Black Limba (Frake) Wood Logs

Black Limba Wood – All You Need to Know (Properties & Uses of Black Limba)

Black Limba is an African tropical wood. It’s a hardwood but with low durability and is also prone to insect attack. Other popular names include Frake, Afara and Korina. White Limba is the light-colored variant of Limba.
Limba, with scientific name Terminalia superba, is a hardwood native to tropical western Africa. Also commonly known as Frake (Africa), it is found in multiple varieties, with black limba and white limba (korina) being the two most common ones.

In this article, you can read about the different properties and uses of Black Limba as well as the best place to buy sustainable wood.

Black Limba Physical Properties & Characteristics

Black Limba is a hardwood found primarily in tropical western Africa. The Limba trees are about 65-100 ft tall and have a 5-7 ft trunk diameter. Other technical characteristics of Black Limba are as follows:

• Average Dried Weight: 35 lbs/ft3 (555 kg/m3)
• Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .43, .56
• Janka Hardness: 670 lbf (2,990 N)
• Modulus of Rupture: 12,510 lbf/in2 (86.2 MPa)
• Elastic Modulus: 1,520,000 lbf/in2 (10.49 GPa)
• Crushing Strength: 6,580 lbf/in2 (45.4 MPa)
• Shrinkage: Radial: 4.3%, Tangential: 6.3%, Volumetric: 10.8%, T/R Ratio: 1.5
• Source: wood-database.com

Black Limba has a yellowish brown heartwood, generally with black streaks and veins. The color darkens with age. Sapwood is paler yellow greyish. The wood has straight to interlocked grain and a coarse texture.

Black Limba is a hardwood but not very hard or durable. In fact, it is rated as practically non-durable with no resistance to insect attack and moisture. It is generally easy to work with and glues and finishes well.

Black Limba can be purchased in both board and veneer forms and is moderate to expensively priced for an imported wood.

What is Black Limba (Frake Wood) Used For?

Black Limba is favoured for its beautiful, exotic look.

Common uses of Black Limba include veneering, furniture, plywood, musical instruments (popular for building guitar bodies), and turned objects including bandsaw boxes, butcher blocks, turnings, duck calls, etc.

How and Where to Buy Top Quality Black Limba (Frake Wood) From?

Black Limba is a tropical West African hardwood, which is easily available in all parts of the world and can be imported. The price may range from moderate to high for an imported hardwood. Black Limba is more popular and has a higher demand and fetches a generally higher price than White Limba and other variants. No matter where you are in the world, we can deliver you the best quality, sustainably-produced Black Limba wood at the best price in the market.

We are a leading exporter and supplier of hardwood timber and logs (Africa). With over three decades of woodworking experience and a profile of hectares of company-owned forestlands, we produce, process and supply over 30 species of African hardwoods, including Black Limba.