Tropical wood · Africa
Tieghemella heckelii wood
Tieghemella heckelii (Tieghemella heckelii, family Sapotaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,110 lbf (4,938 N), and air-dry it weighs about 42 lb/ft³ (673 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 527–528.
Other names, by country: (T. heckelii) Baku (Ghana), Makoré (Ivory Coast); (T. africana) Douka, Ukola (Gabon).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,110 lbf (4,938 N)
- Green: 930 lbf (4,137 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 930 lb for green material and 1,110 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 42 lb/ft³ (673 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.55 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) about 0.55; air-dry density 42 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial 4.7-6.2%; tangential 6.8-8.0%; volumetric 10.6-11.0%.”
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 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 10,900 psi (75 MPa) | 1.19 million psi (8.2 GPa) | 5,300 psi (37 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,700 psi (101 MPa) | 1.47 million psi (10.1 GPa) | 7,730 psi (53 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,400 psi (120 MPa) | 1.63 million psi (11.2 GPa) | 9,700 psi (67 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 16,000 psi (110 MPa) | 1.46 million psi (10.1 GPa) | 8,100 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 pink to pinkor red-brown; sapwood 2-3 in. wide, whitish or light pink, clearly demarcated. Texture fine to medium; grain generally straight; lustrous; sometimes with an attractive moiré figure. Liable to stain in contact with iron when damp.
- Working properties
- A high silica content causes blunting of cutting edges, particularly in dry wood; works reasonably well with hand and machine tools, good veneering properties, finishes well, good gluing properties. Fine dust may irritate nose and throat or cause dermatitis.
- Durability
- Heartwood is highly durable and resistant to termite attack; sapwood liable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- Furniture, cabinetwork, joinery, decorative veneers, paneling, boatbuilding, flooring, turnery, marine plywood.
- Where it grows
- Both species together are found from Sierra Leone to Cameroon, Gabon, and south to Cabinda; widely distributed in the high rain forests.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 527–528, 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 tieghemella heckelii against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.