Tropical wood · Africa
Niangon wood
Niangon (Tarrietia utilis, family Sterculiaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,100 lbf (4,893 N), and air-dry it weighs about 39–48 lb/ft³ (625–769 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 517–518.
Other names, by country: Nyankom (Ghana), Ogoué (Cameroon), De-orh (Liberia), Yawe (Sierra Leone).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,100 lbf (4,893 N)
- Green: 1,050 lbf (4,671 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,050 lb for green material and 1,100 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 39–48 lb/ft³ (625–769 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.54–0.63 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) T. utilis 0.54, T. densiflora 0.63; air-dry density respectively 39 and 48 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 4.5% tangential
- Radial 2.5%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 10,200 psi (70 MPa) | 1.22 million psi (8.4 GPa) | 5,300 psi (37 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,000 psi (90 MPa) | 1.38 million psi (9.5 GPa) | 7,500 psi (52 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,600 psi (121 MPa) | 1.83 million psi (12.6 GPa) | 8,500 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 pinkto red-brown, darkening on exposure; sapwood up to 3 in. wide, whitish, not always clearly demarcated. Grain generally interlocked, sometimes wavy; texture somewhat coarse; luster medium to low; greasy feel; figured on radial surfaces due to high wood rays.
- Working properties
- Works rather easily with hand and machine tools with only moderate blunting, a cutting angle of 15 degrees is suggested when planing to prevent tearing, excess gum may cause finishing problems, good gluing properties.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated as durable; sapwood liable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- Furniture components, carpentry and joinery, boatbuilding, greenhouses.
- Where it grows
- West Africa from Sierra Leone to Ghana (T. utilis), Cameroon and Gabon (T. densiflora). Found in the lowlands as well as hilly areas.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 517–518, 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 niangon against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.