Mahogany ?

[J-F C]

My mother (yes mom) sends me about a billion power point documents a week. They usually go pretty fast in the basket.
This one was about historic photos and I decided to have a look, and behold these 2 pictures that the PPT claims are "lumberjacks cutting mahogany in Caifornia"

I was quite surprised from the idea of california mahogany. Have you ever heard of this ?

You must understand that I live in Quebec (quite far from california) and since I'm french speaking, the google search was not quite productive

 

[AcornHouse]

Looks like redwoods, which would make sense for California. I wonder if "California mahogany" was an old nickname for redwood, given the similarity in color.

 

[adorshki]

Those're redwood trees, sequoiah sempervirens.
Known for being the tallest trees on earth, and one example's trunk was even put on tour around the USA as a "Wonders of the World" type of attraction in the late 1800's (?).
I've never heard the the term "California Mahogany" but perhaps it's a very early usage from when the tree wasn't widely known. It is a highly desirable building material being insect and decay resistant.
I suspect the preosn who wrote the caption didn't know what they were and simply called them by a name which was better recognized and had similar characteristics (reddish wood, large trunk diameters, even the bark has similarities to the upper photo).
Mahogany is also an indigenous species to the Americas so perhaps the error is understandable.

 

[adorshki]

Looks like redwoods, which would make sense for California. I wonder if "California mahogany" was an old nickname for redwood, given the similarity in color.

Yeah what he said.
:highly_amused:

 

[silverfox103]

Those are definitely Redwood trees, I think Mahogany is from the Philippines. I don't believe it is native to the US.

Tom C.

 

[killdeer43]

At least they didn't call it rosewood!! :biggrin-new:

Joe

 

[adorshki]

I don't believe it is native to the US.

According to Wiki, the "original source" species was native to the Carribean and Florida, and the other 2 "true species" native from northern Mexico to central Brazil. No mention of the Philippines, but wouldn't be surprised if commercial growing was started there and is now a primary source, since the continental forests are starting to come under various forms of protection.
In fact a bit more digging under the genus name yielded this:
"The genus was introduced into several Asian countries as a replacement source of mahogany timber around the time it was restricted in its native locations in the late 1990s. Trade in Asian grown plantation mahogany is not restricted. Fiji and India are the largest exporters of plantation mahogany and wild mahogany remains commercially unavailable to this day."
@Joe: Given that kind of development we may soon be calling it "the new rosewood...."
:ambivalence:

 

[bluesypicky]

Super photos! (and that works both in French and English)

 

[silverfox103]

According to Wiki, No mention of the Philippines
:ambivalence:

Might want to read your own source again.

 

[killdeer43]

Might want to read your own source again.

What you said. :anonymous:

Joe

 

[adorshki]

Might want to read your own source again.

Ahhh. Missed the "Phillipine Mahogany" reference when I moved over to the "swietenia" page. Technically yes they're mentioned but also specifically noted as being in a different family than "true" mahogany (on which I was myopically focused).
Truthfully I didn't know they were indigenous to the Americas until I started researching myself, and your reference to the Philippines sparked my curiosity, having just discovered they were natives just like Redwoods.
Won't argue about whether or not the different families should be legitimately called "mahogany", since common usage makes those arguments irrelevant. At that point it's just a semantics thing.
(In other words, I ain't sayin' you're wrong ....:wink

 

[JohnW63]

There is something called " Mountain Mahogany " which I have also heard called "Iron Wood". Probably a very different species entirely. Very hard, burns really hot, and is now sort of protected. It's a much smaller tree. We burned enough of it , when we first moved to Big Bear, Ca. that the iron grate that held the logs mostly flattened out.

 

[dreadnut]

When I was stationed in the Philippines in the early 70's, Philippine Mahogany was very popular for wood carvings, etc. Very dense, heavy mahogany. I bought a carved panther for my brother made of this wood, it was probably 15" long and 8" high, very heavy.

 

[john_m]

When I was stationed in the Philippines in the early 70's, Philippine Mahogany was very popular for wood carvings, etc. Very dense, heavy mahogany. I bought a carved panther for my brother made of this wood, it was probably 15" long and 8" high, very heavy.

It's still very popular here for wood carvings and furniture.

A believe there's a luthier in one of the cities here that uses it for the acoustic guitars that he builds.

 

[70man]

My mother (yes mom) sends me about a billion power point documents a week. They usually go pretty fast in the basket.
This one was about historic photos and I decided to have a look, and behold these 2 pictures that the PPT claims are "lumberjacks cutting mahogany in Caifornia"

Mums are great aren't they.Anyway doesn't the first photo with the chap standing centred ,to the right of him,doesn't that say "Redwood in California"

.I would think California Mahogany would be a term used to explain the size and amount of timber extracted from these tree.Mahogany came to from the NEW WORLD ,proclaimed in England and Europe as the wondered timber.Which it was and is Sweitenia Mahogani (Cuban)and Macropylla (Hondruran).
Anyway those are some big as trees.
We have Kauri Trees in NZ ,One tree is called "Tane Mahuta" (king of the forest)quite amazing In 1800s, they milled them and shipped the logs to England,turned them into kit houses,and sent them back to NZ,and a builder,an apprentice and a labourer would whack them up.Heres a pic of some fella's having a crack, at dropping one a tree

I was quite surprised from the idea of california mahogany. Have you ever heard of this ?

You must understand that I live in Quebec (quite far from california) and since I'm french speaking, the google search was not quite productive

I quite like these old pics