Sapele or Mahogany plywood

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I have one quesiton regarding my current project.
Im using solid wood for all legs, top, doorframes and rails.
All mahogany, and Im going to purchase some plywood.
Is there a difference between Sapele ply and mahogany ply?*
Will there be a noticable difference if I build the door panels and side walls with it?
I could hold up two pieces of lumber, one mahogany, and one sapele, and if its coated or stained, look almost alike. Will ply turn out the same way?


*I do understand that there might be marine grade mahogany ply available for boat builders, but Im more concerned with just 2 sidewalls for a buffet cabinet, and dont want to spend 200 bucks a sheet.
 
its your choice allen but if your lookin at alot differnce in cost and dont want he extra cost i would go with sapele then if thats the cheaper of the two i havntr seen ply in sapeal but i have seen hardwood and your right it very close, sometimes atouch lighter than mahogny. wouldnt think yu would want marine grade ply for your buffet.:)
 
right near me, 15 minutes away, best price I can do, 3/4 inch sheet 139.00
1/4 inch sheet 85.00(he might have said 75.00, I dont recall now)
I looked onlline, seems these prices are pretty much ball park.
I looked at pictures Charlie, I dont see any noticable difference with the sapele or mahogany plys.
 
We have Passed Sapele off a few times as kiaya (flat sawn genuine mahogany) but as African mahogany seems to be a Bit different as so green mahogany which is darker. but if you are going with genuine mahogany w/o ribbon you can pass it off but if there is ribbon in your hardwood you may run into a problem.
Sapele seems to have a bit different tanning caracteristicas than mahogany has takes diffrent times to darken.
 
I recently did almost the same thing as you, except oposite, I used sapele solids and mahogany ply. I was concerned about the woods matching as well, so I stained the whole piece with mahogany stain, and it turned out great. Don't know if staining is in your plans though....
 
IF I make all the door panels out of the same piece of 1/4 inch, I only wanted to use clear stain and varnish to seal and give an amber glow. Even if its off from the wood, I dont think it will deter any from the looks of the piece.
Now the side walls, if it matches the door panels would look ok, unless its totally different.
I cant do veneer, or would like to avoid it, since glued veneers will probably not come out any better than veneered plywood, so Im going with Plywood.
Ill look at it closely before I buy it.
My head is spinning making a cutting list. having a set of plans with all the cutting lists makes things easy for a moron like me.
Drawing my own plans, then hving to figure out how much hardwood I need, with all the rails, cabinet frames, face frames, interior bracing......uh.....Im taking today to just select wood,, make a pile, and draw up more accurate plans. I will prepare more wood than I need I hope, so running short isnt a problem. I have one nice thick heavy piece left, enough for the 4 legs, theres no room for error. I mess it up, I have to glue up legs, which I want to avoid.

My wife has me stuck home all day waiting for an appliance delivery, and also some guy to wax the floors, so I really can run too much equipment, or I wont hear the phone and then Ill get punished.
So Ill stick to wood selection and planning until IM free.
 
Skip Planing-teaching an old dog new tricks

Larry didnt tell me how much fun making these little curly things were.
I would have been skip planing since day one. Hec, I might let the dewalt sit idle and plane every piece of wood by hand, never knew how much fun it is
Using a hand plane, who woulda thought.......just thinking out loud.
Look at what you got me doing larry.
 

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too many home chores, the wife made sure I had enough to do for her today that everytime I managed to turn on the jointer, she was calling to remind me of something else.
I didnt even get a chance to eat lunch, and when I told her, she told me it wouldnt hurt if I missed lunch until 2014. I keep trying to understand why I love this woman.
Its not like Im alone in the world, Im a guy who likes to eat, and do flatwork.
I guess that makes me a FLATSO.
A new word for the wood dictionary.
 
Larry didnt tell me how much fun making these little curly things were.
I would have been skip planing since day one. Hec, I might let the dewalt sit idle and plane every piece of wood by hand, never knew how much fun it is
Using a hand plane, who woulda thought.......just thinking out loud.
Look at what you got me doing larry.

Careful there Allen, before you know it you will back at Joel's looking to hookup with another plane.
 
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