II. results of a series of tests by the Imperial Institute, London (22). are 
Ten ir. table 1, They are directly comparable, "because of the methods 
employed; with tests by the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory, the Forestry 
Be parti'.:'.*-/ in Canada and India, and the Forest Products Research Laboratory in 
n eland. 
ciscnin~ '. bi-c ■■'•'- ir.-:i '. 
In md 11; 11' azobe is considered an extremely refractory species on the 
"casis of th€ limited tests thus far reported. Not only does this timber give up 
relatively small amount of moisture very slowly (35), but severe checking 
and splitting 22 and some distortion are likely to occur during seasoning. 
• material; more _ "er, needs to be carefully piled (lA, kl) . It is thought to 
lesirable tc air dry the material before it is kiln dried. 
.'. mi] .:le i2 recommended by the English Forest Products Research Labora- 
tory for kiln drying azobe (12), such as is given in table 2. 
Shrinkage during kiln irying tc 12 percent moisture content from the green 
is as follows (12): 
[Tangential -- 5*5 percent 
Radial -- -.1 percent 
mens fc] ie t were dried to equilibrium at 60 percent relative humidity and 
F. after previous drying tc equilibrium at 90 percent relative humidity and 
I. shrunk 2.5 percent ir. the tangential direction and 2.0 percent in the 
radial direct!:::. 
>be has been regarded as a wood that holds its shape veil when manufactured 
(9). Its absorption :f moisture is extremely slow. 
Purac-lity 
r.ira frocera is rated as one of the most durable timbers in V, r est Africa 
Locally, it is rated as very resistant to insects, teredo (7> 3k_, 
-1 white ants and decay [2k } 35; ^6; 48) . Files have been reported as being 
soun r . years' service (57T 
"•r.:.::~ raraci-risiics 
th Its din teristic hardness and interlocked grain, is considered 
1 : cult tc saw even when /reen (22, kl) t and extremely difficult to work with 
Is. It can be handled successfully, however, with machine tools (5> 22, 
35: • Azobe is rated as similar to greenheart in working characteristics 
and is about twice as hard as Burma leak (5) • It is also reported that it can 
be ; _• es illy on the tangential surface, and with care will give a 
th surface [22, kl, 1 
ri . 
