More specialist wood species: Spanish Mahogany

When I was about to fly back to Tinidad to secure a container load of Spanish Cedar (mexicana roem)I happened to mention my intened trip to the late David Ticktin,his dad had founded Ticktin Timbers years before and as a specialist timber merchant they were then the best.David took out his copy of World Woods,opened it at a page showing Mahogany,then made a photocopy for me,he asked me to keep a look out for genuine Spanish Mahogany.

The trip to inspect the Cedar was a disaster,of some 36 cubes available to load,near half was unaceptable and I had to return back to Cape Town,then fly back later when they said they had their ducks in a better looking row,even then I struggled to load a full container. I did however make some progress into the mahogany issue,I spoke to the very helpfull department of forestry in Trinidad,I was told that you have to inspect each tree as it stands,then mark it so it can be identified later,as once a mahogany tree is felled and the leaves fall off,its impossible to identify the trees actual species,which is where its full value is to be found.One reason not understood why this specific mahogany is so sought after,is its ability to stay flat on a wide surface,such as a table or counter top.Planks over 2 feet wide (610mm) would stay flat,so a single sawn plank could often make up a top,so beware when you are looking for an 'Original Antique',you think you have found one,the vendor says its orginal but the top has more than one joint in it,this may just indicate the piece has been 'restored' at some stage?




Mahogany
Mahogany is the dark, hard, close-grained wood of the Swietenia mahogany tree, which is indigenous to Central America and the West Indies. A heavy, durable wood, close and straight in the grain, with curls in the figure, light red in color when cut, and becoming deeper and richer in hue with exposure, the properties of the wood had been noted by the carpenter on board Sir Walter Raleigh’s ship during the voyage of exploration to South America in 1595.

However, mahogany was not used for furniture in England and the American colonies until the third decade of the 18th Century, though it was known in the late 17th Century as one of the timbers grown in Jamaica. For some time after it came into general use for cabinetmaking and joinery, it was called Jamaica wood because that island was the chief source of supply. Also, Jamaican merchants not only dealt in the indigenous timber, but imported Spanish mahogany from Cuba and Honduras and shipped it to England.

In 1720, the walnut wood famine in France, and the consequent embargo placed by the French authorities on the exportation of timber forced English craftsmen to put greater reliance than formerly on the supply of native trees. The darker Virginian black walnut, which resembles mahogany, was also imported. But, the supply obtained from these sources was insufficient. As a consequence, a number of London makers turned to mahogany.

Mahogany began to supercede walnut in general use in the making of furniture in England during the second quarter of the 18th Century and rapidly gained favor. Mahogany was superior to walnut in several respects: