Tropical wood · Africa
Ovoga wood
Ovoga (Poga oleosa, family Rhizophoraceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 27 lb/ft³ (432 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 489–490.
Other names, by country: Inoi (Nigeria), Ngalé (Cameroon), Ovoga, Afo (Gabon).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 27 lb/ft³ (432 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.36 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.36; air-dry density 27 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.0% tangential
- Radial 2.8%, volumetric 13.1%
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 | 9,050 psi (62 MPa) | 0.94 million psi (6.5 GPa) | 5,250 psi (36 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 9,800 psi (68 MPa) | 1.04 million psi (7.2 GPa) | 5,550 psi (38 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pink-red or pink-buff; sapwood whitish with pink stripes, well differentiated. Texture coarse; grain interlocked or variable, has a "silver grain" figure when quartersawn due to broad rays.
- Working properties
- Works easily with hand and machine tools, takes a smooth finish, peels and slices well, satisfactory gluing, takes nails and screws easily.
- Durability
- Wood is not durable, prone to termite attack, poor weathering characteristics.
- Uses
- Decorative veneers, furniture components, boxes and crates, general woodworking, joinery. Tree produces edible nuts with a high oil content.
- Where it grows
- Distributed from Nigeria to the Congo region in the dense equatorial forests, often along riverbanks and coastland.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 489–490, 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 ovoga against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.