Cuban vs Honduras mahogany

[longbarrel50]

Is there a way to differentiate between Cuban and Honduras mahogany lumber?

Thanks,

Chris

[AHill]

Try the Wood Database.  They have good pics of end grain, which to me is the biggest difference between the two.

[Dave Diaman]

Cuban mahogany is a lot darker and denser. Most of it I have will actually sink if you drop it in water. That being said I have some really good South American mahogany that would probably pass for Cuban. There may be some sure fire way to figure it out but if there is I don't know it.

[longbarrel50]

Allen, Dave,
Thanks for the responses. A friend has a good stash of mahogany that came from the Kittenger factory many years ago. Looking at the end grain it appears to be true mahogany. The piece I looked at is not that dense where it will sink in water though.
Dave, I still haven't used the pieces I bought from you, but I have the project for it. I hope to start work on it this summer.

Thanks again,

Chris

[jteneyck]

Good to see you here, Chris. Kittinger mahogany, huh. Got to be nice stuff. Happy to help you use it if it's cluttering up your shop. Just let me know. And don't tell Ken.

John

[Adnick]

Was given some from an old, 87, luthier, and it was processed about 85-90 years ago.

His father and his grandfather were both woodworkers and the mahogany was from his grandfather. He also gave me a good amount of maple that was also near 100 years old.

Made a 9' dining table and counter top for our large island (5'x8') with it. Also made all of my wooden square blades from it.....

It's not that heavy, less than white oak or about the same as SYP (0.6 g/cm3 and some to 0.7) very easy to work, the cells are huge, and makes a very crunchy noise when cut with a sharp chisel, and a very distinctive smell.

My understanding is that Honduras is slightly lighter, not quite as hard and does not get as dark with age.

However don't think I could tell the difference.....

Regards,
Andy

[Carheir]

The Cuban Mahogany I have worked has a chocolatly color for lack of a better description. Much harder than the lighter color crap we are used to getting. JMHO>

[Herebrooks]

Hi Chris: Having lived in Key West as a woodworker, there was alot of discussion about true Cuban Mahogany(being only 90 miles from Cuba) The consensus among the old timers was that Cuban Mahogany was simply old growth Swietenia Mahogani. The way it was differentiated was by color and density. Boards from old Cuban boats were often the source for samples, as well as lumber brought from Cuba before Castro. There was a ferry that left from Key West to Havana and shipments from the island were common in the early days. All this is vernacular info(if that's the right word).
Bill

[Dave Diaman]

Bill, the info you have is accurate. I have a pretty good stash of Cuban mahogany. All the stuff I have is pre embargo lumber. Most of what I have was shipped into the country in the mid 50’s and early 60’s. The stuff is incredibly dense. It feels like cocobolo or ebony when you pick a chunk of it up. Other than the weight and the darker color there really isn’t a difference from casual inspection. It does carve totally different which I’m sure is due to the density. Depending on what you are carving that can be good or bad. Once a piece is built and aged you really can’t see a difference in the Cuban v/s Honduran unless you want to pick it up. Then the difference is immediately noticeable. I have had some South American mahogany that I would classify as old growth that was almost as dark and dense as the Cuban. I believe most of the really dense South American mahogany I have is from Peru. That source has just about dried up now too though. Really nice mahogany is getting harder to find in the US every year. There is still a lot available in South America. The problem is the US has so many regulations on importing wood most places just export somewhere else so they don’t have to jump through all the hoops.

[gMike]

A good friend moved to Costa Rica a few years ago.  We got to talking about the possibility of importing some wood from Central America.  I looked into what is required to do so.  The paperwork is almost incomprehensible.  I suspect that a container full of various woods would sit in a Customs holding pen for at least 2 years before it was cleared for import into the USA.  Once it has been cleared it can be re-exported to any other country with minimal paperwork.  I understand the need to guard against importing fungal and bacterial diseases that might harm native trees but the hoops were just too much to even think about.  The other concern is C.I.T.E.S. qualifications for each species of wood if they have been declared "threatened" or (God forbid) "endangered".

Needless to say we dropped plans to go into the exotic wood business.