Tropical wood · Africa
Ilomba wood
Ilomba (Pycnanthus angolensis, family Myristicaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 31 lb/ft³ (497 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 497–498.
Other names, by country: Gboyei (Sierra Leone, Liberia), Oualélé, Walele (Ivory Coast), Otie (Ghana), Akomu (Nigeria), Eteng (Cameroon), Lolako (Zaire), Pycnanthus (Great Britain).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 31 lb/ft³ (497 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.40 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.40; air-dry density 31 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.4% tangential
- Radial 4.6%, volumetric 12.8%
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 | 10,400 psi (72 MPa) | 1.21 million psi (8.3 GPa) | 5,700 psi (39 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood whitish, pinkish-brown, sometimes with yellowish markings, sapwood not clearly differentiated from heartwood. Texture medium to coarse; grain generally straight, no luster; freshly sawn material may have an unpleasant odor which disappears on drying.
- Working properties
- Saws easily and works well with hand and machine tools, excellent peeler, good gluing and nailing characteristics.
- Durability
- Wood is perishable and liable to termite attack, vulnerable to powder-post beetle attack. Logs require rapid extraction and conversion to avoid insect and fungal degrade.
- Uses
- A general-utility timber, furniture components, interior joinery, plywood.
- Where it grows
- Rain forests, transitional, and secondary formations of West Africa.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 497–498, 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 ilomba against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.