Mahogany wood

Mahogany, also known as Honduras mahogany is a tropical hardwood indigenous to South America, Central America and Africa. There are many different grades and species sold under this name, which vary widely in quality and price. Mahogany which comes from the Caribbean is thought to be the hardest, strongest and best quality. Logs from Africa, though highly figured, are of slightly lesser quality. Philippine mahogany has a similar color, but is not really mahogany at all. It is a much less valuable wood, being less strong,
not as durable or as beautiful when finished. Mahogany is strong, with a uniform pore structure and poorly defined annual rings. It has a reddish – brown colour and may display stripe, ribbon, broken stripe, rope, ripple, mottle, fiddle

back or blister figures. Crotch mahogany figures are widely used and greatly valued. Mahogany is an excellent carving wood and finishes well. Mahogany is used extensively in the crafting of Georgian, Empire and Federal reproduction furniture. Mahogany is also used in styles ranging from Victorian furniture reproductions to Contemporary.

 

Until the 19th century all of the mahogany was regarded as one species, although varying in quality and character according to soil and climate. In 1836 the German botanist Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini (1797–1848) identified a second species while working on specimens collected on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and named it Swietenia humilis. In 1886 a third species, Swietenia macrophylla, was named by Sir George King(1840–1909) after studying specimens of Honduras mahogany planted in the Botanic Gardens in Calcutta, India.