So I stumbled upon this slab of mahogany..

[elams1894]

I travelled to Cambridge from Auckland (Upper North Island, New Zealand) specifically to collect 2 slabs of Rewarewa amongst a collection of other New Zealand native timbers including kohekohe, rata, mangeoa, and totara.

These kind of timbers are somewhat rare (unusual to come by in slabs) and I was a bit dubious as to how this person had them on offer on trademe (New Zealand's Ebay equivalent) for such a low price.

I am always mindful of where timber originates from as the native forests of New Zealand have been completely hammered in the past leaving less than 20% still standing.

It turned out that the seller was an elderly ex forestry miller 50 years ago and he had kept a selection of timbers that he could no longer cope with and just was glad to see them go. He had messed up his Trademe title so it was practically hidden away where no buyers could reach (he had no reserve on the auction and I was the lucky finder). A staggering quantity of native timber was either milled, burnt, or buried early last century in New Zealand to make way for vast areas of farmland.

Anyways.. I was OK with the fact that at least this timber wasn't freshly harvested, that was the main thing. I counted myself pretty lucky to stumble across this one. Rewarewa is an incredible looking wood when cut certain ways and I was keen to use it as a top wood. It has lovely acoustic properties too (I'll post pics below).

To move this along, I was just finishing loading this timber into my trailer when the gentleman said "oh.. you couldn't use some mahogany could you?". I thought, a little bit of mahogany is always a bonus, cool. "This wood came from an old church" he said "and I have no use for it".

We go into the shed round the back and here are these massive slabs of mahogany. I wasn't expecting that. Unfortunately the first of the two slabs was shot-holed with borer but the second smaller one (110cm x 40cm x 10cm) was left clean (to my surprise it appeared quarter sawn too). It was my lucky day.

So I stumbled on this slab of mahogany.. mmm what to do with it? As it was most certainly Honduran mahogany there was only one answer to that question: A Les Paul. I started the build last September and its nearing completion. Video log to be uploaded shortly.

Here are photos of the Rewarewa slab (tall) with the Mahogany next to it. The other photos show the beautiful grain of the Rewarewa (this particular slab had a large component of heart wood, It really was my lucky day)

[Picton]

...I'm in the wrong hemisphere. When I "stumble" across wood, it's usually a pallet.

Nice find.

[mabley123]

how old is the church ? they used cuban mahogany ( swietenia mahagoni ) till about the end of the 1890's or early 1900's.

i bet it is the more rare cuban variety.

there is a place here in the usa. bluemoonexoticwood.

spain planted trees on the island of palau in pacifac in around 1800. the had a mission there.

here is some info about it and the company.

but if the church was 100 or so years old ?? i bet it is the rare cuban mahagony...great find too.

i bought a body blank and a neck blank from bluemoonexoticwoods last year...it is beautiful, but it has not been used yet.

here is the info

Over 200 years ago the Spanish created a mission on Palau. Surrounding their buildings they established a grove of Cuban Mahogany, Swietenia mahagoni, the "Wood of Kings". Swietenia mahagoni is the wood that planked the ships of the Spanish Armada. Thomas Sheraton, Thomas Chippendale, and Duncan Phyfe chose Cuban Mahogany for their furniture. It has been among the most prized and valuable timbers since the late 16th century. By 1629 the Spanish began moving their shipyards to Mexico because the accessible trees were gone. As its reputation grew, the supply of wood shrank.

As timber harvest methods became more sophisticated, the inaccessible trees became lumber. By the mid 1700's it was becoming scarce. By the mid 1800's good lumber was becoming rare. By the late 1800's the species had been logged into genetic impoverishment and commercial extinction. This destruction was finished by infestations of the pyralid moth and the ambrosia beetle. By the turn of the 19th century Swietenia mahagoni was little more than a shrub or ornamental tree in its natural range. Fortunately the species thrived on Palau. The efforts of three generations of one Palauan family established groves of Cuban Mahogany around the island. This preserved a stand of timber that never suffered the disasters of its natural range in the Caribbean region.

These Mahogany groves and the other species on the island are now being harvested in a sustainable program that will insure good lumber and genetic stock for reforestation. Blue Moon Exotic Wood offers the first premium supply of Cuban Mahogany in over 100 years. Cuban Mahogany is a timelessly elegant wood for any application.

they have been harvesting since the late 1990's.

either way..if it is cuban or honduran ???

it is a great and very rare find to have the original very old timeless wood.

there was a guy on ebay about 3 months ago who had more than 80,000 us dollars worth of very old cuban mahogany that he wanted to sell for 40,000 dollars...half off....most instrument grade and of large size.

i told tommy rosemond at usacg but at the time he had all the wood he could store.

here is a couple pics of the cuban mahogany i got last year.

the neck blank is ribbon figure and the body blank is cut off the side of the crotch.
the pics really do not do them justice.





the guy ( very nice guy ) at bluemoon tells me the most beautiful cut is the cathedral cut..but i am more than happy with what i got.

i also found some 100+ years old tiger maple from an old barn.



and 2 booked matched pieces of old brazilian rosewood for a 2 piece body blank

[wallis222]

MORE PICTURES!!!

I'm very excited for this!

[kwerk]

You're right, I didn't see it on TM! How/where did he have it listed?

I'd kill for a slab of rewarewa. I was overjoyed to get a piece large enough for a neck!

[R. Stratenstein]

Beeuteeful stuff! Both the mahogany and the Rewarewa. So far as I can tell, Cuban mahogany is THE mahogany, but sadly, except for rare finds, pretty much all gone. The old-time furniture makers loved it, and if working with the variants available here in modern times is comparable, there's no blaming them--it's justifiably the King of fine woods, IMHO.

[kwerk]

Originally Posted by mabley123

how old is the church ? they used cuban mahogany ( swietenia mahagoni ) till about the end of the 1890's or early 1900's.

i bet it is the more rare cuban variety.

I'd be willing to bet it's either african or fijian mahogany in this part of the world. But given it was built so long ago it would be difficult to tell.

[elams1894]

Thanks Mabley123 for the historic information and great photos. Brazilian rosewood, beautiful. Yes it is very interesting when great pieces of old timber surface. Its amazing what people have lying around. I bought the slabs around 2 years or more ago and tried to find out possibly what kind of mahogany I had.

The size of the slab was an indication. It was quarter sawn so the size of the tree had to be well over a meter, if not approaching 2m in diameter. I did a little research and as I understand Cuban mahogany grows to a maximum of around 1m in diameter so I ruled that out (I could be very wrong there of course). I also read that Honduran mahogany grows to a diameter of max 2 meters which more matches the dimensions of the tree that this slab came from. The colour of the wood seems to be a bit more deeper red than the photos of the cuban that Mabley123 posted, but now seeing the photo that i just took.. maybe not. Whatever its origins, its a lovely piece which I spent a year thinking about what best way to pay respect to it.

I have seen some Honduran mahogany that my grandfather used to build furniture with and it looked very similar to that.

Kwerk, the timber was listed as 'woodworking items' very obscure title which no one picked up on. It didn't have a photo and the only description he had was native wood for woodworking. It was listed in the category of 'Other'.

I quizzed him on the origins of the timber and he said the native timber came from Northland and all he knew about the mahogany was that it was lying around the mill for as long as he could remember and that he believed it was from a church and that it was "good solid stuff".

I know this is going to seem a bit wasteful to some but I really wanted to somehow use the whole slab because I really didn't want to cut it in half or turn it into a table. I thought the best thing would be a 1-piece Les Paul style guitar and in that way its proportion would be intact. That was a good thing in theory, but an entirely different story in practice. I got my head around it in the end though and very glad with how its gone so far.

I ended up using Puriri in the end for the top, fretboard and headstock. I was originally going to use the Rewarewa but, due to its different density grain pattern, I thought carving the top could be problematic. I'm trying to get the first build video up (should be real soon) but here is a photo of the mahogany grain.

[elams1894]

Lets see if this works - first video

[kwerk]

Wow, that's a fascinating way to build a guitar. Wasteful, yes, maybe, but the all purpose jig you have is amazing.

[Lightbluemk2]

Love the video

[ModerneGuy]

Looking forward to watching video later when I get home - 9min might be a bit too much for me to watch at work. Great back-story to this, NZ really is/was home to some great timber. Thanks for starting the thread. Later ...

[camatillo]

Obviously not your first time working wood !
Excellent, really like the custom jigs you made, Curious though about the choice of hand saw on some cuts that looked like a circular saw would have had the capacity.
Also have never before seen someone book-match a top with a handsaw, that was unbelievable, curious though how many hours it took to make that cut?
Always thought a 1 piece LP would be great sounding. Can't wait to hear a clip when done.
Looking forward to the next video-log , thank's for the treat so far.

[ModerneGuy]

"Sweet as bro" - fantastic video, I had to remind myself to breathe a few times I was so absorbed. Looking forward to parts II and III ...and the prequel! I see it's not your first one piece build - off to check that one out now. Inspirational stuff - hope I can one day be so competent.

cheers

[evanrw]

Originally Posted by kwerk

You're right, I didn't see it on TM! How/where did he have it listed?

I'd kill for a slab of rewarewa. I was overjoyed to get a piece large enough for a neck!

Likewise... And I thought my TM comb was of the fine-toothed variety.

That's a helluva nice piece of rewarewa. You're a lucky fellow.

[MadJack]

WOW! Great story on the wood and a beautiful build! Great skills, doing the work like you are. I can't wait to see the finished guitar!

[strato51]

impressionnant !

[nosmo]

Nice video - Amazing way to build a guitar.

[mabley123]

cuban mahogany can reach diameters of up to a meter and a half....5 feet.

also to me that looks like a ribbon figure...like my neck blank.

the body blank looks better than anything ive seen from gibson in a while.




Common Name(s): Cuban Mahogany, West Indies Mahogany

Scientific Name: Swietenia mahogani

Distribution: Southern Florida and the Caribbean

Tree Size: 65 ft (20 m) tall, 3-5 ft (1.0-1.5 m) trunk diameter

also like i said..if anyone is interested in real cuban mahagony ??

bluemoonexoticwood has it and they are the only known scource of premium grade cuban mahagony..the trees were planted over 200 years ago on the island of palau and became harvestable about 15 years ago.

palau is about 950 miles/1524 kilometers east of the philippines and has no typhoons to knock the trees down so they have grown freely for all this time.

i also have a relly nice piece of ancient kauri from ancient woods.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by elams1894

Lets see if this works - first video

Outdamnstanding!