Geographic Distribution
The wood commonly known as Afromosia (Afrormosia and African Teak are synonyms) is known to botanists as Pericopsis elata. P. elata is native to moist, semi-deciduous forests in Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria.
For the sake of simplicity I will refer to P. elata from here forward simply as Afromosia
General Characteristics
The heartwood or Afromosia is typically a striped yellowish brown. On occasion the heartwood may have reddish or olive hues present. As is often true of colorful exotic hardwoods, this color will darken with age. Ultraviolet blocking finishes can help delay, but not entirely prevent this effect. The narrow sapwood, when present, is pale yellow and clearly demarcated.
Afromosia Bowl
The grain on most Afromosia is straight, however, on occasion it may be interlocked.
Afromosia has an overall fine and uniform texture and displays a good natural luster when finely sanded.
Afromosia is rated as very durable in its resistance to decay. Afromosia is also highly resistant to termites and other wood boring insects.
Along with Iroko, Afromosia is sometimes sold as African Teak. While not at all closely related to the true Teak, Afromosia does have excellent weathering resistance in outdoor applications and has been used with success as a Teak substitute.
Working Characteristics
Afrormosia is reported to be easy to work with both hand and machine powered tools. That said, as is almost always the case with any species of wood, surfacing boards with interlocking grain may cause tearout. This excellent resource provides guidance on working with interlocked grain.
Due to mineral content, Afromosia tends to have a slight blunting effect on cutting edges so frequent sharpening is essential when working with Afromosia. Afromosia may develop dark stains if allowed contact with iron objects in damp conditions. This is an effect similar to that seen in many other woods.
Afrormosia turns, glues, stains, and finishes well.
Afrormosia has a distinct sweet and spicy odor while being freshly worked.
Pricing and Availability
Trade in Afromosia is currently tightly controlled due to its inclusion in CITES, however it is usually available as lumber in good sizes. In part due to the limitations on trade, expec prices to be medium to high for an imported African hardwood.
In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods, Bell Forest Products, NC Wood, WoodTurningz, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods, Griffin Exotic Wood, Exotic Woods USA, Got Wood?, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U.
Of these find vendors only Got Wood? is currently selling Afromosia. They have Afromosia available in both spindle and bowl blank sizes. The bowl blanks are small at 5” x 2” and there is only one left $6.25. Spindles are 2” square by 6” and 12” at $3.00 and $6.00 respectively.
Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Afromosia, 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. It happens to me all the time!
Uses
Afromosia is most commonly used in boat building, veneers, flooring, and furniture. It also makes an excellent turning wood if you can source the material.
Sustainability
Afromosia is listed as being endangered by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II and it does appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. These listings have placed strict controls on trade in Afromosia and this may well account for its scarcity with United States vendors at this time.