Geographic Distribution:
The wood commonly known as Chinaberry is known to botanists and other scientists as Melia azedarach. M. azedarach is native to southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Ocean islands. It has also been widely planted throughout tropical areas as ornamental trees including in the states of Florida and Hawaii.
From this point forward I will refer to M. azedarach as Chinaberry for the sake of common understanding.
General Characteristics:
Chinaberry heartwood ranges in color from a light pinkish orange to a deeper reddish brown. As if frequently the case with colored hardwoods, this color will darken upon prolonged exposure to light. The well-defined sapwood of Chinaberry is a lighter yellow.
The grain of Chinaberry is usually straight, though occasionally interlocked. The texture of Chinaberry is is coarse and uneven, though with a pronounced natural luster.
There are many conflicting reports on Chinaberry’s durability. The heartwood is generally considered at least moderately durable, and somewhat resistant to insect attack.
Working Characteristics:
Due to it’s moderate density and generally straight grain, Chinaberry is quite easy to work: it cuts, planes, sands, and glues well. Perhaps the only difficulty is in its large pores, which tend to give a very open and grainy finished appearance, which may need to be filled, particularly if a smooth glossy surface is desired. Though if left as-is, it serves well in applications where a rustic look is desired.
Chinaberry is reported to have no characteristic odor.
Pricing and Availability:
Chinaberry is not commercially available as lumber. Chinaberry is mostly restricted to smaller-scale and hobbyist uses. Most pieces available in the United States are not imported, but are harvested from introduced locally grown trees. Prices for Chinaberry should be moderate for such a specialty species.
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.
At this time, none of my favored vendors are offering Chinaberry and I no longer recall where I purchased my piece. Chinaberry is likely to be difficult to source.
Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Chinaberry 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!
Common Uses:
Chinaberry finds uses as veneer, carvings, furniture, and turned objects.
Sustainability:
Chinaberry is NOT listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices nor is it listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List.
To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any restrictions on Chinaberry.
