Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

Re: Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Mahogany is my favorite, too. It's also great for carving and turning.

My second choice is black walnut. Unlike cherry and maple, both of these woods are difuse porous open grain. For a glassy surface, you need an additional finishing step, a paste wood filler. I prefer Behlen's Por-o-Pac. You can mix it with the pigments of your choice, dilute it so it brushes on with odorless mineral spirits, and rub it out just as it's beginning to dry, across the grain, with rough burlap. Let it dry for at least 24 hours, or more depending on the weather, before sealing it.

Re: Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

Felix B.

>I decided to make a new wall cabinet for my hand planes and tools.

Please post pictures when cabinet is complete.

Thanks,

Felix

Mahogony is nice but...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>I find it brittle sometimes, it's still a nice wood to work with hand tools. I like Cherry and Walnut too. I use to realy like Oak but its open grain is starting to bother me.

Also some jungle woods are fun to work with too. For secondary woods poplar work well with hand tools.

Re: Mahogony is nice but...

Dean in Burlington

>Yes...I was wondering what exotic woods would be fun with the hand tools...I can tell you Jatoba is not one of them.

Re: Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

Dean in Burlington

>You got it.

Re: Mahogony is nice but...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Jarrah (sp) Is a joy to use (to me anyway) as is ebony, but very pricey. Bubinga is fun and sometimes a bit challgening.

I have some a Jatoba, but havn't played with it yet...

Re: Mahogony is nice but...

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

>My experience with Jatoba wasn't half bad.

It does dull tools quick, but I found it quite nice. I can be brittle and cause tear-out, but I find higher cutting angles tale care of that.

What was it you didn't like about it specifically?

Cheers,

Greg

Re: Mahogony is nice but...

Alan Hamilton

>Scott and Dean,

I still like oak--even after using it for...well...never mind. When it's finished well I think oak is a very pretty wood. I find it's very easy to work with hand tools. Sawing can be a little slow; but I need the exercise (boy do I need the exercise!).

Oak's large (gargantuan? humongous?) pores don't bother me at all. When I think it's appropriate I don't hesitate to use filler. Some have condemned this for heresy, but so far no one's been able to tell me exactly why it's contrary to the immutable laws of God and nature. So long as the piece calls for it, I can't think of a reason not to fill the pores.

Alan

"I can be brittle and cause tear-out..."

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I had a boss like that one time. One of the more frightening experiences of my working life. I'll be sure to stay out of your way on the days you're brittle.

Re: Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Pretty good trick using pore filler on carvings. How do you do that?

Pam

I'll buy a "T" for $200... :)

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

>

Re: Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>My father used to make a slurry of rottenstone and oil and rub his sculpture with 0000 steelwool to fill the pores. People that saw his sculpture in person couldn't keep their hands off. Very smooth.JR

I'll try that, Joe, many thanks.

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>

I agree...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>I love the look of QS oak (riff sawn too, not to fond of flat sawn) and still use it from time to time. What type of filler do you use Alan?

Here some tables I made out of QS white oak...

Love that batman angle photo;)

;-)

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>

Poplar apologist...

Jonathan Kaplan (OR)

>Re: poplar making a nice 'secondary' wood. I'll go one further and say that, IMHO, poplar is under-rated as a wood. It *is* easy and fun to work, but aside from that, it often has interesting colors and patterns, nice grain, and the colors age well (again, IMHO), losing the sometimes distrubing greenish look and taking on a nice warm glow over time. It's inexpensive, often readily available in wide widths, etc., and, again, easy and fun to work.

That said, I too love working with cherry and oak...

Just my $.02...

jk

Re: Mahogony is my new favorite Wood!!!

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>That's basically what Por-o-pac is made of. The oil is BLO, so it hardens in the pores as the MS evaporates. For getting the stuff out of the carvings, in addition to and following the burlap, we use soft knit cotton rags and a selection of sticks with various profiles to wipe most of the filler and stain off the surfaces and out of the grooves, etc. Leaving a bit of darker material down in the deepest recesses actually gives the carving a bit of patina, adding to the definition of the carvings, and makes it look more like the old pieces we are reproducing.

Re: "I can be brittle and cause tear-out..."

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Can't say as how I would like this place near as much if everyone had the personality of UHMW, MDF, or gruel.

Re: More Oak *PICS*

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>oak sometimes, too. Here is a recent creation, a hall table in red oak, with a quarter sawn top. The medalions are figured walnut.

Sorry about the imaging artifacts. Dust on the lens (and dust on the floor in the office) is an occupational hazard.

The unusual stylistic elements are the result of it's being designed to complement an existing oak hall mirror.

Groff and Groff had two pallets full of quartersqawn planks from this huge tree, all 14' to 16' long, and most 12-16" wide. I wish I had a use for all of it, but I only needed one board.

Totally agree;-)

Dan Donaldson

>Just think what a dull place this world would be if everyone was "normal" '-)

Re: Behlen's

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Thanks, William. The Behlen's I've used seems a lot thicker paste than I'd think a slurry of oil and rottenstone to be. I suppose that's the advantage of making your own, it can contain more or less rottenstone up to a point.

Pam

Re: Mahogony is nice but...

Dean in Burlington

>Greg,

It's just hard!!!! A lot of work and sweat to plane it....but it is a nice wood to work with cause it has nice grain....not like maple where the grain is going everywhere.

On one piece for my handrail I inlayed Jatoba into the maple (on the top). I beleive you helped me with this in a prior post. It came out looking great but just planing the top of this railing for 5 minutes and I was drenched....I felt like I'd been planing pine all day :) Plus I inlayed the Jatobo on edge so it would be a little easier.

Those are two different tables, right?

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>

Re: Totally agree;-)

Dave Anderson Chester, NH

>Hey Dan-

I think that the fact were here on the Hand tools side validates thae fact that none of us are Norm-al. ;-)) We are almost by definition a quirky minority.