Thread: Mahogany Wood

I've just got a hold of a large piece of fresh cut mahogany wood here is South Florida. I want to eventually try my hand at making scales with it, but I need to first cut it up and let it dry out. What size is the best to cut it up into, remember I also eventually will have to stabilize it. The smaller I cut it the faster it will dry out.
Any advice from the experts will be greatly appreciated.

Alewine

Let it dry slowly it will take it a while, I let mine weather for at least a year before I even cut it down to a nominal size. Mahogany is usually a wet wood anyways so to get your moisture down to about 6% it may take a while. I personally would cut it to a width of 1 inch. that is a decent size for almost any project.

I understand it will take some time weather. So should I just leave it alone and just place it somewhere in my garage to dry. Or cut it in 1 inch width, stack it and let it dry that way. I would add spacers so that air can circulate around the pieces. By the way is that 1 inch by 1 inch by what?

It takes a long while as scotishcavalir says. You really want to minimalise warpage through quick loss of water, so it should be left to dry uncut - if you cut it to scale blank size it will warp horribly being freshly cut. The main water loss will be through the ends that reveal the vascular tubes that carry moisture and nutrients up the tree - bearing in mind you want to slow the evaporation rate down, these ends should get a coating of wax.

Saw it into larger bits than you need - if it does warp you can then re-size it and square it up with minimal loss. The waxed-end spindles that I usually buy are around 2.5" x 12" long - if all goes well you will get a pair out of each 6" length once you have re-sawn it to whatever width you need.

Regards,
Neil