Tropical wood · Africa
Danta wood
Danta (Nesogordonia papaverifera, family Sterculiaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,140 lbf (9,519 N), and air-dry it weighs about 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 469–470.
Other names, by country: Kotibé (Ivory Coast), Otutu (Nigeria), Owoé (Cameroon), Arborbora (Gabon), Kondofindo (Zaire), Naouya (Angola), Abumana, Akumaba, Epro (Ghana).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,140 lbf (9,519 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,140 lb and Amsler toughness 366 in.-lb at 12% moisture content (2-cm specimen).”
- Air-dry density
- 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.65 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.65; air-dry density 50 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.2% tangential
- Radial 5.4%, volumetric 12.4%
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 | 19,800 psi (137 MPa) | 1.69 million psi (11.7 GPa) | 10,050 psi (69 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 18,600 psi (128 MPa) | 1.58 million psi (10.9 GPa) | 9,450 psi (65 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood reddish-brown; sharply defined from 2-3 in. wide lighter-colored sapwood. Texture is fine and even; grain narrowly interlocked producing a stripe figure; medium luster; without characteristic odor or taste. Wood marked with dark streaks of scar tissue, pin knots. Slight greasy feel.
- Working properties
- Works well with hand and machine cools, moderate blunting of cutters, a cutting angle of 15 degrees is suggested to avoid tearing of grain in planing, good slicing timber, glues well, moderate steam-bending properties.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated as durable and fairly resistant to termite attack. Sapwood liable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- General construction, floors, joinery, turnery, boatbuilding, tool handles, gunstocks, plywood, utility crossarms, furniture. Considered a hickory substitute.
- Where it grows
- Found from Sierra Leone to Cameroon and northern Gabon, occupies mixed and dry deciduous forests and transitional forests.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 469–470, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for furniture with the species picker
Weigh danta against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.