Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a very dark brown with black streaks. Upon application of a wood finish (particularly an oil-finish) the wood can become nearly black. Grain/Texture: Has a straight grain and a coarse texture. Panga Panga also has very large pores that can present a challenge to fill if a perfectly smooth/leveled finish is desired.

Panga Panga is the first cousin to Africa’s more popular and well-known exotic, Wenge (with both trees being of the Millettia genus) — sharing a similar large pored, course texture, and presenting some of the same challenges when working.

Millettia stuhlmannii, commonly known as panga panga, is a well-known species of timber tree [1] that is native to the southeastern Afrotropics. The wood of the tropical species M. laurentii has similar qualities and uses, but is slightly darker, and lacks the copious yellowish white resin of the heartwood vessels. [2] .

Panga Panga is the first cousin to Africa’s more popular and well-known exotic, Wenge (with both trees being of the Millettia genus) — sharing a similar large pored, course texture, and presenting some of the same challenges when working.

Panga Panga wood is dense and heavy, with very high tensile strength, high bending strength and shock resistance and medium stiffness and crushing strength. Panga Panga is a hard wood to work and has a tolerable to severe blunting effect on tools. The wood turns and polishes very well but most other processes are more challenging.

Wenge occurs in the Congo region in periodically inundated swampy forests. General Characteristics: Heartwood dark brown to almost black with alternate layers of light and dark tissue forming a decorative figure; sapwood yellowish white, clearly demarcated. Texture rather coarse; grain straight.

Distribution: Southern regions of Tanzania and Mozambique, found in open forests. Wenge occurs in the Congo region in periodically inundated swampy forests. General Characteristics: Heartwood dark brown to almost black with alternate layers of light and dark tissue forming a decorative figure; sapwood yellowish white, clearly demarcated.

Its dark colours, with rich parenchyma bands brings a touch of the exotic to finished pieces. The heartwood is dark chocolate brown with paler broad bands. At 880kg/m3 the heartwood is extremely durable. It sandpapers well and takes varnish and oils well. It is used in furniture, turning, parquet flooring and carving.

Panga Panga wood - The heartwood is chocolate-brown with alternating dark- and light-coloured bands running through it; or it can be dark brown to near-black with bands of white tissue. The sapwood is clearly demarcated from the heartwood, and …

Panga Panga ( Millettia stuhlmannii) has a very dark brown with black streak Heartwood. Panga Panga-wood becomes increasingly darker by the drying process and the influence of sunlight. This durable wood comes from a 60 to 65 Feet high tree, with a diameter of 20-24 inches.