mahogany and what wood?

Re: mahogany and what wood?

JL

African "mahogany" can vary from a pink/brown to a medium brown - at least the stuff I have seen.

Do you want to contrast color or grain?

Do you want your contrasting wood(s) to be primary woods or decorative accents?

I would take a "scrap" or representative piece to the lumber yard and go with whatever strikes your fancy.

Re: mahogany and what wood?

paul in AZ

I built a cabinet of african mahogany with lacewood.

Some mahogany is pretty flat with little pattern and some has ribbons of slightly paler color. My mahogany case has the 'ribbon' grain.

The lacewood has the smallest flecks of lace I could find. The lacewood was resawn and used for panels in the mahogany doors.

A bit of color contrast. The grain contrast gets lots of favorable comment.

Varnished. No stain.

I often don't find mixed woods attractive

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Mahogany is a formal looking wood, beautiful in of itself. Some satinwood inlay goes with it nicely, when used in moderation.

Many mixed wood pieces leave me wondering what did mixing add to the design. Novelty is all I can come up with and novelty goes out of fashion. A good design usually does not need sprucing up with the kind of contrast a XX species top adds to a YY species bottom.

Design controls

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

Nice mahogany will go nicely with accents in a darker wood like ebony or blackwood. String-inlay in boxwood is also effective with mahogany.

Your question begs the question of what-how-where you think the marriage might work. If, for instance, you're putting a mahogany top on a maple base or leg set, I've seen that done with more or less success; again depending on the design.

With the limited pieces I've viewed, Mahogany+ seems to need higher contrast. I'd not pair it with walnut or cherry or osage.

Re: mahogany and what wood?

John in NM

I tend to prefer keeping contrast subtle unless it's Federal style stringing or the like. I have used African mahogany with cherry successfully, I doubt I would go for more contrast than that (neither stained, they are pretty similar in color).

When mixing on a table, I like the legs dark

Dick Coers

Legs dark, top light. It adds visual weight that way. My hall table is cherry legs and figured birch top. Rift cut white oak would be a nice subtle color change, and the grain would not fight with the mahogany.

Re: mahogany and what wood?

Jim Dillon

Hi Joseph. Mahogany is really nice to work with and, as JL mentioned, it can vary in color and contrast quite a bit. Tear-out during jointing and planing can occur, especially where grain direction changes. Slightly wetting the surface prior to jointing or planing can minimize the issue, although, truth-to-be-told, I generally confront this problem after-the-fact - unfortunately . My experience is limited, but I like the combination of mahogany with cherry - with an oil finish. And ebony is classic in G&G furniture for accent. My 2 cents. Jim

Re: mahogany and what wood?

jesse cloud

I have used true Mahogany and African Mahogany in a few projects. They are very different, and they take stains very differently. As the question of what-goes-with- what is one of taste and so unique to each individual, my best advice would be to reserve lots of scrap pieces and cutoffs for test pieces with various treatments.

Another tip: African Mahogany often has open pored 'ribbon grain' which really absorbs a lot of stain, often irregularly. Try a 'size coat' of yellow glue diluted with ten parts water to one of glue, let dry, sand, then coat. The finish will be much smoother.

Hope you will share lots of progress pics. Interesting project!!

Re: mahogany and what wood?

jesse cloud

Here's a pic of a genuine mahogany frame with African Mahogany panels. The frame has a light coat of red dye and a shellac topcoat. The African Mahogany has shellac only. Both are rubbed out with steel wool and wax.

thanks all

Joseph Piotrowski

thanks for all the information you all gave me. a good list of some things to think about.

Re: Design controls

Robin Corell in Atascadero

I have a friend that does a lot of string inlay with mahogany and one of his favorite combos is ebony and purple heart. It doesn't sound like it would work but it does, and very well I might add.