Mangaris

Discussion in 'Wooden Boat Building and Restoration' started by Hansen Aerosprt, Apr 11, 2010.

  1. Hansen Aerosprt
    Joined: Mar 2007
    Posts: 62
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    Location: SF Bay

    Hansen Aerosprt Junior Member

    Anyone have any experience with Mangaris in wooden boat applications as a substitute for Mahogany? Have some structural and cosmetic trim needs. Local lumberyard has some nice-looking stock on closeout.
     
  2. dskira

    dskira Previous Member

    It is a good day, I just learn something
    I never heard of Mangaris. I will investigate, I am curious.
    Thanks
    Daniel
     
  3. nillo
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: Los Angeles

    nillo New Member

    Mangaris is also known as red balau. I have never used it for a boat. I have used it for wood decks here in LA. It is hard as a rock and weighs a ton. I have heard that it has a high silica content and that is why it is so heavy and dulls your tools quickly. It also isn't that stable. We built a deck on a balconey that got full sun all day. One of he boards decided it was going to bow. It was so deterined to move it popped the heads off of the square drive stainless steel deck screws we had used. The good news is that it doesn't rot and should have a class A fire rating like ipe. Not anywhere near as pleasant to work with as mahogany.
     
  4. apex1

    apex1 Guest

    Not a perfect choice, but, hey boatbuilding / restoring is a endless list of compromises.

    Mangaris btw. is NOT red Balau!!!

    Look here to compare timbers:

    http://www.thewoodexplorer.com/

    Regards
    Richard
     
  5. nillo
    Joined: Jun 2010
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    Location: Los Angeles

    nillo New Member

    Well from looking at the woodexplorer I am fairly certain that I worked with the mangaris. As to it not being red balau, that is the problem with common names. My distributor uses the names interchangeably and it seems to be a common practice by just browsing the internet. My bad. I would love to have latin names but I don't see that happening. How many different mahogs are there?
     

  6. apex1

    apex1 Guest

    Do´nt know the exact figure, but about one hundred timbers are sold somewhere in the world under "Mahogany".
    Only importers provide the scientific names, but the end user has nearly never access to that info.

    Regards
    Richard
     
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