Luan vs. mahogonny

How can you tell if you are looking at luan plywood vs. mahogonny? I've never even heard of luan till recently. I'm guessing it's not as common here in Canada as in the US. Bought some plywood from a friend recently He said it was mahogonny but I'm starting to trhink it's probably luan. It has sevral thinner plys like a baltic birch. Thanks.

Larry

Reply to
salacioustoo
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Luan also spelt lauan can be any one of several species (~200) from four different genera. They range in color from a very pale tan (white mahogany) to dark cocoa and the grain can range from bold like oak or pine to suble and nearly uniform like, well, mahogany.

It can be nearly as light as balsa or almost as dense as teak and duarability varies as well.

Reply to
fredfighter

Virtually anything you find at the box stores or a commercial home center/lumberyard will be luan or similar species, not true mahogany.

How the ply is made is, of course, independent of the species of the wood, so that isn't a direct clue other than real mahogany is expensive enough that one would rarely find it on anything except fine cabinet-grade plys or as veneer.

"Luan" is now a generic catch-all name as is "Philipine mahogoney", etc.

In general, luan is less dense, has an open, porous grain and flecks whereas mahogany is more subtle and does not have such a open pore.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

I bought a large lot of "mahogany" for a very low price. Some pieces were chocolate brown, others red, and still others white. Some pieces were heavy, some were light. I took a medium piece to two good lumberyards and asked them what it was. They both told me "mahogany". I asked them if it was American mahogany. They both said they didn't know; it was some imported hardwood, but it was impossible to guess what. Obviously it is not American mahogany because the color and density range was too broad; but my point is... if it looks okay, what difference does it matter whether it is luan or true mahogany? (but yeh, it is almost certainly luan)

Reply to
Toller

Reply to
salacioustoo

I'm assuming they're not flying so that they would be "plain" ... :)

Unless this was an upscale house, I suspect the answer is "yes".

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 14:44:32 GMT, salacioustoo scribbled:

All the stuff you get at the borg stores, at least here in western Canada, is luan/lauan aka Philippine mahogany. They call it mahogany. No relation to the real mahoganies that come from the Caribbean and Centra/South America.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

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Reply to
Luigi Zanasi

Good grief!!! Thanks for correcting me. I'm usually very good about homophones! You know i did look at it for a few seconds but made the wrong choice. I slept poorly! ;-)

Thanks for the answer to the actual questi> salacioustoo wrote:

Reply to
salacioustoo

Unless you bought an extremely high dollar home, it was Luan Mahoganny. I wonder if anybody ever used Honduras Mahoganny for kitchen cabinets, door facings, etc.? Jim

Reply to
Jim

HEY! We'll have none of that homophonia around here!

Tillman

Reply to
tillius

I've used lots of Phillipine mahogany of many types - and some I like a lot - but I have never seen one with grain or color very close to "true" mahogany (Swietenia) of which there are *also* several species.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

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Reply to
dadiOH

Phillipine mahogany.

Reply to
dadiOH

In Mexico, they use it like we use junk kind 2x4s. For good stuff, they use "cedro" (Spanish cedar).

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

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Reply to
dadiOH

I bought about 40 boards of extremely varying color, grain, and density. There were two that looked like true mahogany; well, about as close as African mahogany is. Some the rest was real pretty in it's own right; some was crap.

Reply to
Toller

Smell it. The far east stuff has that cedar-type smell to it. True mahogany doesn't.

Oh, just to confuse the issue, several Khaya species were popular in the sixties. They were called "African Mahogany." Key to them is their rowed grain pattern.

Reply to
George

I just recently saw a design show on HGTV that featured a kitchen with crotch mahogany cabinet doors and this unbelievable range hood clad in yet more crotch mahogany. OH MY GOD it was gorgeous!!!

Jim wrote:

I
Reply to
salacioustoo

Reply to
salacioustoo

IMHO, if you want mahogany, it is Hondouras mahogany.

Anything else that wants to call itself mahogany, simply has feet of clay.

Might be good enough for a house, but never a boat.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

On Wed, 02 Nov 2005 04:07:08 GMT, salacioustoo scribbled:

He means roe grain or figure.

Vertical stripes. Common in african mahogany. I have the dining room table that my father made out of african mahogany that has a beautiful figure. If you scroll down on this page, you will get as sample guitar back of "khaya mahogany" showing the roe figure.

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I've also seen it on lauan, so it's not a dead giveaway for real mahogany.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

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Reply to
Luigi Zanasi

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