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This is part of an old headboard; I've been told that it's Japanese Mahogany? I was hoping someone could help me confirm this and, as well, comment on whether or not it would be suitable for a scarfed/stacked heel neck given what it is and the gain orientation? It's over an inch thick, about 4 inches wide and 44 inches long. Any help would be muchly appreciated.

it looks like beech to me, is it heavy for it's size?

Yeah, it's quite heavy.

I would guess it's beech. I've never seen Japanese Mahogany but every mahogany I have seen is usually towards the lighter side of woods. There are many different woods that are sold as or referred to as Mahogany so this could be something like that, and if that were the case it might not share the low weight property that many mahogany type woods have.

With that said the grain flecks look like beech to me, and it's a very common wood in cabinet and furniture building so unless this headboard was something custom made or exotic in origin I wouldn't guess they'd use something so unusual as Japanese Mahogany.

I think your right on the money. Thanks!

Beech


Japanese Mahogany

as far as answering your question about building a neck, it looks like it's quarter sawn, beech is known as a very stable wood and the fact that it's been a piece of furniture for years potentially would tell me it shouldn't do anything too crazy if you tried to shape it. I don't see any reason why a scarf joint wouldn't work on it and I'd guess that the weight of beech is comparable to hard maple. I can't speak from much experience of making necks, (I've only made two) but I have been a cabinet maker for 16 years so I'm quite familiar with wood. It may not be as aesthetically pleasing as maple or mahogany for some but I don't see why structurally it wouldn't work just fine.

also, if you were concerned with any stability/strength issues you could always rip it and glue it up with some other woods to make a laminated neck. It'll add both strength and stability and can be a nice design element too if you alternate wood color and grain.

I have a ton of old beech parquet I use for jigs so I can attest it is heavy and tough. The finished color ranges from mahogany red to cypress tan. It should be more difficult and stringy to carve compared to mahogany.

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Thanks so much for the quick and thorough replies. This forum is an amazing resource. Much appreciated!