Qualities of Mango Wood

Comments on the looks and behavior of this unusual tropical wood species. January 14, 2009

Question
We have a customer that wants a table top made of mango wood. Has anyone worked with this wood? Is it a hard wood? Would you recommend it for a table top?

Forum Responses
(WOODnetWORK Forum)
From contributor M:
I've been around a lot of bush mango – it’s very dense West African wood with irregular interlocking grain. It's dark brown to slightly reddish and fairly oily. Despite the name, the tree is a bit larger than the more common fruit mangos.

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From contributor P:
We use a great deal of mango wood to make our bars, tables and benches. The Indonesian variety we use is a strong durable hardwood with beautiful grain, often with dramatic stripes, like tiger maple. Since the old trees are culled when they are too old to bear fruit, often magnificent slabs can be obtained from the mango growers.