Calling all those who use big pieces of mahogany

[Ironballs]

Hi all, just a bit of a general heads up. I've finally persuaded my local timber guy that he wants to shift his big pile of old mahogany boards so that I can liberate some guitar necks from them!

He has a big stack of boards that have probably been on the ground since the 60s or 70s and range from 3-5" depth, are about 3-4ft wide and about 8-10ft long. Think there's also some big sycamore boards in there too. As it's not a one man job to shift them I've offered him me for a few hours to help sort them out and get at the timber and I'm doing that on Monday.

So if anyone thinks they're going to want a piece of these then let me know as he probably won't tackle them again until he has a pair of hands to help him

Cheers

Damian

 

[devonwoody]

You can pm me with a price for one board of each, together with a descrition of quality and wastage expected.
Plus a carrier price to Devon.

Will need a straigt edge, plus reducing the board width down to around 24" but will take in pieces.

 

[Ironballs]

PM sent

 

[hpl]

What sort of Mahogany is this and how much? I could be interested in the thick stuff. Again, I would need carriage.

Thanks
Johnny B

 

[Ironballs]

As far as I can tell it's Brazilian, this chap got it from an old firm of cabinet makers in Huddersfield a number of years ago. They had ceased to exist and the building was being cleared out, this stuff had been sat in their warehouse for a long time, best guess is 60s or 70s.

I'll PM you the details for Chris (the guy whose yard it is) and he'll be able to give you all the details/costs etc. Reason for the heads up is that every time I go there this stuff is sat untouched, mainly because it's too big for him to handle on his own, so if he's cutting off some pieces for me on Monday then he can do others whilst we're at it.

Cheers

Damian

 

[MIGNAL]

If you are going for guitar necks try to get straight, quartered grain with as little run-out as possible. If it's Honduran Mahogany then the stuff is starting to get a little pricey through the specialist suppliers.

 

[Ironballs]

I'll see what I can get though will be limited by what's there, I plan to take a 1 metre piece off one of his boards, the dimensions should give me the option of playing around with the grain and I should also have enough to get several necks out.

I'm only planning to do 2 guitars at present, so if I have enough for 2 and a spare I may sell the remaining as neck blanks on fleabay.

Interestingly have you come across a website called Greener Logs? It's a company set up to extract timber that sank in the rivers of central and south america as it was being floated downstream. They've already got a fair bit out and these are all old growth trees perfectly preserved in clean water. Whether there's any chance of it getting over to the likes of us is another thing, what they do get out is likely to go to the states

 

[miles_hot]

I'd be interested not because I've got a specific project in mind but because it would be lovely to have some around for when I need it!

can you PM me with prices (both Mahogany and sycamore) + transport costs to Swindon?

In terms of storage - I'm guessing that keeping them in the garage would be OK or do I need to arrange external storage for them?

Many thanks

Miles

 

[bobscarle]

If the sycamore is good and the price was right, I would not mind some. Or the mahogany come to that. Can you either post or pm the details, please.

Bob

 

[devonwoody]

Ironballs,

There is not much strength with Br. Mahogany for the necks if you are talking acoustic guitars.

My stock of B M is almost depleted and altough I have had it under cover for 5 years it still is not stable and mine is effected by machinine stress when worked.

 

[MIGNAL]

Brazilian Mahogany is fine for acoustics - providing that it's quartered, straight(ish) grained and with minimal run-out. It's all about the cut, which is why Luthier suppliers can charge a premium.
Get that quality at 40" x 3" x 1 1/4" and I'll be in for quite a few and I'll guarantee you'll have no problem shifting the rest providing the cut is right and the price is reasonable.

 

[Ironballs]

I'm building electrics so there's less tension on the necks. To give an idea of grain etc I can ask him to run a piece through the planer and we'll see what it looks like. If it's high quality and he can get more for it then there's more incentive for him to get it cut up and sold

I'll reply to the other PMs but his details are:

He's called Chris and his number is 07816 889698. I have no idea what he's going to charge for these but he does a lot of his business via ebay so delivers all over the country.

Simplest thing for you to do is give him a call and spec out what you want, he'll then give you a price. If you let him know that Damian has pointed you in his direction and it's the big boards I'm helping him with on Monday that you're interested in. If you go for it then we'll do your pieces at the same time as mine. His details are on his ebay shop (Yorkshire Oak Supplies), which can be found at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Yorkshire-Oak-Supplies

 

[bobscarle]

Spoken to Chris before, nice, helpful sort of bloke. Bought some 2" thick oak from him. Reasonable price for the wood and delivery.

Bob

 

[Ironballs]

He is a nice chap who always makes time for me, though I was a bit nervous when I was there recently, he had a 5ft high pile of sawdust he was feeding into his stove in the middle of the woodshop. Still there the next time though!

 

[Ironballs]

Well, I got my mahogany board, chainsawed off a length from one of the 4" boards, though had to get a bunch of others including the 5" one which was a pig. All the boards are straight and only one has a split in it with the grain running nice and straight, my board is almost a radius section of the trunk.

Planed a bit off to get a view of the grain, looks good for guitar necks! Incidentally his other 2/3" boards that he thought were sycamore aren't, on closer inspection we decided they were maple. Very nice, might be a table in there somewhere...

Anyroad, here are the pics (me pushing my hernia in just out of shot)

 

[Rich]

I wish I had the same knowledge of wood as I do of metals, Ah well horses for courses I suppose, at least I'm learning as I read.

Rich.