Honduras Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is one of the most popular mahoganies available in the commercial marketplace. It grows from southern Mexico, through Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela into the Amazon Basin to northern Bolivia and eastern Peru.
The freshly sawn heartwood is a yellowish-white to salmon pink, but after exposure to air and light it changes to a rich golden brown. The mahogany from Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru tends to be darker colored and slightly heavier than the mahogany originating in Central America.
Honduras Mahogany has a high luster with a uniform texture. It's grain is fairly straight, but certain trees may produce figuring such as fiddleback, blister, stripe, swirl, and mottle. These highly figured pieces are likely to produce fuzziness when planed. The strength properties of mahogany are similar to paper birch and black cherry.
Some of the more popular uses of Honduras Mahogany are in home and office furniture, architectural woodwork and paneling, cabinets, boats and ships, sculpture, and turning and carving.
