The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word SAPELE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
S
A
P
E
L
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "wood like mahogany" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case wood like mahogany = sapele.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does SAPELE mean?
SAPELE noun- Entandrophragma cylindricum, a large tree native to tropical Africa.