Guess that wood....

[ron w]

Scota,

     in my younger years I worked for a wooden boat builder and worked with Honduran a lot,..... it is the standard of mahogany on wooden boats. as said, it works great, but does not hold detail carving very well be cause it tends to be a bit on the brittle side for small work under a gouge. although it probably would make a decent stock because of it's intrinsic stability, there is a reason it hasn't ever become a commonly seen stock wood. i'm positive it has been tried and tested to the point of conclusion.

[Marcruger]

I ran a guitar shop for a while, and dealt with mahogany in repairs.  Mainly Gibson guitars.  It was surprisingly light, and screws stripped out easily.  I pegged and drilled a lot of those damaged holes.  Also, the necks were much more easily damaged than maple on guitars such as Fender.  Interesting to see that there is heavy mahogany too.  Enjoying this discussion.  God Bless,   Marc

[Scota4570]

I carved it a bit.  It does tend to break out across the grain on small details.  I prefer carving maple.  No big deal, I'll just use it for a hawkenesque looking rifle. 

[ron w]

Honduran Mahagony, or "genuine Mahogany", as it is generically called, is dense enough to hold woodscews quite well. any of the Phillipean Mahoganies or Luan, is soft and will allow stripped screws quite easily, sometimes to the point of being a PIA to work with. Honduran has been commonly used for musical instruments throughout history. it has a favorable reasonance and will improve with finishing and age. there are many "Mahoganies" in the Phillipean and Luan family that are generically called "Mahogany" in advertising , but are actually not Mahogany at all. unfortunately it is one of those issues where an industry takes advantage of the consumers' lack of real knowledge about a little known wood. this issue is very common in the furniture industry, where anything that resembles the look of Mahogany gets called "real Mahogony" in an add.

[Mr. Bubbles]

In order for hardwood suppliers to manage things, they generally lump hardwood types in to groups.  For instance, in the oak family, within North America, there are 90  different species, and worldwide 600 different hybrids.  Yet for lumber purposes, they are grouped as either white oak, or red oak.

Mahogany isn't quite so diversified, but there are many many different species.  The most common seen stuff here is Bif Leaf Mahogan, which grows frrom Mexico all the way down to Brazil.  That is very similar stuff to the West African Mahogany as well.  As the ultimate in desireablity, there is also the West Indian Mahogany, which is mostly found in the West Indies and Cuba.  Really spendy stuff though, like $25+ per bf.  You'd better make sure you have a really GOOD reason to buy that stuff rather than the Big Leaf, which is < 1/3 the price.

[jerrywh]

Does the winner get a cash prize???