The Quilted Mahogany in this dressing table is a very special wood, a wood that has become a legend.

In 1965, a party of loggers discovered a large mahogany tree in the Jungle of Belize – over 100 feet high, 10 feet in diameter at the base, 50 feet to the first branch.  Loggers take pride in accurately falling a tree, this monster did not cooperate and fell into a large ravine.  Heavy equipment was unable to pull the log from the ravine even after the tree was cut in half. the tree rested in that ravine for 18 years, until Robert Novak, by hook and by crock hauled it to a mill 100 miles away.  When sawn, it revealed the rarest of mahogany, blistered or quilted, 12,000 board feet of beautiful wide planks.

I purchased the wood from Handloggers Hardwood in Sausilito, CA.  I was drawn to the wood like a magnet.  The price in 1985 was $30/board foot, very expensive in those days.  I purchased more than I could afford.  To date I have made 3 pieces from the wood, a chest of drawers, a hope chest and this dressing table.

I feel very fortunate in my 48 years of woodworking to use and revere this wood.  As a side note, today the value of the wood from “The Tree” is $1000/board foot and the material is rare as hen’s teeth.