Meranti

[Thickasaplank]

Good evening all, I was wondering (and I realise this is a very open question) if anyone has had any experiance in finishing meranti - my wife has fallen in love with the colour (pinkish) and wants me to make the lounge furnature with it. We have a reliable source for good quality, straight stock, but I am not sure how it would look finnished - maybe too "pinky"??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Brad

[Barry_White]

I have used Meranti throughout my house mainly as framing for shelves as well as architraves and window and door reveals. The only problem I see with Meranti is that it has a fairly open grain that will require a filler.

The colour of Meranti actually varies from a deep red to a greyish buff colour with the pink colour in between.

[JB]

FOR MERANTI: cheapish, stable, wide boards available, works well, polishes well if filled.

AGAINST: Asian rainforest timber, softish (will dint and mark easily), plain grained.

NB: pinkish colour will probably change to light brown in a few years

ALTERNATIVES: Tasmanian myrtle if available is a darker pink (okay, nearly red), harder and nicely grained timber.

Several of the eucalypts are pinkish, although the light pink ones (Vic ash/Tas oak sometimes starts life light pink) will also turn brown in time.

[David L]

I would not concider meranti a timber of choice for furniture making as apart from the plain apperance it is too soft to work easily, and will mark easily, I doubt it has the streangth for the job