Honduras mahogany

[davidbrac]

I have a commission to make a tripod table for a project that a neighbour is putting together, seemingly he is copying a 1800's scientific drawing instrument that uses two pendulums to draw shapes on paper   however l digress.

The tripod needs to be made from  Honduras mahogany, which l have now sourced, but l am told it is very light in colour and l will need to darken it. So I am thinking of just using some mahogany stain, am l on the right track or is there another better method?

[bodrighywood]

I thought Honduras mahogany was now endangered and is on the IUCN Red List and subject to restricted export or am I getting the wrong variety? Darkening it can be done with a mahogany stain or using a dark polish, depends what effect you want to get.

Pete

[seventhdevil]

you can buy plantation stuff that is still very expensive but not illegal to export. the problem is that it is very pale in colour because it is plantation timber.


what about using edinam. part of the sapele genus (entandrophragma angloense) some bits i have are identical to honduran mahogany.


what sizes do you need?

[davidbrac]

I already have the mahogany and it is very light which is why l am asking the question re darkening. I tried to talk this guy into using another wood but he was insistent on MH and paid upfront for the extortionate price of it.

All l need to do is figure out which combination of stains will give me the best looking results for emulating old MH.

[bodrighywood]

Old mahogany furniture was usually french polished. If you have some offcuts perhaps experiment. I think you would need a mixture of dark brown and red. Old mahogany virtually had any grain hidden so staining wouldn't have the same look. You can get wax polished in all sorts of colours. Briwax have different ones here

Pete

[seventhdevil]

i had to dye a couple of plynths years ago and the customer got me to buy these crystals that dissolved in water and it darkened the sapelle to the old fashioned mahogany colour you are trying to achive

[seventhdevil]

can't think of their name right now but they weren't van dyke crystals but had a chemical name i think.

i'll have to see if they are still kicking about somewhere...

[Bryan Milham]

Sounds like either Van Dyck Crystals or potassium permanganate.

The first are made from walnut shells the second more likely as you say had a chemical name - were they purple in colour?

[seventhdevil]

Sounds like either Van Dyck Crystals or potassium permanganate.

The first are made from walnut shells the second more likely as you say had a chemical name - were they purple in colour?

ah haaa, potassium permanganate. that really rings a bell and purple they were...   i called it ppm for short.

that is what was used on that plinth and you can see the test areas in the middle as that was covered by the clock. from memory the solution is very purple but as it oxidises turns the brown of old mahogany that you are after.

[davidbrac]

Sounds like either Van Dyck Crystals or potassium permanganate.

The first are made from walnut shells the second more likely as you say had a chemical name - were they purple in colour?

ah haaa, potassium permanganate. that really rings a bell and purple they were...   i called it ppm for short.

Thanks l have ordered some potassium permanganate and will try it out, didn't like the sound Van Dyck Crystals as l have a nut allergy that is at its worst with walnuts

[seventhdevil]

cant for the life of me remember how much i added to water to get the right colour but it cant be that hard as i did it in the end and i'm no whiz at doing that sort of thing...

let us know how you get on...

just curios what did you pay for the mahogany per cubic foot?