dust collection system and personal protective equipment<\/a>, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.<\/p>\nFortunately, I experienced no negative side effects when working with the small pieces of African Mahogany that came as part of the African Woods collection.<\/p>\n
My Personal Experiences<\/h2>\n
My experience with African Mahogany was limited, as noted, to two pen blank sized pieces. However, with those pieces I found the wood to be quite dark yet lightweight. My samples had a closed grain with minimal pores. The wood cut easily, sanded nicely, and was quite easy to finish. My pieces lived up to the reputation for African Mahogany being an easy wood to work with from start to finish. Given the ease of working with the wood and because it was attractive in coloration as well, I might have been inclined to work with the wood again, but now that I am aware of its threatened status, I might have to think twice about that. If I was reasonably confident that the wood was plantation grown, that would go a long way towards inducing me to use the wood again, but given the number of available woods, both domestic and exotic, that are not under pressure, I would most likely choose to use more sustainable materials in my personal wood working practice. The choice is an individual one and I wouldn’t personally condemn anyone for choosing to work with African Mahogany even if I might choose not to. Whatever wood you choose to work with today, have a good turn!<\/p>\n
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When wood workers speak nostalgically of \u201cgenuine\u201d or \u201creal\u201d Mahogany, they are usually referring to Cuban, or West Indies, Mahogany, botanically known as Swietenia mahogany. The genus Swietenia is the one to which anything that can be considered \u201creal\u201d Mahogany should belong. Cuban Mahogany hasn\u2019t been widely available for decades, having been banned from export by the Cubans in 1946 due to massive over-exploitation that has practically driven the species into extinction. It was harvested and used for everything from extremely high end furniture to firewood and you simply won\u2019t find pieces of it today outside of an antique store, so the odds that a wood turner or other woodworker will have the chance to use it are vanishingly small.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141,127,128,138,130],"tags":[144,171,183,186,188,200,214,217,239,240,247,249],"yoast_head":"\n
African Mahogany - Wood Turning Pens ..<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n