Any one used Mahogany for a knife handle?

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BallewBlade

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Oct 10, 2011
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I got some mahogany for free from my brother in law and most of the pieces are already the perfect size for a knife handle. They are raw pieces from a custom door shop. I'm assuming I would need to stabilize the wood first, but have any of you had success in looks and performance with mahogany? It is beautiful wood and I'm hoping to put it to good use. Thanks in advance.
 
Mahogany is a great looking wood. One of those classics IMO that can be used just about anywhere and look right... Mahogany can show everything from a beautiful dark and even grain to quilted ripples that seem inches deep to beautiful twisted and gnarled crotch cut grain patterns depending on growth conditions and cut.

I use everything stabilized if at all possible, as I was handed that 'better safe than sorry' advice by a MS friend. However Mahogany doesn't necessarily require it. It is used commercially in some pretty tough environments without anything more than a good final oil finish. From there, good care and maintenance will see it last a lifetime.

-Eric
 
I have some Mahogany that a furniture maker friend gave me. I have only used it once as the grain in what I have is not overly impressive. It is very tight grain and a nice wood to work with but it did not have a lot of figure. I used it un-stabilized with good results. Finely sanded with a Danish Oil finish made a very rich looking handle.
 
Wow Thank you I am defiantly going to try some out, un-stabilized and see what happens. I knew it was pretty tough wood, I'm pretty sure they use it on high end spear fishing guns. I'm not sure if the Mahogany I got will be as beautiful as you described but I will find out! Thanks for the info! :thumbup:


LucyCustomKnives said:
Mahogany is a great looking wood. One of those classics IMO that can be used just about anywhere and look right... Mahogany can show everything from a beautiful dark and even grain to quilted ripples that seem inches deep to beautiful twisted and gnarled crotch cut grain patterns depending on growth conditions and cut.

I use everything stabilized if at all possible, as I was handed that 'better safe than sorry' advice by a MS friend. However Mahogany doesn't necessarily require it. It is used commercially in some pretty tough environments without anything more than a good final oil finish. From there, good care and maintenance will see it last a lifetime.

-Eric
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Thanks Big Chris, I'm glad to see you had success with it, because I got a ton of it and want to use it up!

Big Chris said:
I have some Mahogany that a furniture maker friend gave me. I have only used it once as the grain in what I have is not overly impressive. It is very tight grain and a nice wood to work with but it did not have a lot of figure. I used it un-stabilized with good results. Finely sanded with a Danish Oil finish made a very rich looking handle.
Click to expand...
 
Mahogany is very stable and strong. I'm sure it would be just fine with an oil finish like the other gentlemen described :)
 
Mahogany is, IMHO, one of those woods like Teak. It's a very nice wood that works wonderfully for things like furniture, with a nice oil finish... But for a knife handle, much of it is very plain and VERY light in weight.

If you can get some from your B-I-L with some figure, I recommend you get it professionally stabilized... more for the improved density than anything.


This knife has a stabilized Curly Mahogany handle that I got from Mark Farley at BurlSource...

orig.jpg
 
Wow Nick that handle looks awesome, thanks for the advice and thanks for sharing!
NickWheeler said:
Mahogany is, IMHO, one of those woods like Teak. It's a very nice wood that works wonderfully for things like furniture, with a nice oil finish... But for a knife handle, much of it is very plain and VERY light in weight.

If you can get some from your B-I-L with some figure, I recommend you get it professionally stabilized... more for the improved density than anything.


This knife has a stabilized Curly Mahogany handle that I got from Mark Farley at BurlSource...

orig.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I just home stabilized some Honduran Mahogany with Cactus Juice and the increase in density was quite noticeable. Mahogany is a group of woods, not a single type of wood. There are very light, almost balsa wood like varieties and very heavy dense varieties. Most are lite to medium density. Even though mahogany is typically quite straight grained, it has a beautiful chatoyance. It has to be seen in person to appreciate how beautiful it really is.
 
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The piece I used exhibited some light chatoyance as Willie said above. Rather than waves moving around it had more of what appeared as "sparkles" dancing around as you rolled the handle. It was very unique looking.
 
Definitely use stabilized.
I've noticed that on kitchen knives, natural mahogany loses its finish over time and becomes fairly rough, the grain wants to lift.
Assuming that it's for a user knife.
 
Willie71,

Good observation about the mahogany which is almost like balsa wood. My understanding that what you described is called Phillipine mahogany. The Phillipine mahogany is not a true mahogany, but is in the same family as balsa wood.

Ric
 
Big Chris said:
The piece I used exhibited some light chatoyance as Willie said above. Rather than waves moving around it had more of what appeared as "sparkles" dancing around as you rolled the handle. It was very unique looking.
Click to expand...


The Sapele and Ribbon (African) mahogany have the greatest chatoyance. Using quarter sawn stock gives the best effect. If not quarter sawn, it will look more like flecks that you describe. The Honduran (Genuine) Mahogany is much more stable, and a bit denser than the African Mahogany that makes up most of the current market. I have a few nice pieces of the Honduran Mahogany that I have been saving for years to make an acoustic guitar out of, but the cut is optimized for the chatoyance, and a few blocks will be going on some knives. I keep my eyes out for the Santos Mahogany, but haven't found any yet.
 
Phydeaux said:
Willie71,

Good observation about the mahogany which is almost like balsa wood. My understanding that what you described is called Phillipine mahogany. The Phillipine mahogany is not a true mahogany, but is in the same family as balsa wood.

Ric
Click to expand...

You are 100% correct about it not being Mahogany.
 
Do you guys know anything about "mountain mahogany"? It's a scrub tree that grows fairly commonly around here in north eastern California...
 
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