Tropical wood · Africa
African Homalium wood
African Homalium (Homalium spp., family Flacourtiaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,050 lbf (9,119 N), and air-dry it weighs about 54 lb/ft³ (865 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 429–430.
Other names, by country: Melefoufou (Ivory Coast), Bro-kpah (Liberia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,050 lbf (9,119 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,050 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 54 lb/ft³ (865 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.70 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.70; air-dry density 54 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 9.6% tangential
- Radial 7.0%, volumetric 17.2%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
Strength
Bending strength is the modulus of rupture (MOR); stiffness is the modulus of elasticity (MOE); crushing strength is compression parallel to the grain. The sheet collects these from published tests: it prints 2 data sets, from different tests and sources, so they can differ widely; all are shown, in the sheet's order, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 18,100 psi (125 MPa) | 2.17 million psi (15 GPa) | 9,000 psi (62 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 18,500 psi (128 MPa) | 2.64 million psi (18.2 GPa) | 10,100 psi (70 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood yellowish-white, sometimes with darker stripes; heartwood and sapwood not differentiated. Texture fine; grain straight or interlocked; dull.
- Working properties
- Easy to saw, plane, and finish but hardened cutters are required. Rapid blunting may occur due to the presence of silica. Good steambending characteristics.
- Durability
- Wood is moderately durable; fairly resistant to marine borer attack. Good weathering properties.
- Uses
- Heavy construction, flooring, boatbuilding, railroad crossties, poles and piles.
- Where it grows
- Tropical West Africa from Guinea to Gabon, mainly in the dense rain forests.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 429–430, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh african Homalium against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.