APPEARANCE AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Azobe wood is extremely tough and very difficult to work, it has an unpleasant odour and is difficult to plane. It rapidly blunts tools. Azobe wood splits when it is nailed. For this reason, pre-drilled holes are recommended for nails and screws. The sapwood is up to 5 cm wide, yellow brown with a faint reddish or pink tinge. Azobe heartwood is deep red brown or dark red, sometimes almost violet, with a lively grain.
APPLICATION AREAS
Parquet floors, stairs, bridges, sluices, railway carriage construction and shipbuilding, acid vats, decking, highly stressed structures, e.g. bearing shells in mechanical engineering. The wood of the azobe tree is also suitable to use for bowling balls and tool handles.
