Tropical wood · Africa
Olea hochstetteri wood
Olea hochstetteri (Olea hochstetteri, family Oleaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,740 lbf (12,188 N), and air-dry it weighs about 55 lb/ft³ (881 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 475–476.
Other names, by country: Olmasi, Ngwe (Tanzania), Musharagi (Kenya).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,740 lbf (12,188 N)
- Green: 1,840 lbf (8,185 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,840 lb for green and 2,740 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 55 lb/ft³ (881 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.72 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.72; air-dry density 55 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 6.5% tangential
- Radial 4.0%
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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 15,300 psi (105 MPa) | 1.98 million psi (13.7 GPa) | 7,080 psi (49 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 25,300 psi (174 MPa) | 2.53 million psi (17.4 GPa) | 12,200 psi (84 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale brown with irregular dark gray-brown streaks; sapwood up to 2 in. wide, pale yellow, clearly demarcated. Texture fine and even; grain straight or shallowly interlocked, figured; surface slightly oily. EAST AFRICAN OLIVE
- Working properties
- Easy to saw when green, difficult to work by hand, a smooth clean finish is obtained in planing, excellent turning properties, moderate steam-bending properties.
- Durability
- Heartwood has low to moderate durability, susceptible to termite attack.
- Uses
- Furniture, decorative veneer, turnery, decorative flooring, tool handles.
- Where it grows
- Montane rain forests at elevations of 6,000-9,000 ft; common in Kenya and parts of Zaire but less frequent in Uganda and Tanzania.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 475–476, 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 olea hochstetteri against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.