Tropical wood · Africa
Sugar-plum wood
Sugar-plum (Uapaca spp., family Euphorbiaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 40–52 lb/ft³ (641–833 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 533–534.
Other names, by country: Abo emido, Yeye (Nigeria), Rikio, Borikio, Rikio rivière (Ivory Coast, Cameroon).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 40–52 lb/ft³ (641–833 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.54–0.65 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.54-0.65; air-dry density 40-52 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial 4.6-6.0%; tangential 9.3-11.4%; volumetric 13.2-16.0%.”
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 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 | 15,300 psi (105 MPa) | 1.6 million psi (11 GPa) | 7,400 psi (51 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 15,300 psi (105 MPa) | — | 8,050 psi (56 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 20,400 psi (141 MPa) | 2.58 million psi (17.8 GPa) | 8,200 psi (57 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Working properties
- Timber saws with some difficulty due to silica, generally finishes well and glues satisfactorily.
- Durability
- Heartwood moderately durable to highly so and moderately resistant to termite attack.
- Uses
- Good fuel and charcoal wood, light construction, boatbuilding, flooring. Fruits are edible.
- Where it grows
- Tropical areas of West Africa, mostly in swampy regions but may also border on the savanna.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 533–534, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh sugar-plum against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.