Some sell shedua on schedule

f FRICA is the home of numerrous exotic hardwoods including shedua, a dark woodfound in the dense rain forests.

The species Guibourtia ehie also ts known as ehie, ovangkol, anokye or hueduanini when it comes from Ghana. On the Ivory Coast the uood is called amazoue and amazakoue.

Daniellia ogea, a similar wood from Nigeria called ogea, also is marketed as shedua.

Shedua comes from a large tree with a straight, clear bole that normally extends to at least 60 feet and often to 120 feet.

The sapwood is whitish while the heartwood is yellow brown to chocolate colored with grey to almost black stripes. For comparison, the color is paler and more striking than the Queensland walnut from Australia and darker than that ol koa from Hawaii.

The grain is interlocked. The texture moderately coarse. When fresh, the wood has a strong smell which disappears in the drying. The wood weighs about four pounds per foot when dried.

Tests conducted b1 the Foresr Service sho* that shedua dries from rhe green fairly rapidli' ri ith Iirtle degrade. For best results stock thicker than one inch should be dried according to a kiln schedule for * hire oak.

Although hard, shedua is ordinaril.v easy' to *'ork. Quarter-sa*n sur-

Story at a Glance

Exotic dark wood lrom rain f or. €sts ol Alrlca galnlng popu. ladty . . . good charact€rlstlcs attractlve appoarance.

iaces, ho*erer, tend to iuzz up uhen machined. Jhs,'rood rs surtable for cabinet *ork, high grade iurniture, interior decorative * ork and turner) Generalll , it is pnced louer than *alnut. Shedua. rihrch is striking in annearanJe * it h a tlair srarn. atrracts lot: oi attention .{t present. limited quantllie. \)f ihedrra are heins imnorted to meet some of the demand ior erotrc *oods. A farorite of manv riood hobbf ists, it also is in demand commercialll *hen the erclusire beautl' of an erotic *ood is important to a project.

An imnortant ommercial u:c ii ior rnterior firtures in bank,' and oifices rihere it shoris to an adrantage in paneling. frame:. moulding and custom furniture. Shedua also rs a favorite t'or rifle;tock., oiten used in place of rralnut, and the handles on fishing rods and other custom sports equipment.

Shedua sells rrell in squares. Retailers find that thel can increase sales oi it b5 displaf ing items craited from shedua or hanging an especiallr ior el1' piece * ell finished on the $ all.