trainum Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 I went to a local saw mill that had a 7" long 9" wide and 2" thick piece of mahogany. It has been kiln dried and cured in stacks for at least 10 years. I cut the board to 4 feet to use as a mantle piece above my gas fireplace. I used oak wood 4-6" wide 7" long as a background from floor to ceiling. about 9" used a light stain came out great. My question is what to do with the mahogany. I was thinking just sand it smooth than use a polyurethane matte on the board. I have read that mahogany is very porous and i should use wood filler, stain it than lacquer or poly it do i need to do all that or just sanding and poly with a matte finish. Board is beautiful the grains look amazing i don't want to get a bunch of stuff on it and take away from the beauty. Any ides of another technique? below is a pic of the mahogany that is left after cutting from 7' may make nice shelves woth it the other is the wall i built around fireplce. just to show i would hang mahogany between the tv and fireplace. thank you for any tips or suggestions 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 Sand & matte poly is a good choice. Mahogany really doesn't need help to be beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 3 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Sand & matte poly is a good choice. Mahogany really doesn't need help to be beautiful. This. BTW that looks very nice and welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 I'm curious how you know it's "American mahogany." The little bits I've seen tend to be considerably darker than that. What you have looks like Honduran to me...but one pic of one board is far from conclusive. Best to tread lightly when finishing mahogany. It needs zero help in the beauty department. Pore filling is a traditional technique but unless I was trying to do an exact repro of a period piece I wouldn't even consider it. The more you monkey around with wood, the less it looks like wood...IMO. Shellac would be a great finish. A few thin coats of wipe-on poly would also look good. Satin ARS is dead easy to apply and more protective than shellac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 General Finishes Arm-R -Seal = ARS Welcome to the Forum ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenMasco Posted October 30, 2017 Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 I've had great results with Liberon Furniture Oil on Mahogany, although I've never worked with American Mahogany. No filling the pores allply 4-5 coats with 000 steel wool and done, nice luster, pops figure and looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted October 30, 2017 Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 Ultimately it all comes down to: 1) what you're looking for as a finished appearance 2) How much effort you're willing to put into the finishing process Pore filling can easily become a very tedious process, and like others have mentioned it *CAN* take away from the natural look of the wood. My personal choice would be to skip the filler completely and apply 4-5 coats of satin ARS. This will slightly fill the grain, but not much. More importantly it will provide good protection and bring out the beauty of the mahogany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainum Posted November 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2017 thank you for all the advice. A family friend owns the lumber mill i go to. He also has a small trucking company that runs up and down i-95 from here in Maryland. while in Florida after hurricane Andrew (1991) and delivering ice to Miami and the keys a mahogany tree had fallen in the road on a side street. The state was going to put in the chipper and grind up he stopped the guys and for 20$ they loaded over 10 logs some 26" in width all at least 12' long onto his tractor trailer. He brought back to Maryland didn't touch for 2 years and then milled it stacked it and let cure from 1994? til last month. I will post my final product in a few weeks but i am very happy i didn't stain just went with a wipe on Polly matte finish that's clear. the wood grains really pop and it looks great. thanks for all the advice. Chris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted November 15, 2017 Report Share Posted November 15, 2017 Welcome! This is a project I've been working on using african mahogany and walnut. The mahogany shines up so well just after a little bit of sanding. I think this picture was after 220 grit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 16, 2017 Report Share Posted November 16, 2017 Charlie, probably just the lighting but, the lighter colored wood is mahogany? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted November 16, 2017 Report Share Posted November 16, 2017 40 minutes ago, K Cooper said: Charlie, probably just the lighting but, the lighter colored wood is mahogany? The lighter is the walnut. It's the weirdest thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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