Honduran Mahogany — Density, Movement, Workability & Cost

A finished mahogany table can cross an international border without paperwork; the boards used to build it cannot. Honduran mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla, the only wood entitled to the name "genuine mahogany" in most trade contexts) sits on CITES Appendix II under annotation #6, which controls logs, sawn wood, veneer sheets and plywood specifically — a finished piece of furniture falls outside that annotation entirely, so a shop selling completed work overseas has a materially easier compliance path than one importing raw stock. That distinction, confirmed against the CITES appendices in force from 5 March 2026 following CoP20, is worth knowing before you plan a build around imported boards versus a finished commission.

Why this is the wood every other mahogany gets measured against

At 36.8 lb/ft³ and 900 lbf, genuine mahogany is light enough to handle all day and hard enough to hold a crisply moulded edge — the reason eighteenth-century case furniture built from it still closes its drawers and doors properly two and a half centuries later is dimensional stability, not just skilled joinery. It carves in any direction without the interlocked-grain tearout problems that plague its African namesakes, and a scraper glides across it the way it does across few other cabinet woods.

The lowest movement of any species on this list so far

A tangential:radial ratio of 1.4 and a volumetric shrinkage of only 7.8% put genuine mahogany among the most dimensionally stable timbers in commercial use — for comparison, black walnut's volumetric shrinkage runs 12.8%, roughly 64% higher. A 24"-wide flatsawn tabletop board moving from a 10% moisture content down to a dry 6% MC contracts only about 0.131" (3.3mm) across its width, computed from this species' own 4.1% tangential shrinkage — a movement figure that a 5"-wide red oak flooring strip would nearly match despite mahogany's board being almost five times wider. That stability is precisely why period antique mahogany furniture survives with tight joints where an equivalent oak piece would have cracked or gapped. Run your own panel width on the wood movement calculator, or see the fixed 12" honduran mahogany panel figure. That 1"-thick, 24"-wide, 7-foot tabletop board weighs about 42.9 lb — check other dimensions on the wood weight calculator.

Gluing, finishing, and the one place it does tear

It glues without complaint under any common adhesive, and the open pores it does have are usually filled deliberately, since a period-correct finish on this species means a smooth, glass-flat surface rather than a textured one. It darkens attractively with age and takes French polish about as well as any wood can — the traditional finish for genuine mahogany antiques for exactly that reason. The one working caveat is ribbon-figured stock, where the grain reverses and a hand plane will tear regardless of sharpness; a scraper or light sanding handles it without drama.

Cost, safety, and the plantation question

At roughly $22 per board foot, genuine mahogany is one of the more expensive woods on this site's list, well above sapele's $14 or African mahogany's $11 — a gap that reflects both genuine scarcity of large old-growth logs and the CITES permitting overhead built into every legal shipment. Plantation-grown material, mostly from Fiji and parts of Central America, is an increasingly common and generally more sustainable source than old-growth harvest, though it typically shows less of the deep figure prized in antique-grade boards. The dust is a recorded skin and respiratory irritant, and some woodworkers report nausea and light-headedness from prolonged exposure — dust collection is not optional on this species.

Where it's used, and the two woods sold as substitutes

Period furniture, boatbuilding, carving, musical instruments and panelling are the five uses genuine mahogany shows up in most, and every one of them depends on the combination of light weight, real hardness and near-zero movement described above. Two African species are routinely sold as mahogany substitutes and neither behaves quite the same way: sapele is harder, heavier and moves noticeably more (tangential:radial 1.6 against genuine mahogany's 1.4), with an interlocked ribbon grain that tears under a plane by design; african-mahogany is closer in weight but softer, cheaper, and shares sapele's interlocked-grain tearout problem on figured boards. Neither is a defect-laden substitute — both are excellent woods in their own right — but neither planes as cleanly or moves as little as the genuine article.

Questions specific to genuine mahogany

Is "Honduran mahogany" always from Honduras? No — the trade name refers to the species (Swietenia macrophylla, sometimes called big-leaf mahogany), which is native across Central and South America, not to a specific country of harvest; Peru and Bolivia are major legal-supply countries alongside Honduras itself.

How can I tell genuine mahogany apart from sapele or African mahogany at a lumberyard? Weight and grain are the fastest tells: genuine mahogany is lighter (36.8 lb/ft³ vs sapele's 41.6) and its grain runs straight rather than in sapele's characteristic ribbon stripe; African mahogany sits closer to genuine mahogany in weight but has a coarser, more open pore structure under magnification.

Does buying plantation mahogany avoid the CITES paperwork? No — plantation origin doesn't exempt a shipment from Appendix II annotation #6; it affects the sustainability case for buying it and can affect permit issuance, but the permit requirement itself is tied to the species and the product category, not to whether the tree was planted or wild-grown.

CITES status here was checked directly against the appendices valid from 5 March 2026, the text that entered force after CoP20 — verify current status yourself before importing, since listings can change at each Conference of the Parties.