I was recently able to harvest two surprisingly clean and straight-grained pieces of mountain mahogany. The short one is about 50in, the other is 88in. It's not really mahogany, belonging to the rose family. A dried cut of half sapwood half heartwood just barely floats, SG is probably in excess of .92. The heartwood sinks readily.
Anyone else used this wood before? What's it like as a bow? Design/handling recommendations? The heaviest wood I've worked with is hickory, and I'd imagine this stuff is gonna need some awfully light tips to avoid hand shock.
Also, how would you deal with the branches? There's one on the short stave, and two on the long one-- one on each bend. I know how to deal with knots, but branches are a first for me.