Tropical wood · Africa
Testulea gabonensis wood
Testulea gabonensis (Testulea gabonensis, family Ochnaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 46 lb/ft³ (737 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 523–524.
Other names, by country: Aké, Akewe (Gabon).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 46 lb/ft³ (737 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.60 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) about 0.60; air-dry density 46 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.0% tangential
- Radial 3.4%, volumetric 10.4%
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 | 17,500 psi (121 MPa) | 1.52 million psi (10.5 GPa) | 9,800 psi (68 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,800 psi (95 MPa) | 1.83 million psi (12.6 GPa) | 8,050 psi (56 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood orange-, gray-, or pink-yellow with a gray hue; sapwood not well demarcated. Texture very fine and even; grain straight.
- Working properties
- Saws well and works easily with hand and machine tools, easy to glue and nail, takes a good finish.
- Durability
- Heartwood has high durability and is resistant to termites. Sapwood is liable to stain. Satisfactory weathering properties.
- Uses
- Millwork (door and window framing), furniture, flooring, turnery, carving.
- Where it grows
- Gabon and Cameroon; scattered distribution in dense primary forests and transitional formations.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 523–524, 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 testulea gabonensis against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.