Africa Mahogany

[David Nelson1]

Kitchen cabinet project is right around the corner and we settled on A.M. Is this wood particularly hard to work with? Any tips of tricks would be appreciated. It will be used for face frames, doors, drawer fronts, and the primary wood for the island base.

[Jamie Buxton]

More often than other species, flatsawn khaya has built-in stresses so it warps when ripped. I'd insist on quartersawn boards for doors. However, the ribbon striping on quartered khaya looks quite different from flatsawn, so I'd probably choose to make the whole kitchen from quartered.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree entirely with Jamie. Around here the quartered is actually a little cheaper since the flat sawn looks more like what
people are used to seeing in mahogany.

[David Nelson1]

Would it be reasonable to assume that using a 6/4 to get 3/4 would be viable? I don't see QS offered in my area. I guess picking the pile would yield some QS but may not total the need for the entire project.

[Larry Edgerton]

Unfortunately David you are about right from my experience. Like Jatoba it is best to sneak up on final dimensions slowly as each cut seems to have some reaction. I will be looking forward to seeing it when it is done.

Larry

[David Nelson1]

Unfortunately David you are about right from my experience. Like Jatoba it is best to sneak up on final dimensions slowly as each cut seems to have some reaction. I will be looking forward to seeing it when it is done.

Larry

LOL Larry, so will my wife!

[Larry Edgerton]

Don't feel bad David, my shop is 10' from my house and my cabinets are still not done.........

[David Nelson1]

Hmmm Kinda hard to sneak up on raising a panel. The widest door seems like it will be 19" with an exposed portion of the panel being 15". I was planing on re-sawing and doing a book matched raised panels. Seems like I'm going to need 10/4 due to wood movement.

[David Nelson1]

Larry have you posted any pictures? BTW neither is my floor project LOL Once the cabinets are in minus the island I'll get that knocked out.

[William C Rogers]

David, I did my cabinets using AM. I actually bought it from Rockler when it was a wood of the month for $3.25 bf. It was S3S about 7/8 thick. That didn't leave much to flatten, but I didn't have to plane anything, just drum sander. I don't remember much difficultly working with it. I did stay away from the ribboning boards. I got my AM plywood from Northwest Lumber in Indianapolis.
image.jpg

[David Nelson1]

William,
You got me here " I did stay away from the ribboning boards". Nice looking kitchen. Your frig box, is that AM ply wood?

[William C Rogers]

I think I read somewhere that the ribboning was more prone to tear out. Not sure on that. The frig box, door inserts, and cabinet sides that show are AM plywood. I used prefinished ply on the interiors where I could. I used Zar brand stain 50/50 mix of dark mahogany and rosewood. You can't tell plywood from solid. I did flat panel instead of raised panel with 3" rails and styles. I used the Sommerfield router system and bits. I did buy a new rip blade for my saw.

Edit: I used polyurethane as the finish. First coat was gloss to bring out the grain, followed by satin.

[Dan T Jones]

My experience was a lot of sanding. I was glad to finish and don't think I will repeat using AM. BTW minwax red mahogany gave a nice color.
Dan

[J.R. Rutter]

I would select it carefully and definitely do not assume that you can flatten crooked parts and have it stay flat. I do not offer a warranty on Khaya doors, FWIW.

[David Nelson1]

I would select it carefully and definitely do not assume that you can flatten crooked parts and have it stay flat. I do not offer a warranty on Khaya doors, FWIW.

That sir, is an interesting remark and defiantly bears consideration. If this wood is as risky as it sounds is there a species of mahogany that easier and more predictable to work?