Advantages and disadvantages of sapele wood

Recently, a friend of mine was renovating his house and wanted to use solid wood for the decoration. So he asked me, who works in the timber industry, what kind of wood would be best, provided that it looks high-end and classy, ​​but the price can't be too expensive.

As a "non-famous" timber professional who has been immersed in the timber industry for nearly ten years, after much deliberation, I have finally decided to recommend Sapele to my friend.

Uh, I'm speechless!

So, what kind of wood is sapele? Let me tell you about it.

Let me first give you some background information.

Sapele

Scientific name: African neem

Latin name: Entangrophragma cylindricum

Common names: Sapele, Red Shadow Wood

Large trees, with or without buttresses; typically 45m tall, with a straight trunk, 12-21m above the branch line; diameter at breast height often exceeding 100cm; sparse, shallow longitudinal grooves are commonly found on the wood surface. This genus comprises 9 species, hardwoods, taking decades to a century to mature; common timber in Africa. Found in tropical Africa from Aboudikro (Ivory Coast), Penkwa (Ghana), and Sapelewood, Sapelli-mahagoni, Ubilesan (Nigeria) to Sapelli (Cameroon), east to Muyovu (Uganda) and Undianuno (Angola, Congo).

It has a glossy sheen and a resinous aroma. The grain is interlocked; the texture is medium; the weight, strength, and shrinkage are moderate. It is easy to process, but dulls saws easily; it has good properties for painting, gluing, nailing, and polishing; it is corrosive to metals. It is slightly corrosion-resistant. Drying is somewhat slow, with slight end cracking and deformation. Air-dry density: 0.58-0.66 g/cm³

In short, Sapele has a reddish-brown color, a coarse wood grain, and a shimmering, three-dimensional texture. It possesses a unique and free aesthetic and strong plasticity. Sapele also has many advantages such as being environmentally friendly, odorless, wear-resistant, heat-resistant and flame-retardant, acid and alkali resistant, aging resistant, not prone to delamination, and having stable color.

Due to its inherent characteristics, Sapele possesses a strong cultural flavor and noble quality, making it a high-quality traditional building material. It is well-suited for making doors, windows, flooring, mid-range furniture, interior decorative accessories and wall panels; cabinets, interior and exterior joinery, shipbuilding, and sliced ​​decorative veneers, etc., making it a fine "face" for the home.

Of course, every advantage has its disadvantages. The main disadvantage of sapele is its brittleness. Therefore, when choosing sapele, you should choose those from the Congo region, as Congolese sapele has a straighter grain and better stability than those from other regions.

Regarding the issue of fake sapele, there is currently a type of wood on the market called "imitation sapele" or "fake sapele," which generally includes varieties such as large African neem and good African neem. The main producing areas are Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and Nigeria. I won't go into detail about the specific types of wood here; I'll discuss "imitation sapele" another time.

Because these woods are very similar in appearance to sapele, but cost only 2/3 or even half the price of sapele, they are sometimes used by unscrupulous merchants to impersonate sapele. Therefore, consumers should be more careful when purchasing finished products.

Okay, now it's time for some beautiful pictures!!!

In fact, we often pay more attention to high-end wood species such as mahogany, but mahogany furniture is quite expensive and most ordinary people cannot afford it. Choosing mid-range wood species as a second choice is also a good option. In the mid-range market, Sapele is definitely the king of mid-range prices. Friends who want to renovate can learn about it.