I've recently built a Frank Lloyd Wright lamp out of sapele and this is
my first piece using this wood. My original intent was to make it out
of honduran mahogany, which now seems to be unobtainable. I wanted
mahogany because I want the final color to be the dark red-brown
mahogany is known for. I really want to avoid staining or dyeing if I
can. I've heard that sapele will turn red-brown. Does anyone know if
this is true? If so, any idea how long it will take? I'm supposing that
exposure to sunlight will speed this process. In the past I've worked
with jatoba which I found to be very photosensitive and turned the
color that I wanted very quickly. I would have made the lamp out of
jatoba except that jatoba is really concrete disguised as a tree and I
had real machining concerns. Is sapele similiar to jatoba with regard
to photosensitivity?

I've also experimented with lye and it while really darkened the sapele
I'm not crazy about putting chemicals on the wood, neutralizing,
resanding raised grain, etc. [Incidental lye question: Does lye
actually speed up the chemical process of aging or is it a totally
different chemical process that mimics aging?]

Lastly, does anyone have a favorite finishing schedule for sapele?