open to ideas otherwise. I refuse to cut this more than in half, as I think it needs to be shown as one continuous piece. A lot of folks have suggested a jewelry box, but I have plenty of small pieces of local true Cuban mahogany for jewelry boxes. This piece is 9’ long 6/4 planed and needs to be something big.
So the cover gives it away, the author thinks the genuine is the only good stuff. African Mahogany that I got years ago and still have some is the most stable, easiest wood I have used. It takes finish perfectly. Can’t imagine what could be wrong with it. I sent in a sample and it’s the most common African Mahogany. Khaya and probably Ivorensis.
Last edited by Bruce King; 01-09-2021 at 11:32 AM.
Here is some good info
The Utile is Sipo.
http://thompsonmahogany.com/african-...pele-vs-utile/
http://thompsonmahogany.com/hardwood...hogany-lumber/
Last edited by Bruce King; 01-09-2021 at 11:28 AM.