Mahogany mindfulness
Working with impressionable wood, sharp edges and the hope of accuracy always demands close attention, but some woods stir a deeper mindfulness, perhaps none more so than mahogany – it’s so delightfully workable yet also mysterious, and controversial. Down the years a good few woods of different genera have been labelled ‘mahogany’ and we may even wonder if the species in hand is the real swietenia macrophylla, the ‘Honduras’ mahogany of South America. Assuming it is, the question then arises: should we be working this stuff at all? Given that every old-growth tropical tree felled brings us a step nearer environmental catastrophe, perhaps not.
It’s far less likely to be the ‘Cuban’ swietenia mahogani which, since brought to Europe by Spanish explorers in the late 16th Century, has been logged to near extinction while feeding the insatiable appetites of shipbuilders and cabinetmakers – although I’ve heard of at least one ‘restoration’ in which a Cuban mahogany interior was ripped out and burned. Today we can at least try to reclaim and recycle such precious wood; burning only adds insult to injury.
Environmental angst aside, it’s hard to deny the pleasure of working mahogany – not so much the contrary grain of highly figured cuts beloved of the cabinetmaker, but the boatbuilder’s choice with straight grain and even texture. Stable, durable and warm, available in long wide planks, it fell victim to its own perfection for building hulls, deckhouses and interior furniture, but from the woodworker’s perspective it also behaves so agreeably under the saw, plane and chisel.
The classic recipe of mahogany on oak has given birth to countless yachts, dayboats and dinghies, and here’s another rarely mentioned – the graceful Swan Class of Bembridge, a 15-foot half-decker designed by Alan Coombes in 1955. This is the last wooden one built, from 1974, the class having switched to fibreglass.