Geographic Distribution
The wood commonly known as either Kokko or Lebbeck, is known to botanists as Albizia lebbeck. A. lebbeck has a fairly wide native distribution area which covers, west to east, the Indian subcontinent, southeastern Asia, the Malaysian peninsula, the islands of Indonesia and Malaysia, New Guinea, and northeastern Australia. The wood is especially well-known in India. In addition to its native areas, A. lebbeck has been widely planted as a shade and forage tree throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the world, including in the United States in the far southern reaches of Florida, Texas, and California. In areas that support its growth, it can easily become naturalized as it readily propagates by liberal seed distribution.
A. lebbeck profits from being very tolerant of a wide-range of soil conditions, with the exceptions of heavy clay or waterlogged soil. It is also drought tolerant and tolerant of salty soils. The tree also features a shallow root system that binds loose soils, helping to prevent erosion of marginal lands.
Kokko Bowl Interior
Because A. lebbeck has been so widely planted, it has acquired a range of other common names including, but not limited to: kokko, lebbeck, lebbek tree, flea tree, frywood, koko and woman’s tongues tree. The later common name is an unflattering reference to the sound made by the seeds rattling in the seed pods once the pods have dried. Some sources list over 50 additional common names in various languages, but the common names most frequently encountered in the imported exotic timber trade are Kokko (Koko) and Lebbeck.
For the sake of common understanding, I will refer to A. lebbeck from this point forward as Kokko. That was the name under which I purchased the wood although many sources of information refer to the wood as Lebbeck. This is important to remember if searching for commercial supplies of the wood.
General Characteristics
The heartwood of Kokko is usually a golden brown color. Frequently there are bands and streaks of both lighter and darker colored wood mixed through the golden heartwood which increases the interest for users.
As is so often the case with deeply colored tropical woods, the color does tend to darken with age. This process is often greatly accelerated by exposure to ultraviolet light, especially sunlight, so if maintaining the color for as long as possible is important, objects made from Kokko should be kept from direct sunlight at all times. In addition, some wood finishes are designed to be ultraviolet light resistant and using these finishes on woods that change color over time can help slow the process, along with shielding the item from as much ultraviolet light as possible, but nothing will completely stop or prevent this natural process from occurring.
The highly contrasting Kokko sapwood is a pale yellow color although my sources do not indicate if the sapwood is sharply demarcated from the heartwood. Examination of slab pieces show a sharp demarcation between the sap and the heartwoods.
The grain of Kokko is typically deeply interlocked. While deeply interlocked grain is often visually stunning, it does also almost always create significant difficulty in many machining operations, especially those involving a planer.
Kokko has a coarse texture which greatly resembles the completely unrelated Juglans sp. commonly known as variants of Walnut. In fact, some common names reference this resemblance by naming Kokko with the use of a modifier followed by the term “walnut,” such as East Indian Walnut, for example.
Once adequately surfaced, Kokko should display a very good natural luster.
Kokko endgrain is typically diffuse and porous. There are occasionally dark brown deposits present that most likely represent silicate mineral inclusions, a relatively common feature of tropical hardwoods.
While Kokko is rated as moderately durable against rot, it has poor resistance to insect attack. This should not present a concern for most of the likely applications of Kokko in its non-native or naturalized areas.
Kokko Bowl Reverse
Working Characteristics
As mentioned above, Kokko can be a difficult wood to utilize during machining operations due to the interlocked grain. In general, very sharp blades, specific angles of attack, and patience can help overcome these issues, although it has to be said that there is no 100% certain way to deal with interlocked grain, especially during plane operations.
Kokko is also reported to be difficult to dry in either a kiln or over time in ambient air. Great care must be taken to prevent checks and splits. Again, this tendency is fairly common among hard and dense tropical hardwoods.
Despite its difficulties in other aspects, Kokko does glue and finish well.
Most importantly for my purposes, Kokko is also reported to be an excellent turning wood, again, a common feature of tropical hardwoods with interlocked grain that are otherwise difficult to work with.
Kokko is reported to exhibit no specific of characteristic odor.
Pricing and Availability
Personally, I have found Kokko to be a difficult wood to source, having located only one vendor thus far, albeit my investigations have been somewhat limited. Kokko is reported to most commonly available as a veneer or as turning blanks and it should be in the mid to moderate price range.
I always recommend both West Penn Hardwoods and Bell Forest Products as excellent sources of both domestic and exotic hardwoods. I have had multiple dealings with both vendors and have always been very satisfied.
That said, unfortunately, neither of these vendors has any Kokko in stock at this time.
I have also discovered a vendor quite close to me, NCWood. This vendor mostly stocks and processes domestic hardwoods native to the southeastern United States but he also maintains stocks of some imported exotic hardwoods as well. While I have had many very satisfactory dealings with this vendor, he does not have Kokko at this time either.
If you are wondering why I reference these vendors even though I know they do not stock the wood I am discussing, the reason is simple. I have had MANY excellent experiences with these vendors in terms of price, customer service, and shipping speed, and therefore I recommend them in general as suppliers of many other woods that readers might be interested in purchasing. To be clear, I have ZERO financial stake in any wood dealer or business or any product whatsoever.
A vendor that is relatively new to me, WoodTurningz of Indiana, is the only source of Kokko (sold through them as Koko) at this time that I can identify and they were my source for the wood. Despite the cutesy name, which tends to annoy me, this company does offer a decent selection of bowl blanks although the focus of their business seems to be pen making. I have found a few species from this outfit which I have not found from any other vendor, including Kokko (which they label as Koko). They have provided me with good products and excellent service so I can certainly recommend them.
WoodTurningz is offering one size of Kokko bowl blank, 6”x6”x3” for $17.96, which is a sale price with the regular price being $19.95. They are also selling spindle and pen blank sizes of Kokko ranging in price from $0.95 for a pen blank to $17.96 for the 3”x3”x12” spindle. As there seem to be no other vendors selling Kokko at this time, it is not possible to do any sort of price comparison.
While Kokko proves to be a relatively difficult wood to find for sale, there are without doubt other suppliers, including at least one on Ebay, a source I am generally suspicious of. The Ebay vendor is only selling pen blank sizes. ALWAYS beware shipping costs on Ebay, to say nothing of other concerns, about which more later.
The other references to Kokko, or Albizia that exist on Ebay are either for seeds, seedlings, or crushed seed pods sold as an “herb.”
Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising exotic wood dealers. In your search for Kokko, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.
A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. I end up buying stuff that way all the time.
In the case of Kokko, not even Woodfinder was able to locate a vendor! Good luck!
Kokko Bowl
Uses
Kokko is used in many of the same applications as other tropical hardwoods. It finds its way into furniture, especially as a veneer although solid construction can be done as well. Kokko is also a popular turning and carving wood due to its hardness and ability to take fine edges and a high shine. Kokko may be used in other small specialty items as well with jewelry boxes being the most common application that I have seen recently.
Aside from its value as a timber tree, Kokko is a popular shade and ornamental tree in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It binds loose soil, which helps to prevent erosion and the ground under Kokko trees has been found to support the growth of higher quality grass for forage by cattle, sheep, and other herbivores, although the exact mechanism of action is not clear. And, sheep especially will readily eat the fallen Kokko leaves, providing good forage and relief for other sources of fodder in areas where the tree can grow.
Sustainability
Kokko is not listed as being in any way threatened or endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices nor does it appear on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Kokko is not subject to special restrictions by any United States government agency.
The fact that Kokko is not listed by a conservation agency or restricted by any government agency does not necessarily mean that it is in good supply. It could simply mean that the wood is uncommon outside of its native area, is a relative newcomer to the tropical lumber markets and/or its actual conservation status may be unknown.
I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. I am also very confident that the vendor from whom I purchased my stocks of Kokko sourced their material legally and responsibly. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase exotic wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.
However, due to the commercial scarcity of some exotic imported wood species, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain samples of species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.
I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.
Health Hazards
While severe reactions are fortunately rare, Kokko is known to cause eye and respiratory irritation in susceptible individuals. In addition, the long-term negative effects of exposure to sawdust of any species are well documented.
Appropriate protective equipment is always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.
Complete information about health hazards associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.
Fortunately, I experienced no negative side effects when working with Kokko.
My Personal Experiences
I had never heard of Kokko, so when I saw it for sale I had to experiment with it. I am truly a sucker for a wood I have never heard of before.
The piece of Kokko that I had was relatively lightweight for its size, indicating a low density material, certainly much less dense than the Dalmata that I was working with immediately prior. Despite this low density, or mass per volume, the wood is at least as hard as White Oak, which makes it reasonably hard.
The hardness of the wood was quite apparent during the turning process and I had to use fresh carbide bits in my Easy Wood Tools to achieve the cleanest possible cuts. However, despite that and even after very light clean-up cuts, the cross-grain areas left a great deal to be desired and these areas, on both the inside and the outside of the bowl form required a great deal of intensive sanding work to achieve a finish that was acceptable to me. I have read pieces by other wood-turners who claim that they either never sand or that they never start above 220 grit. While that might be true, I would like to see this phenomenon demonstrated on a wood like Kokko. I am highly skeptical.
Once I was able to clean up the trouble areas, the balance of the finish work was quite easy. The areas in which the cuts were not across the grain were extremely smooth and the high degree of luster was readily apparent. The wood took an excellent shine once surfaced down to 800 grit and it almost seemed as if the application of a finish was superfluous, except for the protection that a bit of wax and shellac, the components of Shellawax, my go to finish, provides.
The texture of the finished Kokko piece retains the appearance of a Juglans species even though it is not related in any way. The swirling color shifts, especially under bright direct light that allow for a degree of a chatoyancy effect, are greatly appealing.
I experimented with a more pronounced foot on the Kokko bowl and I am not completely certain that I like it, but there isn’t a great deal I can do about it now, so I will perforce live with it.
While I think the Kokko bowl is attractive, I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed working with the wood itself. The difficulties with the cross-grain areas and having to work so hard to clean those up soured me on the experience, especially coming so close on working with other woods that don’t present such issues, including Maple and Cherry, woods that are also readily available in good sizes for much less cost and at lower environmental impact, if for no other reason than that they are local and do not require shipping half-way around the world to reach my shop.
Suffice it to say that I won’t be actively seeking out additional supplies of Kokko and nor do I have any left. The difficulty in sourcing the wood is also a factor in my decision to not pursue additional projects with Kokko.
However, that said, I would never discourage any wood-turner from experimenting with a new wood. My experience and my opinion is just that: mine. Another turner might have a very different experience, might just love Kokko and want to work with nothing but and that would be wonderful. If you can find it, by all means if Kokko intrigues you, give it a turn and see what develops.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever their wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today.