Mahogany logs

I know there's at least one woodworker on island who makes them into bowls and other implements. Saw one man at Mango Melee, wish I'd got his card, I'd give you his info. Someone on here probably knows more than me.

Personally I prefer to see the logs still in the form of a tree. Takes too long to grow those beautiful works of nature. 🙂

Yup!!! Cant Disagree! I Personally Love to see them in the form of a seed or a sapling!! Think they're even more "beautiful works of
nature" then. Just so cute!!!

I think a lot of the woodworkers get their wood after hurricanes. After Omar we had a huge tree that twisted up like a washrag. 🙁 A local woodworker who makes big bowls and table slabs came and hauled it away for free when we let him keep the wood.

Eta: So I don't know how much of a "market" there is. I think most of the woodworkers are generally able to find naturally fallen trees. Dunno for sure. :S

There is no 'market' so to speak. Their value is too unpredictable for woodworkers to outlay any cash for them. The cost of moving and milling big wood usually overtakes any market value the wood may have.

Here are some facts about mahogany as tree and as lumber:

-It grows incredibly fast, given enough rain. The massive trees you see in places, particularly on the West End are seldom older than 80 years. Stateside trees of similar majesty are often 200 year old and older. Once a mahogany reaches maturity it becomes very brittle and will be easily damaged by wind storms. That damage quickly brings about it's demise.

-Trees in residential areas usually have hidden treasures inside, like metal spikes, nails, fence posts, a bicycle wheel, electric fence insulators, and bits of galvanized roofing, just from my own experience. Milling residential wood into usable timber is a long shot in these cases.

-Wind storms bend and twist trees in such a way that the grain splits parallel to the growth rings. These are called wind shakes, and they make a piece of wood useless for any furniture purpose. One can usually judge the likelihood of wind damage by the location of the tree and its exposure to wind. Once cut, a log can be from anywhere and its value is a further gamble.

-Mahogany trees are incredibly easy to grow. Find a seed pod from a tree you like and soak the seeds in water for about a month or more, then plant them out and they will take off. We grow them by the dozens and give them away as gifts.

-The small leafed variety (Swietenia mahagoni) is the beautiful one, both as tree and as lumber. The large leaf variety also grows here (Swietenia macrophylla) and the two occasionally hybridize.

Wow SunnyCaribe, that's great information! We'll be planting more trees, thank you so much! 🙂

I might want to take some if they're free

Just be careful stxapt and make sure you go through the correct channels, Mahogany trees are endangered and protected.

Yearasta is correct, Swietenia mahagoni and Swietenia macrophylla (and Guaiacum officinale: Lignum Vitae among many others) are endangered under the CITES treaty/Appendix 2 which puts restrictions on the import and export of saw logs and lumber (and veneers). If anyone has enough lumber to export, there is a lot of paperwork you have to do. The cost of shipping anything off of St. Croix makes the profitability of any export unlikely though. Trade among individuals locally is not restricted.

Did I mention that growing them is easy and fun? The same holds true for Lignum Vitae which is beautiful and drought-hardy.

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.