Bilinga (wood)

Last updated
Bilinga panelling Bilinga kruisdraad.jpg
Bilinga panelling
Windmill machinery at De Hoop [nl] - Beams are made of bilinga Molen De Hoop bovenrondsel met bovenwiel.jpg
Windmill machinery at De Hoop  [ nl ] - Beams are made of bilinga

Bilinga (also called Aloma in Germany and Opepe in England) is an African wood, from Nauclea diderrichii trees in the family Rubiaceae.

The wood, which grows across tropical Africa from Sierra Leone to Uganda, has about the same density as true hickory, but is not quite as strong. [1] The wood is extremely heavy. [2] Log diameter is from 60 to 90 centimetres (24 to 35 in). [3] The heartwood is golden yellow to orange yellow, and slightly shimmering. The sapwood has an interlocking grain. [4]

In temperate climates, the wood is very durable against fungi, and durable against dry wood borers and termites. It is suitable for use in a marine environment. [3] Bilinga may be used for railway sleepers, poles, hydraulic works, bridges and ship planking and flooring. It may also be used for heavy industrial flooring. The wood may also be used for veneer and cabinet work. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodworking</span> Process of making objects from wood

Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plywood</span> Manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer

Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers, having both glued with each other at right angle. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB), and particle board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chisel</span> Tool for cutting and carving

A chisel is a wedged hand tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade, for carving or cutting a hard material. The tool can be used by hand, struck with a mallet, or applied with mechanical power. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carpentry</span> Skilled trade

Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old-fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally four years—and qualify by successfully completing that country's competence test in places such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and South Africa. It is also common that the skill can be learned by gaining work experience other than a formal training program, which may be the case in many places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parquet</span> Ornate wooden floor design

Parquet is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect in flooring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tongue and groove</span> Method of fitting similar objects together

Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. Tongue and groove joints allow two flat pieces to be joined strongly together to make a single flat surface. Before plywood became common, tongue and groove boards were also used for sheathing buildings and to construct concrete formwork.

Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface. Both terms are used interchangeably but floor covering refers more to loose-laid materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood carving</span> Form of working wood by means of a cutting tool

Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object. The phrase may also refer to the finished product, from individual sculptures to hand-worked mouldings composing part of a tracery.

A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballroom</span> Large room for a dance party

A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic mansions and palaces, contain one or more ballrooms. In other large houses, a large room such as the main drawing room, long gallery, or hall may double as a ballroom, but a good ballroom should have the right type of flooring, such as hardwood flooring or stone flooring .. For most styles of modern dance, a wooden sprung floor offers the best surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinyl composition tile</span> Flooring material

Vinyl composition tile (VCT) is a finished flooring material used primarily in commercial and institutional applications. Modern vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring and versions of those products sold since the early 1980s are composed of colored polyvinyl chloride (PVC) chips formed into solid sheets of varying thicknesses by heat and pressure. Floor tiles are cut into modular shapes such 12-by-12-inch squares or 12-by-24-inch rectangles. In installation the floor tiles or sheet flooring are applied to a smooth, leveled sub-floor using a specially formulated vinyl adhesive or tile mastic that remains pliable. In commercial applications some tiles are typically waxed and buffed using special materials and equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sawhorse</span> Structure for supporting lumber workpieces during sawing

In woodworking, a saw-horse or sawhorse is a trestle structure used to support a board or plank for sawing. A pair of sawhorses can support a plank, forming a scaffold. In certain circles, it is also known as a mule and a short sawhorse is known as a pony. The names come from the shape of the frame, which resembles a horse. A sawhorse may also be a rack for supporting logs for sawing, known in the US as a sawbuck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosewood</span> Several tropical woods of the genus Dalbergia

Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus Dalbergia, but other woods are often called rosewood. Rosewood takes a high polish and is used for luxury furniture-making, flooring, musical instruments, and turnery.

Wood glue is an adhesive used to tightly bond pieces of wood together. Many substances have been used as glues. Traditionally animal proteins like casein from milk or collagen from animal hides and bones were boiled down to make early glues. They worked by solidifying as they dried. Later, glues were made from plant starches like flour or potato starch. When combined with water and heated, the starch gelatinizes and forms a sticky paste as it dries. Plant-based glues were common for books and paper products, though they can break down more easily over time compared to animal-based glues. Examples of modern wood glues include polyvinyl acetate (PVA) and epoxy resins. Some resins used in producing composite wood products may contain formaldehyde. As of 2021, “the wood panel industry uses almost 95% of synthetic petroleum-derived thermosetting adhesives, mainly based on urea, phenol, and melamine, among others”.

<i>Intsia bijuga</i> Species of tree in the family Fabaceae

Intsia bijuga, commonly known as Borneo teak, Johnstone River teak, Kwila, Moluccan ironwood, Pacific teak, scrub mahogany and vesi, is a species of flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to the Indo-Pacific. It ranges from Tanzania and Madagascar east through India and Queensland, Australia, Papua New Guinea to the Pacific islands of Fiji and Samoa. It grows to around 50 metres tall with a highly buttressed trunk. It inhabits mangrove forests. Intsia bijuga differ from Intsia palembanica in the number of leaflets that make up their compound leaves.

Guibourtia ehie is an evergreen tree of the genus Guibourtia in the family Fabaceae, also known by the common names amazique, amazoué, hyedua, black hyedua, mozambique, ovangkol and shedua.

Guibourtia arnoldiana is a species of Guibourtia in the family Fabaceae, native to tropical western Africa from the Gabon, Republic of the Congo, western Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northernmost Angola (Cabinda).

<i>Pterocarpus soyauxii</i> Species of legume

Pterocarpus soyauxii, the African padauk or African coralwood, is a species of Pterocarpus in the family Fabaceae, native to central and tropical west Africa, from Nigeria east to Congo-Kinshasa and south to Angola.

<i>Nauclea diderrichii</i> Species of plant

Nauclea diderrichii is a species of tree of the genus Nauclea in the family Rubiaceae. It is known by the common names bilinga, aloma, badi, kusia and opepe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish furniture</span> Furniture manufactured by the Amish

Amish furniture is furniture manufactured by the Amish, primarily of Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio. It is generally known as being made completely out of wood, usually without particle board or laminate. The styles most often used by the Amish woodworkers are generally more traditional in nature.

References

Notes

    Citations

    1. Opepe: Woodwork Details.
    2. Moleme Millwrights 1999.
    3. 1 2 CIRAD 2012, p. 1.
    4. Bilinga: westafricanwood.com.
    5. CIRAD 2012, p. 3.

    Sources