Serving Upstate NY—VT—MA • For selections & prices, CALL or EMAIL US
Wenge
Wood Flooring Species
Scientific Name:
Millettia spp.:
Millettia laurentii (wenge)
Millettia stuhlmannii (panga-panga)
Other Names and Species:
African Rosewood
Awong
Bokonge
Congolese Rosewood
Dikela
Faux Ebony
Mibotu
Mpande
Panga-Panga
Origin:
Found in Central Africa, especially throughout the Congo and southern regions of Tanzania and Mozambique.
Appearance:
When freshly cut, the heartwood of wenge (millettia laurentii) is a yellow-brown color, but then in a few months it darkens to a deep, uniform brown, almost black, with alternate layers of light and dark tissue, forming a decorative figure. So it is important to buy well-aged wood before laying the floor. Clearly demarcated from the heartwood is the yellowish-white sapwood. This coarse-textured wood has a straight grain. A related species from East Africa, panga-panga (millettia stuhlmannii) has similar graining but does not darken as much as wenge. One of the best known of the exotic dark woods, wenge is used primarily where a bold, dark color or contrasting light and dark accent strips are desired.
Properties:
Wenge is very hard, heavy, and durable, with an excellent dimensional stability. Actual installations may show significant movement in use, however.
Janka Hardness: 1630
Wenge makes for a hard and durable wood floor. It is nearly twenty-six percent harder than red oak, just under twenty percent harder than white oak, about twelve percent harder than hard maple, and roughly eighty-nine percent as hard as hickory or pecan.
Workability:
Because of its hardness, wenge is difficult to cut and machine. Carbide tooling is recommended due to rapid dulling of tools and cutting edges. This wood sands well and has good holding ability; because of its hardness, however, pre-boring nail holes is recommended. Some solvent-based stains do not dry well when applied to this wood.
Principal Uses:
Because of its great resistance to abrasion, wenge is very suitable for flooring that will receive high use and traffic. It is principally used for parquet and strip flooring, general construction, joinery, and for specialty items. It can be substituted for hickory in decorative veneers and in sporting goods.
Learn more about available grades of
Wenge hardwood flooring »
