Mahogany Brittle And Full Of Tiny Holes

[CaptainBob]

I bought some mahogany to use as trim around some vinyl coated headlining boards. It has to be bent to fit along the contour of the deckhead - but not by much.

I cut it to length and tried to bend it into position and it snapped - really easily - looks like a brittle fracture.

The break is riddled with tiny holes - some with blackness - could it be some kind of a lavae I'm seeing. Very very small and no magnifying glass to hand. Perhaps each hole is approx...

Ahh! I swear there's tiny whiteish yellow maggoty things coming out of some of the holes (which are about 1/10 mm across).

Really tiny stuff - I may be losing my marbles. Anyone heard of such a thing?

Or is mahogany brittle naturally - and full of tiny pores and imaginary worms?

 

[Jcorstorphine]

Not sure about the imaginary worms.

However, I bought some mahogany look alike from Homebase and it is fairly brittle. I think it has been over-dried as it also splits along the grain.

The tiny holes you have seen may be just the normal capillaries but best to wait for expert opinion.

J

 

[johnphilip]

SAPWOOD

Not sure about the imaginary worms.

The tiny hole you have seen may be just the normal capillaries but best to wait for expert opinion.

J

What no other experts yet?
I set out my Qualification

S elf
A ppointed
P erson
W hose
O pinions
O utright
D angerous

Umm- Errr could be a bad bit of wood or maybe (k)not.

 

[rivonia]

The tiny holes are WOODWORM. Get rid of it asap clean around the area with vinegar. (ex saw doctor/joiner+plumber and general dogsbody)

 

[sarabande]

live woodworm will produce dust, properly called 'frass'. No dust, and the galleries (holes) are empty of life.

0.1mm is a bit small for normal woodworm, though.

 

[saltylegs]

Any chance it could be something other than Mahogany, such as Sapele, I had some that I found to be quite brittle and almost the same colour as mahogany.

 

[srp]

There are about 1000 species of mahogany and mahogany look-alikes. Whether you have one of the true mahogany species (like Brazilian for example) or one of the African substitutes like sapele or utile I don't know, but I have seen it with very small pin holes on occasion. Woodworm or common furniture beetle produces holes that are around 1 mm diameter, so if the holes are much smaller it will be a pest that is local to wherever it was sourced, and very unlikely to spread to any other timber in our climate.

As far as your particular bit of timber is concerned, it's rubbish if it has any sort of infestation, so take it back and get a replacement or a refund. Make sure the replacement is as straight grained as possible, and when it comes to bending it soak it in hot water for a while (maybe an hour or so for a thin piece of moulding). Spring it into position and hold it with something like masking tape rather than trying to pin it - a panel pin can often initiate a split. If you must pin it, drill a small (1mm) pilot hole 2/3 of the way through, and use brass panel pins, but don't drive them home completely. When it has dried out (a day or so), you can do the final fixing - take out the panel pins (or remove the masking tape), apply some glue if you want to, and fix it snugly in the correct position - it will already have taken up the approximate curve so you won't be fighting it as much as if you try to do it in one hit.

 

[Cap'n Creosote]

I think you are imagining the tiny worms. I've been a professional woodworker for 50 years, and I've never seen live pin hole borer in joinery timber.

All of the myriad of timbers sold under the loose term "Mahogany" are either immune to, or very resistant to woodworm. By woodworm I mean creatures that earn a living by eating the wood, such as "furniture beetle" and a few others.

Most timbers, especially those mentioned above, are susceptible to "Pin hole borer". This creature excavates a hole in living timber to make it's nest, and lives off the sap.(very simplified version of life cycle)

No more fresh sap = No more pin hole borer. Just very small black holes left behind. Don't worry about them. You wouldn't be worrying if you found out woodpeckers had been nesting in the tree that wood came from. Your boat won't be inundated with woodpeckers. These were just a smaller harmless version.

The fracture is a different matter.

Unfortunately mahogany is susceptible to cross grain fractures called upsetts. These make it unsuitable for anything but the most gentle bends. It responds poorly to steaming too. Though if it will nearly go around the curve you want when dry, steam may just help for the last bit of curve.

My advice really is to use something else for bending. Or laminate it.