Muninga grows in the central southern African and eastern African region, and is closely related to Padauk. Its heartwood has a range of colours from golden brown through to a darkish red chocolate brown with random streaking in either yellow or red. This timber is not classified as strong, but is durable. It makes a good parquet floor, glues well and can be polished to a good finish.

Keruing grows in the South-East Asian area, India, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Vietnam and Thailand. The heartwood ranges from a pinkish to dark brown in colour and considered to be a strong timber although moderately durable. Pre-drilling is recommended an care must be taken when glueing. It is suitable for a wood-block parquet floor.

Meranti, also known as Shorea, grows in the South-East Asian area. It comes in two types in this sub-species, dark red and light red. Meranti is becoming less widely available having been heavily cropped commercially. The dark red meranti is a red-brown timber which has good working qualities and takes glue easily. The light red timber is not durable (i.e. suitable for external use) and the dark red is moderately durable and suited for parquet wood-block flooring.

Rosa Peroba timber comes from the south-east regions of Brazil and is also known as Red Peroba, named after the rose-red colour of the heartwood. It is a hard, heavy and dense wood and has a high crushing strength. Rosa Peroba is durable as well as being fairly easy to work. Pre-drilling is recommended, it takes glue, stain and polish easily. The sapwood does tend towards being susceptible to insect attack, the heartwood is resistant to preservative treatment. This is a beautiful timber suited to furniture, panelling and particularly parquet flooring.

Iroko is commonly grown in the semi-deciduous forests of tropical Africa from the west in a band across to the east, and is one of the best known African hardwoods. The colour is a dark golden brown. Its uses are similar to Teak, but without the oily feel of teak. It is widely used in joinery and has become a popular parquet floor with under-floor heating as it is regarded as stable. Iroko is a timber which generally saws and planes well and glues easily.

Opepe is a Central African hardwood, but principally commercially grown in West Africa. It is a strong timber with a pale yellow sapwood and golden brown heartwood with a slightly stripey figuring. It has exceptional strength but reasonable working qualities. Pre-drilling is a good idea before nailing as it is prone to split. Opepe takes glue well and has exceptional polishing qualities. It is durable and very suitable for parquet wood-block flooring due to its hard wearing properties.

Merbau timber is found throughout South East Asia, and is also known as Borneo Teak, Ipi, Mirabow and Kajubesi. Merbau has a wide creamy white sapwood and the heartwood is a uniform brown colour. This is a dense and heavy hardwood, durable and highly resistant to preservative treatment. It will require pre-drilling before nailing and has a tendency to blunt saws. It will take stain and can be polished to a fine, high gloss giving a very classy finish to a parquet floor.

Muhuhu is an East African hardwood, grown in the forests of Kenya and Tanzania. It is a very dense, heavy wood with a high crushing strength and excellent resistance to indentation and abrasion. It requires pre-drilling for nailing, but takes glue well as well as stain and polish. It is resistant to preservative treatment. It is therefore extremely good for parquet flooring and is commonly used in hotels and public buildings etc. where you find heavily trafficked areas. It has a spicy aromatic oil similar to sandalwood.

Afrormosia is a tropical hardwood from West Africa, with a fine grain but without the oiliness of teak. The timber has a creamy buff sapwood and the heartwood is a dark golden brown. The wood has a high tannin content, is dense and very durable. It is resistant to preservative treatment, termites and fungi, and it is recommended that tungsten carbide tipped tools are used for working the timber and should be pre-drilled before nailing.

Afrormosia takes glue well and stains well with a spirit rather than water based stain, and a first class finish can be obtained on this timber to a very high gloss. It is commonly known as African Teak due to its perceived similarities, but other names are Assamela, Kokrudua, Egbi, Red Bark or Devil’s Tree.It makes a very attractive parquet floor.