Tropical wood · Africa
Ekebergia wood
Ekebergia (Ekebergia rueppelliana, family Meliaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 900 lbf (4,003 N), and air-dry it weighs about 38 lb/ft³ (609 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 397–398.
Other names, by country: 01 Mokuna, Msisi (Tanzania), Mufumba (Uganda).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 900 lbf (4,003 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 900 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 38 lb/ft³ (609 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.50 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.50; air-dry density 38 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 4.3% tangential
- Radial 1.7%
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 one data set, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 8,000 psi (55 MPa) | — | 4,000 psi (28 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood pinkish when freshly cut, turning whitish or pale brown on drying, sapwood and heartwood not clearly defined. Texture varies from fine to coarse; grain straight; sometimes figured.
- Working properties
- Easy to work with hand and machine tools, dresses to a smooth finish, nails easily but tends to split.
- Durability
- The wood is vulnerable to attack by decay fungi and termites, susceptible to blue stain.
- Uses
- Furniture, joinery, figured veneer, plywood, broom and brush handles, a general utility wood.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed in montane forests of East Africa, also found in open grasslands and the coastal savanna belt.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 397–398, 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 ekebergia against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.