Tropical wood · Africa
Sougué wood
Sougué (Parinari excelsa, family Chrysobalanaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,720 lbf (7,651 N), and air-dry it weighs about 47–57 lb/ft³ (753–913 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 481–482.
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,720 lbf (7,651 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,720 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 47–57 lb/ft³ (753–913 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.62–0.75 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.62-0.75; air-dry density 47-57 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 10.2% tangential
- Radial 6.6%, volumetric 16.0%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 17,800 psi (123 MPa) | 1.94 million psi (13.4 GPa) | 9,500 psi (66 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 23,600 psi (163 MPa) | 2.26 million psi (15.6 GPa) | 12,000 psi (83 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale redor chocolate-brown, darkening on exposure; sapwood yellowish-white, sharply demarcated. Grain usually interlocked and irregular; texture moderately coarse; has a honey scent when freshly sawn, disappears on drying. Silica content often 1% or more.
- Working properties
- Dry timber is difficult to work with hand and machine tools due to high silica, tungsten-carbide tipped cutters are needed, has moderately good steam-bending properties, glues satisfactorily.
- Durability
- Heartwood is nondurable and liable to termite attack; reported to be resistant to marine borers.
- Uses
- Mining timbers, heavy construction, railroad crossties (if created). Has an edible fruit.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed in tropical Africa, occurs gregariously at elevations between 3,000 and 6,000 ft.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 481–482, 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 sougué against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.