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Hello all... been away for a while building mandos and houses, restoring an old dread, not sleeping during IBMA and sawing a bunch of lumber. One thing I came across today was what I thought might be the most dense billet of old growth sinker mahogany we ever pulled. This is from a log we pulled from the Belize River in Belize, formerly British Honduras and the mahogany capitol of the world... more than a 100 years ago. Not that we pulled it more than a 100 years ago... just last year. It has been in the river for more than a hundred years.
This is from one of the logs that the British cut down in the late 1800's. The color is kind of dark (wiped with some napth) in the first two photos... I added a piece of quartersawn sycamore, some fiddle maple and a piece of curly/fiddle old growth sinker mahogany in the first pic as a contrast the grain and color of the billet in question.






Here is the wild thing.... It is super heavy!!!!!! That's right, it is 2 1/8" x 9 3/8" x 23" and weighs just at 20 lbs.?



Let me know what you think it could be... just remember, this came from a river bottom in Belize (Central America), it is porous (not a rosewood), smells similar to mahogany when being sawn (not to mention the sinker smell... ask anyone who has sawn the 'real thing') and weighs a lot for its size. This is a wood species that could have been around a 100 years ago and not seen much or at all today... and/or could actually be the most dense mahogany on the planet, although I doubt it?? We have a sample going to the lab at Columbia but would appreciate responses that can give possibilities we have not guessed at yet.

thanks,
chris

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

First thought when looking at it was granadillo. Grain does look very mahogany-like though. Density makes me think maybe bloodwood that the color has leached out of? Not sure if that's really possible, especially so evenly...

No one can be at all certain from a photo but my guess would be machiche.

Years ago I managed a tropical hardwood lumber company and machiche was one
of the species we imported from our mill in Belize. It is also the wood I am most allergic to.

My guess is santos mahogany.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

Hmm - warrants further investigation. Better send me some samples (lets say two bookmatched pieces, 8" by .............)

Thanks guys for the suggestions... it had been suggested that it might be Cabbage Bark. Turns out, that is another name for Machiche.

Here is HobbitHouse's description and pics of machiche and I have to say, it is spot on for this lumber.
HobbitHouseInc Machiche

Corky... I'll be sending you that material for inspection. No charge, just pay shipping and handling (from Belize).

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...