Wenge, or wengé, is a hard and durable tropical timber from Africa. Versatile, wenge wood can be used for making parquet flooring as well as for exterior cladding.
Would you like to learn more about wenge? WoodPartners explains everything you need to know about wenge wood:
- What is wenge wood?
- What are the characteristics of wenge?
- Wenge wood: for which uses?
- How do you care for wenge?
- Other questions about wenge
What is wenge wood?
Wenge wood is a tropical timber native to Central and West Africa, as is ayous. Belonging to the Fabaceae family, wenge has two scientific names: Millettia laurentii and Millettia stuhlmannii.
What is more, it is known by different names depending on the country:
- Cameroon : Awoung ;
- Gabon : Awong ;
- Democratic Republic of the Congo : Wenge ;
- Tanzania : Mpande ;
- Germany : Panga-panga, Wenge ;
- France : Panga-panga, Wenge.
What are the characteristics of wenge?
Wenge has various characteristics such as a dark brown colouring, good durability and a coarse texture. Hard and difficult to treat, it does not need pressure treatment.
Description of wenge wood
- Colour of wenge : dark brown ;
- Sapwood (the soft, pale-toned part of the wood that forms each year beneath the bark) : clearly distinct ;
- Texture : coarse ;
- Grain or fibre direction : straight ;
- Interlocked grain, or direction contrary to the axis : absent.
Description of the wenge log
- Diameter of the wenge tree : between 60 and 100 cm ;
- Thickness of the sapwood : between 2 and 3 cm ;
- Keeping in the forest : good.
The physical properties of wenge wood
- Density (at 12% moisture content with 1 MPa = 1 N/mm²): 0.87 ;
- Hardness (at 12% moisture content with 1 MPa = 1 N/mm²) : 9.1 ;
- Volumetric shrinkage coefficient : 0.69% ;
- Total tangential shrinkage (TS) : 9.1% ;
- Total radial shrinkage (RS) : 5.9% ;
- Ratio between TS and RS : 1.5 ;
- Fibre saturation point : 22% ;
- Stability in service : moderately stable
The natural durability and treatability of wenge
- Resistance to fungi : class 2, durable ;
- Resistance to dry-wood insects : durable ;
- Resistance to termites : class D, durable ;
- Treatability : class 4, not treatable ;
- Use class: wood class 4, for use in direct contact with the ground or with fresh water.
Drying wenge wood
- Drying speed : slow ;
- Risk of distortion : low ;
- Risk of case-hardening (accidental hardening) : none ;
- Risk of surface checks (splits) : high ;
- Risk of collapse (waviness, separation of the wood) : none.
Sawing and machining wenge wood
- Blunting effect : fairly high ;
- Saw teeth for sawing : stellite-tipped teeth ;
- Machining tools : tungsten carbide ;
- Suitability for rotary peeling : not worthwhile ;
- Suitability for slicing : good.
Joining wenge
For joining wenge, two steps matter:
- Nailing and screwing : good holding, with pre-drilling required ;
- Gluing : difficult, the wood can stain.
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Wenge wood: for which uses?
Wenge wood is versatile: it can be used indoors for making furniture or parquet flooring as well as outdoors for cladding, for example.
- For parquet flooring : durable and hard-wearing, wenge makes floors that last.
- In interior and exterior joinery : the hardness of wenge and its resistance to moisture make it attractive for interior and exterior joinery, such as making windows.
- Wenge for panelling : easy to machine and with an attractive colour, it is ideal for fitting panelling.
- Cabinetmaking and wenge wood : hard and durable, it is an attractive asset for making furniture.
How do you care for wenge?
Wenge needs simple but regular care because its dark colouring attracts dust. Day to day, you can simply clean it with a damp or oiled cloth in order to remove dust and nourish the wenge wood.
If you want to go deeper, you can nourish wenge with a natural wax. What is more, if your wood has gone grey over time, consider applying a wood brightener and then rinsing it in order to restore the original tone.
In addition, wenge wood can stain more easily, so you must be careful about what you place on your wenge furniture, for example.
Other questions about wenge
What is the price per m3 of wenge wood?
The price per m3 of wenge wood varies according to the use you intend to make of it. For simple rough-sawn flat-sawn wenge boards, you should allow around 250 euros per m3.
What is the colour of wenge?
Wenge is a dark timber, dark brown to almost black, which may have some orange or purplish shades.
Wenge is a durable and hard-wearing timber that can be used in various types of construction such as interior joinery or exterior cladding. You now know all the secrets of wenge wood so you can use it in your projects with WoodPartners.