Striker said:
Folks.
A local wholesaler had a yardsale today to clear out their slow selling material. In the lot there is sapele & african mahogany in 8/4 and 12/4 by 30 - 48 width and 15 feet long. I am interested in respect to a pie crust table. My question(s) is:
- To make a pie crust table top what thickness do I need to begin with?
- Is sapele or African Mahogany suitable for this purpose?
- At $2 a pound ( strange way of pricing) is something to pass on or jump on?
I need to get back to them ASAP so any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Stephen
Stephen - In my opinion, African mahogany (Khaya sp.) is unsuitable for carving. The grain is heavily interlocked on not just the macro level (ribbon striping), but also the micro level. The stuff I've carved was a real bear - it just wouldn't cut cleanly, even with very, very sharp tools.
In regards to price, $7.50 a b.f. for 36" wide and wider African Mahogany is a very good price. In my neck of the woods (NC), that's about the average price for 8-12" 8/4 stock, and about $6 a b.f. for 4/4 stock, 8" - 12" wide.
From the standpoint of the piecrust tables, most folks start out with 5/4, which allows a 1" thick rim and a 5/8" thick flat surface in the center of the top. This is what Irion sells, by the way, for exactly this purpose - pie crust tables.
To Fran - I'd think long and hard before I paid $22 a b.f. for genuine (honduran) mahogany. While it's true that Brazilian is sought after for carving because of its very fine grain, density also figures into this equation. Irion will sell you all you want in 36" + range of very dense, figured mahogany from Peru for $22 a b.f. The non-figured stuff's about $17 in that width and 5/4. You can also get a matched set of 10/4 in figured stock for the drawer fronts at the same time - there are very, very few lumber sources anywhere in this country that can offer matched sets of mahogany. And you can even order a set based on what you want to build (a secretary, for example). Lou Iron used to own Irion Furniture Co, and understands precisely what is desired for a particular piece of furniture.
You're going to pay for it, but in my particular case I'd much, much rather pay a bit extra for superb service, matched and extraordinarly dense mahogany, and someone on the other end of the phone that understands what you want to do and how best to meet the need.