Tropical wood · Africa
Scyphocephalium ochocoa wood
Scyphocephalium ochocoa (Scyphocephalium ochocoa, family Myristicaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 36 lb/ft³ (577 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 505–506.
Other names, by country: Sogho, Ossoko (Gabon). SORRO
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 36 lb/ft³ (577 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.48 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) about 0.48; air-dry density 36 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 4.8% tangential
- Radial 3.6%, volumetric 6.8%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 11,600 psi (80 MPa) | 2.04 million psi (14.1 GPa) | 6,000 psi (41 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 10,000 psi (69 MPa) | 0.97 million psi (6.7 GPa) | 4,150 psi (29 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,200 psi (77 MPa) | 1.35 million psi (9.3 GPa) | 7,000 psi (48 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood dark red-brown or orange-brown with some gray streaks; sapwood very wide, gray-buff, distinct. Texture medium to coarse; grain straight; wood contains a red latex.
- Working properties
- Saws well and works easily with hand and machine tools, planes to a smooth finish.
- Durability
- Heartwood durability is low and is liable to insect attack.
- Uses
- General interior carpentry work, joinery, flooring, furniture components, turnery.
- Where it grows
- Gabon and Cameroon; occurs in lowland rain forests often on swampy ground, also on abandoned farmland.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 505–506, 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 scyphocephalium ochocoa against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.