Is Sapele A Hardwood Or Softwood

Softwood we explore the differences between the two woods and alternatives allowing you to understand the differences and choose the right timber.

Is sapele a hardwood or softwood.

Sapele is an excellent grade quality hardwood. Same as mahogany exploitation of sapele forests are regulated by several countries across africa. We use utile or sapele for door and window cills when the rest of the joinery is manufactured in softwood as the cill requires more durability than the vertical components in a window or door. Sapele predominantly from west africa is a reddish brown hardwood.

The funny thing is that the botanical definition of hardwood and softwood has nothing to do with how hard the wood actually is. Oak has traditionally been a popular choice for bespoke doors and windows as it is a strong durable and. This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a. Iroko is a tropical hardwood suitable for exterior joinery is a cheaper alternative to european oak and is often used as a substitute for oak because.

Sapele has a distinct cedar like scent while being worked. Sapele has a slight blunting effect on cutters but it turns glues and finishes well. But rather it denotes the structure of the tree and in general whether or not it loses its leaves. Sapele originates from west africa and it can be most easily found in countries such as tanzania nigeria and ghana where the individual trees can grow up to impressive height of 45 meters in the air with some rare examples going up to 60 meters with the trunk diameter that can almost reach 2 meters 6 feet it is a deciduous tree only during a dry season in west africa with leaves that.

Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. Rich heartwood colored in golden and dark reddish brown is perfect for use in creating expensive furniture musical and specialty objects. At rural timber we combine traditional craftmanship with modern technology to create timber doors window frames conservatories and other items that are designed to last. Sapele is a hardwood from tropical africa that successfully emulates the characteristics that have made mahogany so popular.

Although some parts of the sapele logs will produce straight grain or quartered effect generally it has a more random grain appearance thus meaning it is liable to interlocked grain. Hardwood vs softwood sapele or accoya doors and windows. Usually this is because sapele is known as an exterior wood and so many good exterior woods are also softwoods.