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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 ...
The wood is dense and very hard, difficult to plane, but drills, sands and turns well. It is termite resistant. It was once used for railway sleepers and is now prized for ornamental work and furniture. It burns very slowly with intense heat, and is often used for a fire which is intended to burn all night in order to keep wild animals at bay.
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 name sapele comes from that of the city of Sapele in Nigeria, where there is a preponderance of the tree.African Timber and Plywood (AT&P), a division of the United Africa Company, had a factory at this location where the wood, along with Triplochiton scleroxylon, Obeche, mahogany, and Khaya was processed into timber which was then exported from the Port of Sapele worldwide.
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.
Afzelia africana was used in the Middle Ages for ship building. [6] It is one of the traditional djembe woods. [7] The building of a reconstructed 9th-century Arab merchantman, the Jewel of Muscat, required thirty-eight tons of Afzelia africana wood, which was supplied from Ghana. Curved trees were chosen for the ship's frames and timbers. [8]
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]
The tree is known to the Yoruba as ìrókò, logo or loko and is believed to have healing properties. [5] Iroko is known to the Igbo people as ọjị wood. [6] It is one of the woods sometimes referred to as African teak, [7] although it is unrelated to the teak family. The wood colour is initially yellow but darkens to a richer copper brown ...