Mahogany Veneer

“Mahogany” names two different trades now and it is worth saying which you mean on the drawing. Genuine mahogany is Swietenia macrophylla, the Honduran or American timber that made the reputation: even reddish brown, fine texture, exceptionally stable, and CITES Appendix II, which means permits and lead time. African mahogany is Khaya — a different genus, a good deal more affordable, coarser in texture, more prone to interlocked grain and the ribbon stripe that comes with it.

Both work and finish predictably, which is why the timber has been the cabinetmaker’s default for three hundred years. The practical difference on a large elevation is the interlock: Khaya quarter-cut gives you a ribbon that shifts as you walk past it, which is either the effect you wanted or the one you will spend the meeting explaining. Swietenia is quieter and more uniform, and priced accordingly.

Tell us which one the drawing means and what the budget is, and we will tell you honestly which of the two the job actually needs. Supplied in sequence from a single flitch, raw, two- ply, paper-backed or pressed to architectural panels in 4x8, 4x10 and 4x12.