Afromosia Versus Teak for Exterior Use

A look at Afromosia as a Teak substitute. March 26, 2010

Question
I just got off the phone with the folks at Walzcraft and they said they no longer offer teak, but they offer afromosia instead. Anyone have experience with this wood in an exterior area? (Cabinetry for an outdoor kitchen.)

Forum Responses
(Architectural Woodworking Forum)
From contributor S:
Range: Tropical Africa and South East Asia, and 5 species in Africa. Afromosia yield in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Zaire and a little in Nigeria. Once traded in Japan. Pericopsis mooniana from Southeast Asia was a popular log for sliced veneer source of furniture for some period.

Properties: Up to 45m in height and 1.2m in diameter. Named African teak in the market due to similarity in color. Teak is porous with greasy touch on surface, but this species not.

Bark: Smooth, brown grey or grey, stripped off easily and clear red brown inside.

Wood: Sapwood thin and somewhat paler than heartwood. Heartwood yellow brown when fresh, becoming darker with brown with time. Wood color similar to teak.

Weight: A.D. 0.71.

Grain: Straight or interlocked.



From Professor Gene Wengert, Sawing and Drying Forum technical advisor:

Afromosia has been used as a teak substitute for years. It is nearly as stable and is really not much less than teak in performance.