Macassar.—See Ebony. (Often, and properly, spelled Makassar.) Makassar oil, originally produced from the sandalwood of Makassar, was so much used as a hair dressing in Victorian England that it gave rise to the use of antimacassars or "tidies," as a protection to upholstered chair backs.
Magnolia.—Southeast United States. Also species are found in Japan, China, the Himalayas. The wood is fine-grained, fairly hard, white at the sap and of a pale yellowish or greenish tinge at the heart.
Mahogany.—A fine cabinet wood, is noted for variety and beauty of figure or pattern of the grain of the wood. Widely used for veneers and lumber of extreme dimensions and freedom from defect. Used for traditional furniture styles such as Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, and Duncan Phyfe, and desirable for modern styles either in traditional or the lighter finishes.[32]
Three general types of mahogany are recognized: West Indian, conceded to be the hardest and strongest. Most of this type now comes from Cuba, but less than 5 percent of the American imports of mahogany are from the West Indies. The mainland Tropical American, which grows from southern Mexico to Colombia and Venezuela and appears again on the Upper Amazon and its tributaries in western Brazil and eastern Peru. Somewhat milder textured than the West Indian. A third type comes from the West Coast of Africa. This mahogany is not quite as firm textured as the American mahogany, but the trees are large and many are highly figured. Accordingly, the most of the mahogany veneers used in this country are African.
Mahogany wood is strong and tough, uniform in structure and close or moderately open grained, depending upon the locality where it is grown. Mahogany possesses a combination of physical and woodworking characteristics that have brought it into high renown as a cabinet wood. It is receptive to the finest of finishes. Freshly cut mahogany ranges from a light pink to yellow, but on exposure to light and air, quickly turns to a reddish brown or sherry color.
Mahogany has an interlocking grain which, on the quarter, usually reveals a straight stripe or ribbon figure. To a more limited degree some trees show broken stripe, rope, ripple, mottle, fiddleback, and blister figures and various combinations of these figures. Outstanding are the crotch and swirl figures obtained from sections of the trunk immediately beneath a fork or crotch in the tree. Mahogany does not produce clearly defined annual growth rings common to trees of the temperate zone. Consequently, the shell or leaf pattern in flat cut mahogany is due to the interlocking grain rather than to annual growth rings.
Maidou.—Burma and Indo-China. This tree is closely related to the amboyna, but has a coarser figure and a darker brown color. Maidou burls are hard, sound, and valuable.
Makore.—Africa, West Coast. (Also known as African cherry.) A large tree, yielding a furniture wood similar in texture and coloring to our cherry, but frequently revealing a strong black mottle.
Madrone.—California and Oregon. (Also called Madrona.) Chiefly used in in the form of burl veneer, which has a tough hard surface, intricately veined figure, and rose-pink color.
Maple.—North temperate zone. There are about 150 species in the maple family, of which 13 are native to North America. The sugar maple (also known as hard maple and rock maple) is a magnificent tree which sometimes attains a height of 120 feet. The wood is heavy, hard and of fine grain, as is that of the black maple. In veneers the maples yield many beautiful effects, including curly maple, bird's-eye maple, and the remarkable maple burls from Oregon trees. With the "natural" finish it is principally used for bedroom, porch, and kitchen furniture. Occasionally it is used in combination with other woods for exposed parts which are stained or painted and for interior parts where strength or rigidity are essential.