Reusing old mahogany

New from old – recycling and renewing

Mahogany is a wood whose source has thankfully changed  dramatically in recent years.  The urgent need to protect tropical rainforests has shifted the UK supply from wild sources to certified plantation stock.

Wood that was previously used in furniture making – either in genuine antiques or in the 20th century reproduction market, came from giant trees felled in the wild. It therefore carries characteristics that differ from mahogany available today.  The principle differences are in the richness of the colour and the density of and variety in the grain, and this makes mahogany reclaimed from furniture a fantastic material to use for creating joinery to match other old or antique pieces.

It is of course also an environmentally sound way of reusing otherwise unwanted wood and preserving what’s left of those long lost giants of the rainforest.

At Woodgrain Workshop this type of wood is used by:

• Recovering mahogany from auction and other retail sources
• Using the wood to create joinery to match old pieces, or as joinery timber in its own right. In the photograph of the saucepan shelves, which cabinet is the antique and which is new . . . . from old?
• Identifying pieces at auction (or other) with potential for restoration or modification to contemporise what was otherwise uninteresting or change the use all together. The same approach can be used to allow old or inherited family pieces to fit beautifully into more contemporary surroundings.