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Lignum vitae is hard and durable, and is also the densest wood traded (average dried density: ~79 lb/ft 3 or ~1,260 kg/m 3); [4] it will easily sink in water. On the Janka scale of hardness, which measures hardness of woods, lignum vitae ranks highest of the trade woods, with a Janka hardness of 4,390 lbf (compared with Olneya at 3,260 lbf, [5] African blackwood at 2,940 lbf, hickory at 1,820 ...
Iroko is one of the traditional djembe woods. Iroko wood was the wood chosen for the pews in the Our Lady of Peace Basilica. [19] It is a very durable wood; [20] iroko does not require regular treatment with oil or varnish when used outdoors, although it is very difficult to work with tools as it tends to splinter easily, and blunts tools very ...
In 2011, the Gibson Guitar company was raided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for violations of the Lacey Act of 1900, which prohibits the illegal importation of threatened woods and other materials. [6] An ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden calls the Madagascar wood trade the "equivalent of Africa's blood diamonds". [7]
The genus is native to tropical Africa and Madagascar. All species grow to around 30–35m tall, rarely 45m, with a trunk over 1m diameter, often buttressed at the base. The leaves are pinnate, with 4-6 pairs of leaflets, the terminal leaflet absent; each leaflet is 10–15 cm long abruptly rounded toward the apex but often with an acuminate tip.
It is used to make sculptures, carvings, walking sticks, pool cues, doorknobs, tool and knife handles, gun grips, the black keys on pianos, organ-stops, guitar fingerboards and bridges, and chess pieces. It is the wood of choice for the fingerboards, tailpieces, and tuning pegs used on all orchestral stringed instruments, including violins ...
The wood has a density of about 560 kg/m 3 at a water content of 12%. [12] The energy value of the wood as fuel is 19.741 kJ/kg. [10] Ashes of the wood are used in making soap and as a depilatory and tanning agent for hides. The wood is used for carving and the thorny branches useful for a natural barbed fence. [13]
Podocarpus latifolius (real yellowwood, broad-leaved yellowwood, or South African yellowwood, Afrikaans: Opregte-geelhout, Northern Sotho: Mogôbagôba, Xhosa: Umcheya, Zulu: Umkhoba) [2] is a large evergreen tree up to 35 m high and 3 m trunk diameter, in the conifer family Podocarpaceae; it is the type species of the genus Podocarpus.
Gibson and Fender Japan have used the wood to produce limited edition guitars. [5] [6] The tree is a host of the African silk moth, Anaphe venata, whose caterpillars feed on the leaves and spin cocoons which are then used to make silk. [7] The wood is exploited in its natural habitat, a harvest that is unsustainable in some areas.