Tropical wood · Africa
Oba wood
Oba (Irvingia gabonensis, family Irvingiaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 52–58 lb/ft³ (833–929 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 431–432.
Other names, by country: Bobo (Sierra Leone), Boboru, Wanini (Ivory Coast), Andok (Cameroon), Meba, Mueba (Zaire), Oro, Oba (Nigeria).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 52–58 lb/ft³ (833–929 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.67–0.75 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.67-0.75; air-dry density 52-58 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 11.4% tangential
- Radial 6.8%, volumetric 18.0%
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 | 23,600 psi (163 MPa) | 2.71 million psi (18.7 GPa) | 11,400 psi (79 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale green-brown or orange-yellow, fading on exposure to a gray-brown, sometimes with dark gray streaks; sapwood lighter, not always differentiated. Texture fine to medium; grain straight to interlocked; without luster.
- Working properties
- Moderately difficult to saw and plane, tool edges must be kept sharp, dresses to a smooth finish, glues well.
- Durability
- Heartwood is durable with little or no termite attack. Good weathering properties.
- Uses
- Heavy construction, railroad crossties. The tree yields the dika nut, has an edible fruit somewhat like a mango, and kernels that are a source of edible fats.
- Where it grows
- Western tropical Africa from Senegal to Angola; often found near riverbanks and reaches its optimum in the dense evergreen rain-forest.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 431–432, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for ground contact with the species picker
Weigh oba against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.