Staining Mahogany

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Bob - Agreed on why staining is so common on commerical work.

THere are project pics to come... but I am working on a 'now works from home' desk for my wife. The material is all re-purposed from the trim work discarded in a reno of the law office (a Phil Soper NCWW special giveaway from a few years ago). Anyways material used to be baseboards. It was all stained, I presume for the reason you give, to provide color consistency. But sanded back, there is huge color variation from piece to piece. I chose what I chose for the table top (desk top) and it has various stripes. I hope I don't tire of it over the years. I am considering a light dye to even up the colors - although I haven't made it to the finishing process on this piece yet.
 

Roy G

Roy
Senior User
You talk about uniformity in wood for a factory. Awhile back I took a course from David Scott making a three legged turned stool. He said he had a friend at a furniture factory who would pass the wood on to the various locations for their use but if it was highly figured maple, it was considered trash because it caused too much tear out. David would collect all the figured maple he could use for free because otherwise it would be burned.

Roy G
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
Why furniture manufacturers put those stains on mahogany is an easy answer. Color consistency. If a furniture maker is putting out 3000 tables per year, those tables are going to have to look somewhat alike. Mahogany gets pretty wild in its natural state. Flip a board the wrong way and the chatoyance makes it look like two different species of wood. Economic production processes override the need of a skilled operator arranging the wood so it finishes the same.

After WWII, mahogany got real popular because it was an easy wood to process. It was very stable and didn't warp or twist as much when cut up into smaller pieces. It also carved well. That's why it was revered by the cabinet makers of the 1700s.

Below is an example of that. From a used furniture store, I bought a mahogany drop leaf table for my son's immediate need for a table. Later he gave the table back to me as we had predicted. I cut up the mahogany to make a couple of mini night stands. I tried to be careful in choosing the wood, but there was a couple of areas in the original glue-up that had strong contrast. I just had to live with it and used that for the base moulding. It still irks me to this day when I happen to notice the contrast but there's nothing I can do about it. The contrast will fade over time but will always be there to some minor degree.

View attachment 192641
Table parts during the process of "re-purposing". One can see the dark splotches of original stain on the edges The table, in its original form looked pretty uniform in color.

View attachment 192642
Look at the base moulding on the lower left. That's just the way it is. The project sanded and lacquered with no stain at all. The mahogany looks great this way but I'm doing a one-off sort of thing and am not a maker of 3000 units per year.
Great input!
I actually love the different colors in the same piece of furniture. Walnut or Cherry with a little sap showing is always pretty. I guess us woodworkers look at things through different eyes.
 

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