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Mahogany is Illegal?


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I went to Home depot reciently, and asked if they sold Mahogany... and i'm probably spelling it wrong.

Anyway, when i asked, they said that Mahogany was becoming an endangered tree because its being used so much, and that by selling it, Home Depot would become a tree hugger's protest area for lack of better words.

Soooooooooooo what's up with that? I really want to build my WR1 out of Mahogany without breaking any laws :D

[edit] i'll rephrase just in case. Its difficult to obtain without any trouble. Probably not illegal.

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Well i'm just a beginner here >.< I didn't know HomeDepot sucked. Well their prices suck >.o I went there to buy sandpaper, and it was like 6 or 7 bux for a 3 sheets of assorted. I went to Ace Hardware later on and got every grit sandpaper mentioned in the scalloping tutorial, and a 5/8 inch file for 8 bux!

Anywho, i went ahead and asked for a block of Ebony, and they told me to search for porn elseware :D

j/k

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Unfortunately, it's not likely that you'll find instrument grade wood at a hardware / home improvement store. It is possible, but the odds area against you. Even if you find an exotic wood, it's probably still not going to be a high grade piece.

GalleryHardwoods sells nothing but the finest grade wood available. That would be the first place to try (in my opinion) if you ever need something for an instrument. I've tried other exotic wood suppliers and some of them are decent but I have never been let down by Larry at GalleryHardwoods. He prepares the wood so that you have very little (if any) to do before cutting. The bonus is that he seems to be a very nice friendly guy which is also kinda rare in that industry.

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There is some truth to the Home Depot Statement. "Honduran Mahogany" is a Type or Species of Mahogany - it doesn't mean that it's from hondouras. The Country of Houndouras HAS actually impossed export bans on their Mahogany. Most of their stock was cut sold off in the 60's/70's/80's. It's VERY rare to have a piece of Hondouran Mahogany that is actually FROM Hondouras now a days. But Hondouran Mahogany from other countries is plentiful - you shouldn't have an issue finding a nice piece.

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Wow.. And some people I know went on a mission trip to Honduras to do work on a church and I gave them money to get me some wood. They go to Honduras every year to do work. But I had no idea that wood was becoming rare, which they had said that it was real cheap to buy when your in Honduras. I think he brought back a rocking chair made completely of Honduras Mahogany for 50 dollars.. I was stunned.. Because I had given 35 dollars for a 3"x3"x30" piece enough to do a neck. So needless to say I asked him a while back if he was going would he pick me up some wood and he said yes, so gave him money to get me some to make some necks and bodies. Maybe he will maybe he won't but couldn't hurt to try.

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Thank you guys for the website on the exotic woods! What exactly does Larry do to the wood? I'd like to be able to start from just a blank slab if possible ^.^ Do you think he would send it to me without finishing, or leveling it, if i asked?

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Do you think he would send it to me without finishing, or leveling it, if i asked?

No problem. He does not even offer finishing as far as I know. I would let him level the block though, unless you have a thickness planer yourself, because this is quite difficult without one and it is much easier to start out with a perpendicular leveled piece.

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To me it's quite sad that people in here are making stupid jokes and only think about how to get more cheap mahagony. If there are certain species that are really endangered now, we should not continue to use them and try to get more information about which species of mahagony to use. I hate that many people are only lookin for the cheapest prices possible and don't care how and where the lumber was harvested. Everybody knows about the problematic situation in the rain forests and I think guitar builders should not support that kind of unresponsible harvesting. I rather pay more for a wood was harvested under correct and responsible conditions than illegally harvested stuff. Trees are so beautiful and guitar builders should know the beauty of woods espcially well and try to prohibit the extinction of endangered species. So please don't ridicule governements/people trying to ban the import of endangered species.

That post was not aimed at anyone specifically, btw. so don't get mad at me....it's just my general view on the whole exotic woods thing.

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Treehugger!

j/k. Good words for all to remember, even myself.

Anywho, i have a thickness plainer. Forgot what it was called though. I was gonna call it a leveler >.o But yeah we definately have one of those here.

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Anywho, i have a thickness plainer. Forgot what it was called though. I was gonna call it a leveler >.o But yeah we definately have one of those here.

The you can order the raw board as well. But Larry usually does not charge an additional fee for milling the wood to your specs, so it makes no difference of you level it yourself or let Larry do the work.

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I don't know about you guys, but I've personally have never cut down a Honduras Mahogany tree before. So I don't have any control over how much has been cut, or do I have any control over laws that help protect the wood. All I know is if the tree is already cut down, my buying the wood isn't huting anything, I've never told anyone to cut one down for me, I just buy it when I get the chance. If it's getting extinct then someone should stop them from cutting them down, simple as that. But if places like www.exoticwoods.com sells it, then they are responsible for any wrong doings. I just looked at the site today, and yes they still sell Honduras Mahogany. So maybe the wood isn't as endangered as we think. Anyone have any proof that the wood is getting rare? I'd like to read it. Thanks

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I hate that many people are only lookin for the cheapest prices possible and don't care how and where the lumber was harvested. Everybody knows about the problematic situation in the rain forests and I think guitar builders should not support that kind of unresponsible harvesting. I rather pay more for a wood was harvested under correct and responsible conditions than illegally harvested stuff. Trees are so beautiful and guitar builders should know the beauty of woods espcially well and try to prohibit the extinction of endangered species. So please don't ridicule governements/people trying to ban the import of endangered species.

Those are really laudable sentiments - if only it were that easy.

CITES is an attempt to control the EVIL LUMBER BARONS, but it doesn't address what may be the most important reason for deforestation - lack of arable land due to population pressure. Even the CITES info concedes the problem (emphasis mine):

Concerns regarding the decline in Big-leafed Mahogany populations have been voiced since the first efforts to include this species in Appendix II in 1992. Causes of such declines include habitat conversion as well as logging, with regeneration rates noted to be poor.

If the local people are clear-cutting to make farm land, then all CITES does is turn all that timber into exotic bonfires. I'm not advocating the wholesale rape of old-growth forest, nor am I saying that certified wood is a bad thing - I'm simply saying that under current conditions, I don't think that all the timber regulating in the world will make a difference. Unless Sting and Company make the effort to change the lives of the indigenous inhabitants and teach them about sustainable forest agriculture (and allow them to make a profit on it), it won't matter. FWIW, CITES has adopted Appendix II controls on Hondo mahogany as of 15 November 2003, so we can probably expect price increases soon.

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