Koto Wood? Anyone ever try it? (Pic’s)

[richard poitras]

http://images.craigslist.org/5I95L65Mf3nf3Kb3M2c3m67bbb044399b111d.jpg

Koto Wood?

Anyone ever use or try this kind of wood? It’s known as white mahogany? If so please give some pro’s or con’s of the wood. The company that’s selling it wants $4.90 per b/f

Thanks Richard

[Jamie Buxton]

The koto is a Japanese stringed instrument. It is traditionally made from a wood called kiri in Japanese. In the US, that tree is called paulownia. It is soft and very lightweight. It has almost no chatoyance. It is almost characterless. Trying to call it mahogany is a long stretch.

[Tony Joyce]

The trees grow in Western Africa, primarily in Nigeria and the Cameroon Republic, but also, Liberia, the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

FAMILY NAME
Pterygota macrocarpa, Pterygota bequaertii of the family Sterculiaceae

COMMON NAMES
Pterygota, koto, ware, awari, kefe, poroposo, African pterygota, African chestnut

HEIGHT/WEIGHT
Koto grows to heights of 75 to 100 ft or more. Ware and kefe can reach heights up to 120 ft, with boles clear up to 40 to 80 ft and trunk diameters of 2 to 4 ft. Both species can have heavy buttresses.

PROPERTIES

Works fairly easily with hand or machine tools.
Experts recommend a cutting angle of 20 degrees when planing to avoid tearouts with interlocked grain.
Wood glues and nails satisfactorily.
Both species have medium bending and crushing strengths and low stiffness.
Woods have low-to-medium resistance to shock loads.
Wood finishes well, but a filler is generally needed for best results.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia







Koto may refer to:



Hikaru Koto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikaru_Koto), former porn star
Koto (musical instrument) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28musical_instrument%29), a Japanese musical instrument
Koto (traditional clothing) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28traditional_clothing%29), a traditional dress made by Creole women in Suriname
Koto (band) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28band%29), Italian/Dutch synth pop group
Kōtō, Tokyo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dt%C5%8D,_Tokyo), a ward in Tokyo, Japan
Koto (kana) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koto_%28kana%29), a ligature of two Japanese katakana
The novel The Old Capital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Capital) by Yasunari Kawabata, originally titled "Koto" in Japanese
KOTO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KOTO), a not-for-profit restaurant and vocational training program based in Hanoi, Vietnam.
KOTO experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=KOTO_experiment&action=edit&redlink=1), a particle physics experiment at J-PARC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-PARC), Japan.
Pterygota bequaertii (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterygota_bequaertii), a timber species referred to by the trade name "Koto"

[richard poitras]

Trying to call it mahogany is a long stretch.


I think the seller put the name of white mahogany on it himself. Thanks for the information guys.
Richard

[Dan Hintz]

In the US, that tree is called paulownia. It is soft and very lightweight.
It is one of the fastest-growing trees, too, hence the other characteristics (light, large-grained, etc.). In 10 years you can go from a sapling to a 2'+ diameter trunk.