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Makore

The following information is posted with permission of Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA) and is taken from their red booklets Timbers of the World. © TRADA

Tieghemela heckelil Hutch. and Dale. Family: Sapotaceae

Other names
agamokwe (Nigeria); baku, abaku (Ghana).

Distribution
It occurs in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ivory Coast. Ghana. and Liberia, generally scattered in the moist high forest zone.

The tree
A large tree with a straight cylindrical bole without buttresses. It attains a height of 36mi to 45m and a diameter of 2.7m but since very large trees are reported to likely to shatter when felled, the exploitable diameter is more usually 1.0m or slightly more.

The timber
The wood is somewhat similar to a close grained mahogany. It varies in colour from pinkish to blood-red or red-brown. The lighter coloured sapwood is usuall 50mm to 75mm wide. Some logs are straight grained. but others have a striking, chequered figure and occasionally show streaks of a darker colour. The texture is much finer than mahogany, and the wand is denser, harder and heavier, weighing about 640 kg/m3 when dried. The surface is distinctly lustrous.

Drying
Makore dries at a moderate rate and degrade is generally slight. Some distortion due to twisting may occur in some pieces, and some slight splitting tends to develop around knots.

Strength
A tough and stiff timber comparable with American mahogany. but harder and with much greater resistance to splitting.

Durability
Very durable The timber is recorded as very resistant to attack by termites in Nigeria.

Working qualities
There is a tendency for saws in particular, and other tools in general to become rapidly blunted. The blunting effect increases as the moisture content of the wood decreases, and for material with a moisture content below 20 per cent, saw teeth should be tipped with tungsten carbide. In planing, cutter angles should be reduced to 20^o to avoid tearing of quarter-sawn stock. It stains and polishes well, glues excellently, but tends to split in nailing.

Uses
Furniture, and when figured, is suitable for high class sliced veneer. Used for doors, tablelegs, chairs, superior joinery and fittings, laboratory benches, sills, thresholds and flooring, vehicle bodies, textile rollers and general turnery, cladding and panelling.