Tropical wood · Africa
Erimado wood
Erimado (Ricinodendron heudelotii, family Euphorbiaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 15 lb/ft³ (240 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 501–502.
Other names, by country: Munguella (Angola), Essessang (Cameroon), Bofeko (Zaire), Wama (Ghana), Okhuen (Nigeria), Kishongo (Uganda).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 15 lb/ft³ (240 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.20 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) about 0.20; air-dry density 15 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 4.8% tangential
- Radial 2.0%, volumetric 7.6%
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 3 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 | 4,550 psi (31 MPa) | 0.53 million psi (3.6 GPa) | 2,480 psi (17 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 5,240 psi (36 MPa) | 0.63 million psi (4.3 GPa) | 2,800 psi (19 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 5,000 psi (34 MPa) | 0.68 million psi (4.7 GPa) | 2,980 psi (21 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood whitish or pale yellow, darkening on exposure, sapwood and heartwood not differentiated. Texture rather coarse; grain straight; without luster.
- Working properties
- Saws and works easily, nails without splitting.
- Durability
- Liable to decay and termite attack. Logs are prone to staining and requires rapid extraction and conversion.
- Uses
- Boxes and crates, plywood core stock, carvings, fishnet floats. Considered a good balsa substitute.
- Where it grows
- West tropical Africa from Guinea to Angola and eastward to Uganda; occurs in rain forests but is typical of secondary formations and is common on abandoned farmland.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 501–502, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for carving with the species picker
Weigh erimado against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.