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Well?

anyone any experience?

I've aquired (yup, dumpster again!!) a stash of mango. mainly 1/4" boards, wide enough for sides or 4 piece backs.... fretboards, bridges etc.

anyone ever used the stuff?

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I haven't used any, yet,
but I was wandering around at Allied Luthier,
(I'm lucky to live 5 minutes from there!),
and saw some sets that were absolutely beauteeeful!

I have about 5 sets of curly/spalted mango sets and I built one last year that was very nice to work with...needed very little fill...solid....and bent OK. However, I did break a side on the pipe bender attempting a tight cutaway bend and ended up with a Florentine cutaway instead.....but my set was beautiful when finished and photo doesn't do it justice.. Sometimes...with any spalted wood, you'll have soft areas that may need to be treated with clear hardener before taking down to final thickness. If you don't use a hardener, you'll have sanding/scraping issues as the soft areas will sand out unevenly with the harder wood. My set did not have any soft areas.

Go for it!

Kent Bailey

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

thanks, I had a bit af a look at what I got and I MIGHT be able to det a set or two out of it.....

3 table tops, 12 legs and a BIG coffee table

so a pic or two of the stash.......

the steel rule for reference is 300mm (12")





and with the stain planed off....

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I've used mango for ukuleles and I'm finishing a guitar with it now. I like it. It bends well and cuts well. Big pores for finishing though.
I'm not sure how it will sound on a guitar...I should know in a couple weeks

I'm finishing up an all-mango bodied OO right now. I'll let you know as soon as I finish how it sounds. I'm not expecting it to be the greatest sounding guitar in the world, but this this looks pretty wild!

Hey Gtrman13. Maybe we should compare results when done

Absolutely! I'll put up a post as soon as I'm finished. Hopefully it'll be sometime this coming week.

How can you tell that it is mango ?

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well, the furniture guy I got it from said it was.......

and once the brown stain is off it it LOOKS the part......

according to a few websites I checked theres no distinctive smell, which checks out......

and its not allergenic, which again, I'm not sneezy after planing and sanding some yesterday.

I've started making a little trinket box with it, and some cherry (that came from another dumpster, naturally!) to get the feel of it. I'll post pics when it's done.......

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Never thought I'd find myself envying another man's dumpster...till now...
I gotta swing by sometime and go dumpster diving with you Martin.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

so, having planed off the really dark stain I wondered how this mango would look under finish......

so, I made a wee trinket box.

cherry on top & base, with a danish oil finish

the pics don't do it justice. this wood is GORGEOUS!!

I LIKE!!







and Steve.....

any time my friend!!

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I just finished a bass with Mango faces, it is beautiful indeed.

I love how colorful the wood is, with oranges, browns, yellows, greens and grey hues swirling around.

To me Mango has kind of a spicy smell to it, which I like.

I find the texture carving and sanding to be very similar to Honduras Mahogany.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I haven't made any guitars out of it yet but i plan to. This will be one of them.