what to make with these Azobe timber?

[Albert Lee]

I have bought a whole lot of Azobe timber offcut, each pallet is about 1.5m3, there are 4 pallets,so, I have about 6m3 or 2500bft.

the off cuts are roughly 11 inch x 8 inch, some as long as 48 inch. (280mm x 200mm x 1000mm)

I was going to make domino.. but given the prices I cant say no to these beautiful timber....

Azobe3.jpgAzobe4.jpgazobe1.jpgAzobe9.jpgAzobe2.jpg

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Please, can I make a joke?
I would buy Derek Cohen a plane ticket and have him come over. Let him play with the wood. With his imagination and your wood, both of you would win awards.
A joke!
still……

[Jim Becker]

That's not a half-bad idea, Aaron.

Albert, please describe the nature of that particular species that you likely "stole" for what you paid for it. It might stimulate some ideas from the boys and girls who, like me, are not at all familiar with that wood species

[Mark Gibney]

The first thing you'll have to do is get that wood stored securely, because no matter what you end up making with it, you'll be going through that pile for a long time!

According to wood-database.com Azore / Ekki is an extremely dense African wood. For us here in the US it seems comparable to Ipe. That is crazy hard and dense.
The same website says its principle uses are -

Common Uses: Bridges, boatbuilding, marine applications, decking, and flooring.

These seem to be what most of these super dense tropical woods are used for. They are difficult to work with machines, and almost impossible to work with handbtools. The Janka hardness is 3,220.

That said, you got a great deal. Unless you plan on making items for gifts for your friends and family, and the occasional piece for your home, you will need to come up with a plan on what to make in a "production" manner, and more importantly, how to sell what you make. That kind of wood would make great garden furniture, but you're up against super cheap imported stuff that's available everywhere, so how can you compete with that?

I'm interested to hear what ideas people have on what you can do.

[Bryan Hall]

$240!? I can’t even get that much firewood for the same price!

I’ve never done a significant amount of work with azobe or even wood that hard so I can’t really chime in on best uses. A friend of mine always wanted a chess set made from azobe but beyond that, I’ve never seen or heard of anyone specifically wanting/using it.

[Jim Becker]

So bridge building it is!!!

One good application might be detailed CNC art....but it sounds like it will do a number on the tooling based on what Mark posted.

[Bill Dufour]

Make a chess board. Would it make a good cutting board. For that price garden stepping stones. Probably hard to turn on a lathe. I think only carbide tooling.
Bill D

[Albert Lee]

thank you all.

Azobe is very rare here too, I think this is the first time I seen them in 10+ years of woodworking... these came from architecture feature of a tunnel building project. the construction contractor bought these timber, made whatever they needed, now they need to clear their yard. hence the price.

book a ticket for Derek to get him here does not sound like a bad idea given I have more than 2500 bft of these timber...

[Tom Bender]

My first thought based on the size and quality was a big run of dining chairs.

Can we get a better look at the wood? The only bit in the pics shows a lot of checking.

Flooring might be doable.

[Jim Galvin]

Worked with Azobe in railroad ties ....tough on tools also its doesn't glue well because of its density.

[John K Jordan]

Crazy hard and dense? In thick planks?

Sounds perfect for woodturning, especially it it’s dry. For my turning the harder the wood the better. Sounds like you may have more than you can use - selling some to woodturners might be an option.

[John Kananis]

Crazy hard and dense? In thick planks?

Sounds perfect for woodturning, especially it it’s dry. For my turning the harder the wood the better. Sounds like you may have more than you can use - selling some to woodturners might be an option.

This for sure. I bet some of us turners would snatch a bunch of that up.

[Tom M King]

I would love to have some for door and window sills in old houses I work on. Never even seen it here.