Mahogany as gunstock wood?

[Sam squanch]

Hey, anyone here use mahogany as a stock wood - food or bad? Thanks!

 

[CuNosecap]

No expert here but I have used mahogany on furniture a lot. It is nice straight grain but is quite a bit softer than maple or even walnut. So durability, certainly dings etc may be a problem, especially for a real hunting, outdoors gun.
One good point, it would be really easy to carve. I have done some carving in mahogany and it is way easier than curly maple.

 

[ZUG]

I got a Remington 1100 lightweight with a mahogany factory stock and it is light and soft - I would not use it for any gun build.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Mahogany was used occasionally. Isaac Haines stocked two guns in it. However, mahogany is like black walnut, it is all over the map with respect to density and hardness. You would have to find a dense blank. I suspect Haines' rifles were made from Cuban mahogany, which was hard and dense but is now very rare. Most mahogany you find today is Honduras or the other species of Swietenia and it is generally softer. The only legally harvested wood is plantation grown and is not as dense and hard as the old-growth trees that were almost logged to extinction.

dave

 

[Sam squanch]

Thanks everyone. I’ll use this wood for other projects.

 

[FlinterNick]

Hey, anyone here use mahogany as a stock wood - food or bad? Thanks!

Depends on the type, the grain patterns tend to be pretty boring, almost like a beech grain pattern. There are much better choices for the price.

 

[Sam squanch]

Got offered a great deal on some mahogany planks. I’ll use it for furniture.