Queen Anne and Matching Mahogany
#11
On an earlier post, I mentioned trying to attach Queen Anne legs bought from Adams to some longer (taller) stiles. Unfortunately (and someone had mentioned this), I have never used mahogany. I've since learned, after spending over $1000 on the premade legs and lumber from Steve Wall - mahogany comes in various flavors and types.

The Queen Anne legs from Adams Wood Products (which do a fantastic job by the way) are Honduran mahogany - creamy brown, very little grain character, doesn't seem terribly dense, etc. http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-iden...-mahogany/

The $150 8/4 board I got from Wall Lumber (who are also fantastic) is "African Mahogany" - and entirely different beast. Very open, distinct grain, light in color, even can seem a bit pink in color.... (Check the bottom "close up shot" in the page below: http://www.hearnehardwoods.com/hardwoods...any_wood.html).

Granted the legs (12" tall) are a small part of the 50" wide, 24" deep, 36" high sideboard, but I'm worried the wood transition won't be subtle enough. Does the African mahogany darken? Throw some stain on it? Just do it, and compensate later?

Given the money I've invested in the legs ($200) I'm probably already all in... and trying to mitigate the loss. Maybe it will match close enough, but again, this is new ground for me.

*Edit: Added link to the, admittedly lofty, end goal.
https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/storag...CFY0XaAod2CIPLw


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#12
I believe it was I that said attaching more 2x2, or whatever dimension length to the tops of your store bought legs would be an easy chore with a dowel of some strength penetrating both halves would make a plenty strong join (Actually I agreed with Joe Grout on that score) But I added the hard part would be matching grain, color, and any other aspect. Even if you had used Honduran, if it came from a different tree, sometimes an exact match is difficult. Sometimes a bit of misdirection works better than trying for making wood perfect.






Seems you have learned the differences between African, and Honduran. Hopefully you can find a good use for the African you have. I am not aware of a way to make either look enough like the other to proceed. Possibly others may offer tips about how to do that.


Good Luck
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya

GW
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#13
I agree with Steve N about the variability of mahogany of both species. I have a few hundred bd ft of both species and there is a lot of variation between boards and if they are quarter sawn then the stripping can be quite dramatic for either species. It is best to hand pick the boards for color match when purchasing but understand that is not possible in your case. Mahogany does darken somewhat with age. You certainly see that when planing a board that as aged since it was cut. The newly planed surfaces are much lighter. Most mahogany will have been stained, dyed or otherwise treated to darken its color. My experience is that dye will remove most of the color variation you see from board to board. As far as color, dyed African can be made to look like dyed Honduran although the wood texture will be different which for the average person would not be noticed anyway. So I think you will be fine if you use a mahogany dye even if you mix species of mahogany. The piece you are copying is very beautiful I hope you will keep us informed of your progress. Ken
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#14
About your only option will be to dye or stain the piece. The two woods act and age completely differently. If you just finish them as is the difference will become more pronounced over time I would think as the genuine mahogany ages and darkens.
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#15
Dave Diaman said:


About your only option will be to dye


QFT
Aliens haven't contacted Earth because there's no sign of intelligence here
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#16
To be an informed mahogany consumer one needs to be able to instantly and accurately discern quartersawn material from plainsawn.
African mahogany is different from Honduras, to be sure, but not nearly so much as I see discussed on the internets these days. It so happens that much of the HM that I see these days is plainsawn, and most often pattern grade, or very nearly so. Similarly, almost inevitably, the AM that I see is quartersawn with ribbon grain. The differences that you are remarking on are primarily cut and grade, NOT difference between HM &AM.
If you can't take one brief look at a mahogany board, instantly discern the cut, and know you're right, you need to work on that. I'm sorry, but the previous sentence is exactly why there are many posts on the internet about how different the mahoganies are.
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#17
Thanks all for the input.

Then I'll press forward with the build with the hopes that some "antiqued finish" might hide my poor planning.

I'm still trying to cobble together some sketchup drawings (I'm not very good at that either) from the picture of the piece I linked above. I'm not sure how it was made, but I'll post my drawing for feedback...

Thanks again.

*Edit trying to link to Google Photos
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#18
I just re read your OP.
From your description (I feel sure this is true) you've got pattern grade HM legs, and quartersawn, ribbon grain AM.
The differences you see have nothing to do with one being HM and the other being AM. Nothing!
Your cabriole leg manufacturer chose pattern grade for obvious reasons. They will always do that. With pattern grade they can get very nearly zero spoilage.
The other stock you have is the better grade. I'd try to glaze and etc. the legs to match the ribbon grain. Plus, isn't this a Queen Anne construction? There should be plenty of moldings, cockbeadings and other transitional zones on the piece. There should be enough to establish boundaries. Try not to kill the chatoyance of the ribbon stock in an attempt to use the legs as a model for the desired finish.
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#19
Paul, I don't see anything in the original post that indicates that the OP is confused between plainsawn and quartersawn. Maybe the links, which I could not open, lead you to think that. I took his question to be about the difference in color between the species as well as the more course grain of African versus Honduran. In my lumber stash, I don't see that much difference in color between the 2 and in fact I see more variation within a species than between them. At any rate I think mahogany of any species looks best when dyed. Ken
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#20
I just saw the last 2 posts the OP and you and after my previous response. I am not able to download the link in the OPs last post so I could not see the wood he is talking about. Apparently you could see it and so in fact the question does involve plainsawn vs quartersawn, contrary to what I said above. Ken
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