Tropical wood · Africa
Angueuk wood
Angueuk (Ongokea gore, family Olacaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 55 lb/ft³ (881 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 477–478.
Other names, by country: Kouéro (Ivory Coast), Andjek, Angueuk (Gabon, Cameroon), Boleko (Zaire).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 55 lb/ft³ (881 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.72 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.72; air-dry density 55 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 10.7% tangential
- Radial 4.0%, volumetric 14.1%
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 | 20,800 psi (143 MPa) | 2.34 million psi (16.1 GPa) | 10,800 psi (74 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,700 psi (94 MPa) | 1.45 million psi (10 GPa) | 8,600 psi (59 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale yellow not always ,differentiated from the 3-4-in. wide sapwood. Texture fine and even; grain straight, somewhat interlocked, or wavy; luster rather low. Ribbonlike markings on quartersawn surfaces.
- Working properties
- Saws well but slowly, planes and machines well to a smooth finish, easy to glue, easy to slice into veneer.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated as durable and is rarely attacked by termites; sapwood is liable to stain and powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- General carpentry work, joinery, flooring, veneer, turnery. Fruits are edible, kernels used for soap and lubricants.
- Where it grows
- From Liberia to the Congo region; found in evergreen humid forests and periodically inundated areas.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 477–478, 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 angueuk against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.