My interest is in Sapele. I saw some tables in New Hope last year that were
made of Sapele and Maple. They were gorgeous. I have a project in mind using
Sapele. I found that it is commonly called African Mahogany. Apparently,
several species are called African Mahogany.

I have been told that it is difficult to plane with hand tools because of
interlaced grain patterns. Is it more difficult than other woods such as
Mesquite?.



"Fred the Red Shirt" wrote in message
om...
.

"African mahogany", (aka 'meranti', and other similar species)
typically,
a light, almost golden, brown. this is _much_ lighter
(mass-wise)
than the other 'mahogany' woods. Like only 2/3 to 1/2 the
weight,
per unit volume.

Is meranti the same as sapele?

African 'mahoganies' used for marine plywood are usually Okoume
or Sapele. Okoume does NOT have the rot resistance of mahogany.
Dunno about Sapele but probably it does not either. Marine plywood
is not rot-resistant, though it is supposed to use a fungus-resistant
glue.

There are at least three genera of meranti, and I thought that
'Phillipine' Mahogany, not African, was of those merantis.

--

FF