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KHAYA NYASICA
Other names
Acajou, umbaua, grand bassam
Distribution
Tropical West, Central and East Africa
The tree
A large tree up to 58m high and 6.1 m in girth, with an average exploitable girth of 3,4-3,7m. It is heavily buttressed and has a long clear bole.
The timber
The wood is medium hard and of medium weight and ranges between 513-721 kg/m3 averaging 673 kg/m3 when green. It is pink when freshly cut, darkening to a reddish-brown, with pale golden-brown zones, on exposure. The sapwood is yellowish-brown in colour and is up to 51mm in width and it is not always distinctly demarcated from the heartwood. The grain is sometime straight, but generally interlocked, giving a characteristic stripe figure in quarter sawn stock. The texture is medium to coarse, but even. It has no distinct taste or odour. The planed surface is lustrous and it has growth rings fairly distinct to the naked eye due to the presence of terminal parenchyma.
Drying
Dries rapidly with little degrade. Small movement in service
Durability
Durable; resistant to fungal and insect attack. The sapwood is moderately permeable to preservative treatments and the heartwood extremely resistant.
Working qualities
The timber works fairly easily with both hand and machine tools. A reduction in the cutting angle to 15 degrees is advisable to avoid picking up in machine planing, especially when the timber has interlocked grain. Nails well, slightly resistant to screws. Glues well. Takes a high polish.
Uses
African Mahogany is very suitable for veneer and plywood, furniture and carpentry.
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