Makore is the exotic wood
topic for today! It is sometimes called in the lumber industry African cherry. In real life it is (Tieghemella heckelii) a member of the Family: Sapotaceae. Its growing range is from West Africa, mainly East Liberia, Gabon, Cameroon and Ghana. It can be found with trunk diameters of up to seven feet and can frequently reach heights of over 160’ tall. Makore has a pinkish red heartwood color that sometimes appears almost brown in some boards, so you will see a variety of hues in a bundle of this lumber. It is a close grain wood that we usually receive in mixed bundles which includes both sliced and quartersawn planks. Quilted and chequered mottled figure is also somewhat common in this specie which finishes beautifully when oiled or lacquered. Due to its high silica content, Makore requires the use of tungsten carbide tooling when working with power tools and freshly sharpened cutting edges on the hand tools. It can be a little difficult on the dust collecting system as the powder it gives off is very fine and hard to control with smaller single stage systems. Otherwise it glues and sands well and can be brought to a fine-looking polished finish. Makore is generally available in most thicknesses from 4/4 through 12/4 with widths from 5” to 12” and lengths from 6’ to 12’. Our customers are using Makore for fine furniture, wood turnings, cabinets, boatbuilding, and architectural millwork. At Hardwoods Inc we use makore and many other exotic woods in our millwork shop to produce mantles, crown moldings, bar rails, and all types of wood products. We invite you to stop in and see our entire inventory of exotic and domestic hardwoods and we thank you for reading the Hardwoods Inc Official Blog.
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