Exotic Wood afzelia

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AFZELIA

Afzelia spp.
Afzelia spp. of the family Leguminosae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae), the legume or pea family

The genus Afzelia, which occurs both in Africa and in SE Asia, yields a particularly stable wood. The name afzelia will usually refer to African wood. A particular grade of African wood is traded as doussié.

My thanks to Paul van Rijckevorsel for this summary and for his comments that helped to clarify my previous confusion as to whether or not this wood existed as anything other than a burl, and his nudge to get the doussie page integrated with this one.

my samples:

NOT a raw wood color
flooring sample, listed as doussie, that has been finished with a hard, shiny finishing agent that clearly has deepened and enriched the color.

the same piece as directly above, after I sanded off the finish

NOT a raw wood color

NOT a raw wood color
flooring samples, listed as doussie, that have been finished with a hard, shiny finishing agent that clearly has deepened and enriched the color. Although from the same source as the flooring sample above, these two are noticibly lighter in color.

the same two pieces as directly above but with the finish sanded off

web pics

planks --- I am dubious about the bright red color of the 2nd piece but cannot say for sure that it is incorrect.

plank owned by a correspondant (whose name I have momentarily misplaced ... sorry) who has a whole stack of afzelia logs. This piece shows particularly well the interlocked grain that frequently occurs in this wood.