Iroko wood

bandmaster188

i was given a piece of timber a while back which i am going to use for a lap steel project.

i've just had the timber identified as Iroko from the west coast of africa. has anybody had any experience with using this wood for guitar building?

i have just learnt that if i see the face of the tree spirit in the wood i will go massively insane, well the mrs and kids have got that covered so what could possibly go wrong!

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee512/bandmaster188/imagejpg2_zps32d1d8ca.jpg

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee512/bandmaster188/imagejpg1_zpsde2afeff.jpg

 

 

ICBM

I made a bass out of some of that once. The piece of wood was the right size to make a double-cut Les Paul, so at first I started doing that until I realised it was so heavy it would really be much more suitable as a bass. It ended up being quite well-balanced despite the neck being very long to fit a body that small.

It did sound pretty good too, but unfortunately I discovered I'm allergic to the wood - which is quite common, apparently. It's not a suitable wood for lacquer finishes either really, it's too oily. So make sure that doesn't apply to you before you build something you may spend a lot of time in contact with!

bandmaster188

cheers for that icbm, my bit is kind of LP DC sized too but definately going for a basic build to start with.   the guy who ID'd it said it would be too heavy for a guitar!                                      

perhaps its the rash that causes the insanity!

i was probably going to finish it with tru oil so no issues with the lacquer.

WezV

it can be a horrible wood to work with and i generally steer clear.    

It can look very pretty and show some figure, I have two massive slabs of wood i was fairly sure were mahogany but i sliced a bit off the other day and was really gutted to see the raw wood was obviously Iroko

lapsteels are not a bad use for it

Rox

They must pop up everywhere - I've got a block of it in my workshop that has been sitting there gathering dust, too! 

bandmaster188

When you say its a git to work with, can you elaborate for me . or is it because everyone is scaredy chickens of the tree gods :-SS

WezV

Its very hard, occasionally splinters, and the dust is nasty stuff.  If it sounded great it would be worth the effort, but its heavy and bright

bandmaster188

Cheers for that. maybe I'll try and trade it for bit of pine!

Bogwhoppit

They use that stuff for garden furniture. My patio set from homebase is all made from Iroko...as were my patio door frames.

Gagaryn

Bogwhoppit said:

They use that stuff for garden furniture. My patio set from homebase is all made from Iroko...as were my patio door frames.

And benches in school science labs.

WezV

yep, its very resistant to a lot of chemicals and moisture, which makes it perfect for all those applications.   let them have it

bandmaster188

I'm not getting a lot of Iroko love here!

ICBM

It's a lovely wood.

When someone else makes something out of it, that is not a guitar, and which you don't have to be in contact with .

WezV

well, a lot of people have successfully made guitars from  it, but not many seem to reuse it as a regular wood and a quick search on youtube doesn't give any useful results.  That says a lot to me considering how easy it is to get it in the uk and seems to match my own experiences with it

I have made wood blocks from it for a drummer friend, he loved it.

If you want a relatively cheap wood that's easy to find in the uk and makes great guitars, then go for idigbo (Terminalia Ivorensis).  Its not quite as nice looking as proper korina/limba (Terminalia Superba) as it tends to have quite a few small knots in most pieces, has a coarser grain and the colour is just a bit duller.  but it does sound very close to  its more expensive cousin, it can even look just like it if you find a really good bit and its a fraction of the price

Misterg

I acquired a load of laboratory worktops that I thought were teak, but were probably Iroko.

I made some stuff out of it, including this thing:

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh143/werdnayarg/webstuf/RIMG0367_zps032266f9.jpg

I always liked working with it....

Last time I worked with it was making a neck for my son's electric uke (I'd moved onto the uke after making some boaty bits & bobs with the same wood). My wife commented that I seemed to have  a permanent cold, but I didn't think I had, just a bit of a stuffed up nose. After I finished the uke, the 'cold' cleared up.

I took a small block of the wood into work to see if anyone could identify it. While I was talking about it, just turning the piece of wood over in my hands, the stuffy nose came back. A few hours later it had gone again. I fidgeted with the block of wood while sitting in the car at traffic lights on the way home, and sure enough my nose got all stuffed up again. It then dawned on me that I have become sensitised/alergic to it.

Wear a dust mask (& do as I say, not as I did).

bandmaster188

It was given to me by a tenant where we work. A nice old girl. Her husband died a couple of years ago and it was left in his work shop (he was a turner) . I feel a bit obligated to do something with the timber, but its not looking like it'll be the piece for my geetar. Perhaps I could make the wife a nice necklace with it >:) Cheers for the info fella's

Borat

I have worked with this wood and what you have there looks exactly like what I have. Yes it is heavy, very dense and a bit oily noticeable when sanding as it can clog the paper. I have turned a number of items from this and I always wear a mask with an air flow pumped in from outside my shed, all the time I use this I am ok but you don't need to breathe much of this stuff in to feel the effects which is like hayfever and asthma combined so be warned. It is a nice wood but can be hard to work so sharp tools are a must, you can get a good finish with a scraper plane. I have made a Lap Steel guitar from it and it sounded ok so I am thinking of making a Bass guitar as the pieces I have are 44mm thick and wide enough for a one piece body. This wood finishes ok with either teak oil or Danish oil.

doogz84

Never seen a guitar made from it before.

It's a rather hard wood, similar properties to teak, but usually a good bit cheaper.

It's still used on warships for shoring and as sculpted pads for sitting the deck edge liferaft boxes on.

Full of useless information, me!

WezV

I have actually helped build one since I last posted in this. Made a chambered 7string Tele with quilted maple top.

Sadly I never got to play it properly as I was only helping with the woodwork and finish