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Mahogany...

Select grade kiln dried Western Red Cedar, cut to scale and size for your garden railroad needs. Many sizes available

African Mahogany

Description: Heartwood Reddish, pinkish, salmon colored, or yellowish when fresh cut; deepening with age to deep rich red or brown; distinct from the yellowish or whitish sapwood. Luster high and golden; texture rather fine to coarse; straight grain to roey, wavy or curly, ribbon grain, often with an attractive figure.

Mechanical Properties: Janka Side Hardness 740 lb for green material and 800 lb for dry. The wood can be air-seasoned and kiln dried easily without appreciable warping or checking.
Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial 3.0%; tangential 4.1%; volumetric 7.8%. Movement after manufacture is rated as small.
Working Properties: Very easy to work with hand and machine tools, torn and chipped grain is common with figured material. Easy to finish and takes an excellent polish. Slices and cuts into fine veneer.
Durability: Generally heartwood rates as durable in resistance to a brown-rot and a white-rot fungus. Moderately resistant to dry-wood termites and little resistance to attack by marine boreres.
Uses: Fine Furniture and cabinetmaking, interior trim, paneling, fancy veneers, musical instruments, boat building, pattern making, turnery, and carving.

This article refers to the timber only.

An example of Mahogany The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored wood, originally the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, sometimes referred to as Spanish or Cuban Mahogany. It was later used also for the wood of the Swietenia macrophylla, which is closely related, and sometimes referred to as Honduras Mahogany. Today, all species of Swietenia are listed by CITES, and are therefore protected.

The name "mahogany" is also commonly used to refer to the African genus Khaya (closely related to Swietenia), hence the term African Mahogany.

"Mahoganies" may refer to the wider group of all the timbers yielded by the three related genera Swietenia, Khaya and Entandrophragma. The timbers of Entandrophragma are traded under their individual names, sometimes with "mahogany" attached as a suffix, for example "sipo" may be referred to as "sipo mahogany".

In addition, the timber trade deals with various so-called "mahoganies", under a variety of different names, most notably "Philippine mahogany". These woods are unrelated to "true" Mahogany.

Mahogany has a bendy, thick and rough grain, and is relatively free of voids and pockets. It has a reddish brown color which darkens over time, and displays a beautiful reddish sheen when polished. It has excellent workability, and is very durable and slow to rot. These properties make it a favorable wood for boat making, as tradition has shown, as well as for making furniture and upholstery, musical instruments (see Chippendale), and other durable objects.

Mahogany is a very popular material for drum making, because of its great integrity and capability to produce a very dark, warm tone compared to other more common wood types like maple or birch. The famous Beatles sound of the 60s was made with Ludwig Drums in mahogany shells. Today, several drum manufacturers have rediscovered the features of mahogany shells, resulting in several high end series offering shells made in this wood. The buyer should be cautious, however, because Philippine mahogany, an inferior material and not a real mahogany at all, is often used in low-end drums.

A wide variety of electric guitars are also made from mahogany, most notably, the Gibson Les Paul, as well as other Gibson models. It is noted, again, for its dark properties, as well as its weight (Gibson Les Pauls may weigh as much as 10 pounds), the combination of which produces a warm, rounded tone with huge sustain, for which the guitar is famous.