What Looks Good On Mahogany?

[George Summers]

I am just finishing up on a jewelry armoire for Christmas, out of mahogany (solid with ply fields on doors, sides and top). This is my first piece made from mahogany so I have some finish questions. I have not started to experiment yet on finishes (on scrap pieces). What have you used and what do you think looks good on mahogany? Some of the ply fields are a little lighter than the solid around them, is this acceptable in mahogany or is there a mild stain you use to even the shade? Some of the solid pieces have a more open pore than others, do you use a grain filler, what? Thanks.

George

[John Bush]

Hi George,
I made a Morris chair and footstool using seppele, which is very similar to Mahogany, and a hand rubbed finish of teak oil using 600 wet/dry and 4-5 coats left a nice soft patina that has lasted 8+ years. The wood is even grained and the finish brings out the deep red/brown color. Much softer looking finish than poly type final coat. Good luck, John

[Dave Shaffer]

I made this table from mahogany. I used Watco teak oil and Minwax wipeon poly. Just make sure you let the teak oil sit and cure for about a week before applying the poly.

[Donnie Raines]

I really find that Mahogany is rather bland(of coarse this is my opinion) so I add a little extra color to it. Not much!!...in fact I use Mahogany color dye or stain, which evens out the color and draws some additional attention to the swirling grain. Once that has cured, i like to use garnet shellac. It ireally adds some additonal depth.

Again, this is all my personal taste. It may or a may not float your boat.

[Jamie Buxton]

George ---

Sometimes you can't tell very much about the eventual color of a mahogany piece by looking at the freshly-machined color. Mahogany gets much darker with exposure to sunlight. In my experience, large color differences in freshly-machined lumber tend to even out with time. If you have some off-cuts, you might try putting finish on them and then giving them a suntan to see the effect.

For finishing almost anything which will be fondled, I like the "witches brew" wipe-on varnish popularized by Sam Maloof. You can brew it yourself, or buy it premixed from Rockler. Barkley's Gel Varnish produces almost identical results. These products make a finish which mostly penetrates into the wood, but which leaves a thin surface film to help protect the wood. However, the film is not so thick that you feel like there's a layer of plastic between you and the wood.

Jamie

[Kent Cori]

I am in the midst of deciding if I should build a very large (7' wide by 7.5' high) three bay bookcase out of mahogony plywood with hardwood frames and trim. The LOML wants a color about half way between mahogony and walnut. Has anyone found a dye or stain (pigment or gel) that will approximate the darker tone that mahogony eventually achieves but on day one?

[Carl Eyman]

When I did the mahogany dining table a couple of years ago I used a water based filler (can't think of brand off hand, but will look it up if requested) a water based aniline dye (mix of cuban red and brown mahogany) and Fuhr's #355 water based acrylic varnish rubbed out. I've posted these pictures so many times I'm embarrassed, but if you want to see the color and sheen go to www.eyman.org/table. The pictures capture it pretty well.

[Keith Christopher]

For the mahogany headboard I did, one of the most dramatic changes occured when the pore filler was applied after the stain. I first had to bleach it to even the color. then filled. Though I sometimes use potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) for oxidizing the color of the wood. Then use a pore filler and a wipe on ploy. If not oxidizing the wood then staining will richen the color and the pore filler adds a deepness to the color with some black lines (NOTE most pore fillers contain silica. )
I also recomment visiting http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/phpBB2/portal.php
excellent advice and information specific to finishing.


For the deepest richest color apply lots of: Time.


Keith

[Jamie Buxton]

One more thought...

You said "mahogany", and I assumed it was all Honduras mahogany. Your solid lumber probably is, but my dealers no longer sell Honduras mahogany plywood. Instead, their plywood is African mahogany. African mahogany is botanically a mahogany, and is a respectable wood, but it isn't Honduras mahogany. It doesn't have the luster of Honduras, it has a different pore size, and it is generally a different color. If you're combining Hondo and African in the same piece, you should do some test pieces with your finishes to avoid surprises.

[Jamie Buxton]

Carl and I have very different taste. In my view, pores are part of the wood, and I like them to show. To my eye, wood with filled pores looks like good formica. But as I say, this is very much a matter of personal taste.

[Donnie Raines]

Good point on the varity....I forgot about that. African Mahogany is much draker in color...almost a brown rather then a red. I would hope that the two match well now.......