# Darkening Mahogany



## LeeJ (Jul 4, 2007)

I've been watching with great interest in A1-Jim's Low Boy project he's doing with Charles Neil. 18th century furniture is a favorite of mine.

In his most recent post, he compares African Mahogany, and genuine Mahogany.

http://lumberjocks.com/a1Jim/blog/15852#comment-678858

I often mix and match Mahogany for the same reasons mention by Jim.

After I've finished milling the thickness I'll often set the lighter board out in the sun for a couple hours. Basically, I'm pre coloring the lighter board to get a closer match the the darker boards.

I find the closer they match prior to starting the finishing process, the better the final product, regarding color match.

A couple things to keep in mind… Don't set it out and forget it. A couple hors will often do the trick. Also, if left out too long, it could warp.

This works with many other species of wood as well. Cherry is a perfect wood for this too.

I hope this helps.

Lee


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Good to know this Buddy. I have done it with purpleheart but did not know that mahogany was photosensitive as well.

Could you please explain what you prefer to fill the grain on this wood?


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

Thanks Lee<

You can tell what the sun can do, just by covering a portion of a board. You'll end up with a light area in the covered part.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Thanks Lee I knew how to use the sun on cherry but not mahogany. I guess I thought I could make it work since Charles is a finishing expert. Now all I need is some sun instead if rain : )


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## tenhoeda (Jun 27, 2008)

Hmmm wish I knew that when I built my hunt board from mahogany. Staining didn't help much with the color match. Now I'm stuck with it. Thanks for the tip


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Lee I've got some genuine mahogany that I pick up from supplier in their firewood pile. It's still piled in my driveway (No spare place to store it) But it was already out in the rain. But I can see the effect of sunlight on it,

A few boards had other boards stacked on top of them for about 1 week and the differences in color is quite striking.

A question to you. Some of the mahogany wood is almost an egg yellow color and no visible grain color, other boards are brown, feel oily or waxy planes smooth where others plane like they were made with feathers (very rough) I change direction and the feathers appear in a different area.

I'm wondering if it's the difference between sap wood and heart wood,.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

don't forget to use sunscreen - you want a nice tan, but not to burn 

thanks for the info. nice to see you're still active, and not buried at work (too much).


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## CharlesNeil (Oct 21, 2007)

This is an issue with all woods , mismatched colors, while sun will help some woods, like mahogany , cherry, it doesn't help others… the bigger issue as well are projects where plywood and solid wood is used, you have aged wood on the plywood as well as telegraphing glue , all contributing to off color , and as well the ability to use lesser expensive woods like poplar and pine as secondary or even as primary , and be able to get specific colors and even coloring , especially on the totally adverse woods like poplar and maple , when we want them to look like walnut or mahogany or cherry…most consider this impossible, it not by any means, we do it all the time , like furniture factories , where soft maple for example is used and made to look like cherry, walnut or whatever .. the key is to use an equalizing dye to tone in the base wood, as well as the secondary to a basic uniform color prior to staining… then stain or dye over that… while a1Jims mahogany lowboy is pretty equal in color , the African back is not.. I did this on Purpose , so we can see how to bring it all together.. using this technique , I see on the web alot of statements about poplar, alder, pine, maple as impossible to match more expensive woods ,or to emulate them, I totally disagree , poplar for example will make beautiful looking mahogany and walnut… maple makes great looking cherry, sometimes My clients want the natural look of cherry that would be about 1 year old, and want the color to remain so , without further darkening, even using high UV resistant finishes , its not going to happen the cherry will darken , so we simply suggest using hard maple and doing some creative equalizing , then dyeing we can achieve the color and look, the grain and even the specific gravity of white maple is equal to cherry, you literally have to cut into it to know the difference, I use poplar as major secondary woods on mahogany and walnut all the time, major meaning seen shelves and backs , saves a ton of $ and the clients are all for that ..


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I look forwars to giving it a go on the Lowboy back , Is this in the new DVD it's all about color Charles?


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## CharlesNeil (Oct 21, 2007)

yes Jim its actually one of the main focuses .. being able to take not only subtle difference's within same species, but also to be able to integrate lesser expensive woods and get good proper coloring, as well as being able to simply use a lesser expensive wood to emulate a more expensive looking wood..


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Can't what for the set I orderd, it should make a world of differiance in our projects
Thanks Charles


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## Allison (Dec 31, 2007)

I did not realize that this could be done with so many species of wood. I will have to check it out!


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Good advice Lee.


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## AuroraWoodworks (Nov 6, 2009)

The old addage "Some is good, more is better" does not hold with sun darkening. I set a scrap of mahogany in the south-facing window to watch it age. Within a short period of time, it did darken. Then after a while it began to sun fade/bleach.


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