Padauk

Common Name	This wood is also known as an African Padauk, African coralwood, Vermillion, African Padauk, Mbel, Mbil, Mututi, Ngula, Bosulu, mukwa, narra, zitan, Tacula, and Kisese
Scientific Name	Pterocarpus soyauxii
Distribution	Central and tropical West Africa, native to central and tropical west Africa, from Nigeria east to Congo-Kinshasa and south to Angola.
Tree Size	This tree can grow up to a height of 100-130 ft (30-40 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of about 2-4 ft (.6-1.2 m).
Dried Weight ( average )	47 lbs/ft3 (745 kg/m3).
Specific Gravity
Janka Hardness

Introduction

The padauk wood is known way back in history. King Solomon, proverbial for his knowledge in governing the Israelites throughout the 10th century B.C., should have known his wood, too. He selected stalwart padauk for the pillars of his temple. French Kings King of France and Louis XVI were separated from Solomon by thousands of years. Yet, these 17th-century rulers additionally favored a red-orange padauk they known as narra. With it, royal woodworkers crafted kinglike cups and chalices. As a result of the water placed in these vessels turned yellow, royalty believed the "potion" had medicative properties.

A century later, the colorful wood of Solomon and Louis attracted even wider acclaim. As a veneer named amboyna, padauk was featured in Empire-style piece of furniture. way far from European elegance and piece of furniture fashion of the 1800s, convicts sent to British penal colonies within the Andaman Islands off Myanmar labored to provide the padauk sought-after by world craftsmen.

Padauk is maybe the foremost often misspelled (and mispronounced) wood species, with padouk, Paduk, and Paduak being common misspellings. the foremost common pronunciation is pah-DUKE, it's generally mispronounced as Paducah—a city in Kentucky.

Originating from Asia or Africa, padauk wood will be obtained from a large type of Pterocarpus species. normally named as narra or mukwa, padauk wood could be a valuable resource because of its sturdiness, strength, and stability once being worked. Its reddish color is kind of distinguishable, though typically confused with rosewoods. Rosewoods are another category of woods that is somewhat associated with padauk. extraordinarily common, African padauk is additionally known as Vermilion because of its carmine color. Its heartwood will be a pale orange or a deep brown-red color, with the wood darkening once being cut and exposed to the daylight. With a generally straight grain, African padauk’s texture is open and coarse, with a fine natural luster.

This wood is immune to termites and different insects, the African padauk could be a sturdy wood with exceptional rot resistance. This wood tends to be at risk of rot and decay with prolonged exposure to the wet and aging method. simple to figure with, it finishes glues and turns very well. Some care should be taken because of the possibility of tear-outs occurring throughout planning on each interlocked or quarter sawn grains.

Although having a singular red coloration, this darkens over time even with UV-inhibiting finishes to prolong its natural color. However, African padauk’s strength, stability, and sturdiness create it a really popular wood amongst woodworkers. With a nice scent once being worked, this wood will be used for furniture, turned objects, veneer, musical instruments, and different wood objects.

Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, padauk has been rumored as a sensitizer. Usually, most typical reactions merely embrace the eye, skin, and respiratory irritation.

Padauk contains a distinctive reddish-orange coloration, and also the wood is typically named by the name Vermillion. Sadly, this dramatic color is inevitably darkened to a deep reddish-brown color. UV-inhibiting finishes could prolong, but not prevent the gradual color-shift of this brilliantly colored wood.

Padauk is moderately significant, strong, and stiff, with exceptional stability. It’s a preferred hardwood among amateur woodworkers thanks to its distinctive color, low cost, and simple to work with.

Color and Appearance: The wood color of this wood will vary, starting from a pale pinkish-orange to a deep maroon. Most items tend to start reddish orange once freshly cut, darkening well over time to a reddish/purplish brown. Though some lighter items age to a light brown. Though having a singular red coloration, this darkens over time even with the applying of UV-inhibiting finishes to prolong its natural color.

Grain and Texture: The grain is typically straight, however, it will generally be interlocked. Working in these areas may be difficult and it will cause tear outs. This wood comes with a rough, open texture and smart natural luster. Diffuse-porous; giant to terribly giant pores in no specific arrangement, terribly few; solitary and radial multiples of 2-3; mineral deposits often present; growth rings indistinct; slim rays not visible while not lens, fairly near to shut spacing; parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates, winged, confluent, and banded.

Workability: On the whole, padauk may be a pretty straightforward wood to work with, that is why this wood is favored by the amateur woodworkers attributable to its distinctive color, low cost, and straightforward to figure with. Tearout can also occur throughout coming up with on quarter sawed or interlocked grain. The padauk turns, glues, and responds to finishes and stains well.

Odor: Padauk includes a faint, pleasing scent while being worked.

Availability: Widely imported as lumber in a very kind of lengths and thicknesses, besides as turning and craft blanks. It ought to be moderately priced for associate import. African padauk costs about constant as top-quality black walnut. In contrast to different paaduks that demand higher costs, as do veneers. This wood species isn't listed within the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of vulnerable species.

Common Uses: The African padauk is often utilized in creating veneer, flooring, turned objects, musical instruments, furniture, tool handles, and different tiny specialty wood objects. Padauks are valued for their toughness, stability in use, and appearance, most having a blood-red wood. Most Pterocarpus woods contain either water- or alcohol-soluble substances and may be used as dyes.

The padauk found most frequently is African padauk from P. soyauxii that, once freshly cut, maybe a bright red/orange however once exposed to daylight fades over time to a heat brown. Its color makes it a favorite among woodworkers. Burmese padauk is P. macrocarpus whereas Andaman padauk is P. dalbergioides. Padauks may be confused with true rosewoods to that they are somewhat connected, however as a general rule padauks are coarser and fewer ornamental within the figure. Like rosewood, padauk is typically used to build xylophone, organ and xylophone keys, and guitars. It is a crucial material in ancient Chinese article of furniture.

Some padauks, e.g. P. soyauxii, are used as seasoning medicines, for instance, to treat skin parasites and plant life infections. The leaves are edible, and contain giant amounts of nutriment C; they are ingested as a leaf vegetable. Bark extracts are utilized in seasoning medication to treat skin parasites and plant life infections. The wood is valuable; it is terribly sturdy, red initially, changing into purplish-brown on exposure to lightweight, with a density of 0.79 g/cm 3. It is immune to termites. It is valued for creating drums incontinent because of its tonal resonance. The wood is additionally favored for its use in stringed instruments (namely acoustic and electric guitars) for its tonal attributes and sturdiness. dirt from the wood made throughout the wood process will cause eczema in some individuals.

Here is the few finished products images:

Padauk Bowl

Bottle Stopper

Bowl

Frequently asked Questions

Clear dewaxed shellac or tung oil can be used to finish the padauk wood.

Sand the entire board to 220 grit to prepare it for finishing.
Applied 2 coats of the finish (either clear dewaxed shellac or tung oil), and allowed them to dry
Placed board outside in bright, direct sunlight.

Clear dewaxed shellac preserved the orange color the most. Basically, the section that’s finished with shellac and exposed to light will give a very bright result.

Tung oil, interestingly, makes the wood pretty dark immediately upon application but it also showed the least amount of change during the 21-day light exposure test.

Yes, padauk is a hardwood and it is a popular choice among the hobbyist woodworkers because of its unique color and low cost. Padauk is moderately heavy, strong, and stiff, with exceptional stability

Since the primary problem that tropical woods present in gluing is their oiliness, (with density probably being the second biggest problem), any of these natural oils and resins that you can remove from the wood surface will help the glue adhere that much better.

While it’s not a cure-all, wiping the wood with a solvent first goes a long way. But you have to be sure of two things: first, you should try to glue the pieces of wood to be joined as soon as possible after the solvent has evaporated from the wood surface. This is because the wood’s oils will tend to migrate back to the surface of the wood where you removed some of the oils. Secondly, you have to be sure that the solvent you’re using is actually dissolving and removing the wood’s oils. A good way to gauge this is by checking the towel that you’re using to wipe the solvent to see if it’s changed to the wood’s color.

The padauk wood is known way back in history. Originating from Asia or Africa, padauk wood will be obtained from a large type of Pterocarpus species. Normally named as narra or mukwa, padauk wood could be a valuable resource because of its sturdiness, strength, and stability once being worked. Its reddish color is kind of distinguishable, though typically confused with rosewoods.

The African padauk is often utilized in creating veneer, flooring, turned objects, musical instruments, furniture, tool handles, and different tiny specialty wood objects. Padauks are valued for their toughness, stability in use, and appearance, most having a blood-red wood. Most Pterocarpus woods contain either water- or alcohol-soluble substances and may be used as dyes. It is valued for creating drums incontinent because of its tonal resonance. The wood is additionally favored for its use in stringed instruments (namely acoustic and electric guitars) for its tonal attributes and sturdiness.

Central and tropical West Africa, native to central and tropical west Africa, from Nigeria east to Congo-Kinshasa and south to Angola.

Reference