Tropical wood · Africa
Ogea wood
Ogea (Daniellia ogea, family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 710 lbf (3,158 N), and 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. 387–388.
Other names, by country: Ehyedua, Shedua (Ghana), Oziya, Daniellia (Nigeria), Fara (Ivory Coast), Nsou (Cameroon), Faro (France), Incenso (Portuguese Guinea).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 710 lbf (3,158 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 710 lb for dry material.”
- 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) about 0.40; air-dry density 31 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 9.0% tangential
- Radial 3.0%, volumetric 11.7%
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 2 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 | 11,800 psi (81 MPa) | 1.32 million psi (9.1 GPa) | 6,030 psi (42 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 9,650 psi (67 MPa) | 1.18 million psi (8.1 GPa) | 5,400 psi (37 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale pinkishto reddish-brown with occasional darker streaks; sapwood distinct, whitish to straw colored, 4-7 in. wide. Texture rather coarse; grain shallowly interlocked; lustrous; may be somewhat gummy.
- Working properties
- Works easily with hand and machine tools, quartersawn material tends to tear in planing and shaping, produces a woolly finish unless tools are kept sharp, nails and glues well.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated as perishable and nonresistant to termites; sapwood liable to powder-post beetle attack. Liable to sap stain, log conversion should be rapid.
- Uses
- Core stock for plywood, joinery, general millwork, furniture components, boxes and crates, a decorative veneer can be produced from selected logs. Gum exudates from cracks and wounds in the trunk are used to make a varnish (West African Gum Copal).
- Where it grows
- West Africa, particularly common in the rain forest of southern Nigeria.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 387–388, 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 ogea against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.