Replies

1. 
   Midnight | Jun 02, 2005 09:28pm | #1

   Sapele's nice stuff; one of the African mahoganies, straight, open grain, reddish brown wood with rays of burnished copper colour through it. Splinters can be a prob; long wicked sharp things and it has a tendancy to tear / blow out when machining.

   some pics of it here..

   http://www.wood-veneers.com/veneer_tones_M-5.htm

   one last point... the dust has a rich spicy scent that can cause slight irritation if succeptable; bloody stuff gets everywhere too... DAMHIKT

   Mike Wallace

   Stay safe....Have fun

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jun 02, 2005 09:54pm | #3

   Splinters can be a prob; long wicked sharp things and it has a tendancy to tear / blow out when machining. 

   Sort of like Purpleheart as I see it!

    

1. 
   Midnight | Jun 02, 2005 10:04pm | #4

   Sort of like Purpleheart as I see it!

   I hear that stuff's just plain mean... subtle as a mule with a hangover.. ;)Mike Wallace

   Stay safe....Have fun

2. 
   Jellyrug | Jun 02, 2005 10:05pm | #5

   We are fortunate here in the US, with the wide variety of lumber available to us.

   I spent some years in South Africa, with my father doing woodwork, years ago. At that time Sapele was only good enough for drawer sides, or jobs where a lot of stain is applied. It was never used visibly in high end custom woodwork.

   I'm surprised to see how popular it is over here.

1. 
   Midnight | Jun 02, 2005 10:29pm | #6

   I;ve only worked with it once, back in the days when I was a trainee Normite.. so green behind the ears ya coulda mowed me.. Anyway... 2nd (ever) project, SWMBO has this collection of cookery books that could put the National Archive to shame; damn things are piled up everywhere... so I've to construct 2 bookcases to fit her bedroom.

   I sketch some plans, come up with a cut-list and toddle down to my local wood supplier... "I need 40 ft of 1x2, 20 ft of 6x2, 80ft of 1x1.... and it needs to be mahogany". Sales rep looks me up-n-down... figures.."rookie" and takes me into the the hanger where they keep their stock. My jaw hits the deck when I see this whole tree on pallets; over 200ft long, easy 8ft wide by 6ft high, thousands of 8x2's cut into 40ft lengths... rep says "I'm sure 1 of these will suit your needs just fine"...

   2 weeks of cutting, planing and jointing before I'd anything like close to having the stuff on the cut-list... I think parts of the shop are still red with dust...

   come to think of it... there's still a 3ft chunk of the stuff left over; one of these days I'll see how it hand planes...Mike Wallace

   Stay safe....Have fun

1. 
   philip | Jun 03, 2005 05:00am | #8

   Mike,laddae, and brian3,
   'one of these days I'll see how it hand planes...'
   I can assure you that it is easy to hand plane,this Sapele Mahogany which is nothing to do with true Mahog:even for me with my motley collection of Stanleys, Records and bedrock .
   It is most often supplied in quarter-sawn mode, as it has a tendency to be unstable in flatsawn,especially when being dried.So when q/s it is stripey and looks boring to some.It has a nice smell.Plywood manufacturers favour it-so do I. I have not had any problem machining ti either,despite it's poor reputation in this area.In fact , I reckon that if the fatcat plywood boys like it then it has to be suitable for machining purposes.
   Certainly you lot in the GDUS of A are a spoilt lot, having almost unlimited choice of the best grades of timbers pillaged from all corners of the planet (relax all patriots-I am pro America no matter what)
   Brian, go for it -you will like it, and if you are inclined, it stains up a treat.

1. 
   Midnight | Jun 03, 2005 05:43am | #10

   So when q/s it is stripey and looks boring to some.

   the stripes are boring....???? man... glad I'm nae on them meds... sheeshhh

   I gotta get to bed... startin to think along the lines of using it in a dovetailed box... sheeshhh... hand cut... of course  ;)Mike Wallace

   Stay safe....Have fun

2. 
   philip | Jun 03, 2005 08:09am | #11

   Laddae, if ye need annae coathin on ter haen cutten o daevtails just ask ...Er by hand cut I mean without the use of a jig.
   You can see one or two on my website http://www.collectablefurniture.co.nz.

3. 
   KeithNewton | Jun 04, 2005 06:02am | #12

   I have done quite a few pieces back through the years with it. I esepecially like the pommele veneer. Here is a link to a source.
   http://www.certainlywood.com/Typesamples/psapele.htm

2. 
   philip | Jun 03, 2005 05:15am | #9

   Jell,
   In countries likeSouth Africa, where there are relatively few imprters of timber, it can happen that a timber gets a bad name because a big importer brought in a @3t load of timber of poor quality-possibly this is why you are under the impression that Sapele is not good stuff.
   Nowadays , being exported under an established good reputation, it will be graded according to international standards (despite coming from Africa). Give it another go-I promise you will be pleasantly surprised.
   Splinters, blow outs? I have not had those on any memorable scale-but then I am fanatical about the way machines and cutters are(!)
   Even Mike of the Clan, who is accustomed to basking in sweet smelling shavings from such amenable woods as Cherry will like to work it.

   Edited 6/2/2005 10:16 pm ET by mookaroid

2. 
   Ricks503 | Jun 02, 2005 09:31pm | #2

   The grain can be wavy - if you have some that is, be careful when planing to avoid tearout

   1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go        4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
3. 
   ring | Jun 02, 2005 10:30pm | #7

   I would agree with everything that's already been mentioned, but add that sapele is very stable, and comes in incredible widths.  It's not unusual to get 24-30" wide planks, as straight as can be.   It machines reasonably well.  Personally, I don't like the color very much but stained deep brown it makes a nice mahogany substitute.

   DR