African Ironwood

Africa has several different species of ironwood trees that belong to entirely different plant families. All African names for the tree, variations of msimbiti, mean 'iron wood'. Ironwood is a name applied to many species of hardwood trees, the wood of which usually is dark, heavy and so dense that it sinks in water.

Water has a specific gravity, or relative density, of 1. To sink in water, a substance must have a specific gravity greater than 1. A true Ironwood has a specific gravity greater than water, thus it will not float. The world's most dense wood is the South African ironwood.

Ironwood occurs from the Western Cape to KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. It is a near relative of the African Olive. The wood makes a fine timber. The sapwood has a streaked, off-white colour while the heartwood is a distinct dark brown to almost black colour and is attractively figured. The timber has a straight, fine grain with an even texture. It is valuable, extremely hard and heavy. Ironwood works with difficulty and is demanding on tools.

It does however finish well, is very durable, almost completely termite proof and has been widely used as railway sleepers, in bridge construction and for flooring blocks. It can also produce beautiful furniture, and is used for tool handles, mallets, and other small objects that will be subjected to great strains. Poles used for building rest huts in the Shingwidzi and Punda Maria camps in the Kruger National Park have stood for 40 years and still show no sign of deterioration.

One of the ironwoods is called Leadwood. It is native from Tanzania south through Mozambique and Zimbabwe to South Africa. Leadwood is a slow-growing deciduous tree, with some individuals in South Africa documented at over 1,000 years old. The dark Leadwood is very hard with a specific gravity of 1.23. It is the 2nd densest wood in Africa and feels like petrified wood in weight. Leadwood is a very rare tree that can stand for 4000 years. It is not a large tree which limits the quantity available. Leadwood is reportedly difficult to saw and very resistant to termites. Leadwood is highly prized by woodcarvers and is used mainly by the Shona carvers of Zimbabwe.

African artists carve stunningly beautiful artefacts from this very scarce wood including elephants, rhinos, buffalo and hippos. Usually only the most skilled carvers show off their stunning carving work with this wood and the prices are normally much higher than those of other carvings.