"larry" wrote in message
...
I need to get some hardwood for hand railings and need it to be the same as
the existing if possible. I have placed picture on my website.
http://wood.ergonometrix.co.uk/woodstair.jpg

Currently it is stained and varnished but I would like to sand it down and
apply oil or beeswax.

- depending on it's angle to the light the wood reflects the light in
different ways. - Is it real mahogany or ?

Looks more like African mahogany than mahogany, but who knows.

I took a piece of wood into two good lumber yards and asked them what it
was. They both said it was a tropical wood nominally called mahogany; but
it could be any of several dozen species and there was no practical way to
be sure. So getting an accurate answer from a poor photo...