Danta

 Reclaimed Parquet Flooring

Danta (Nesogordonia papaverifera)

Danta is also known as Kotibé, Otutu or Aborbora. It comes mainly from West Africa: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zaire.

This species is a beautiful, fine quality timber which grows to a height of 100 ft (30 m).

Danta characteristics

The heartwood colour is pale purplish brown, to red, with some brown tones. The lustrous surface is similar to that of darker mahogany with an extremely fine texture. The interlocked grain produces characteristic stripes or ribboning, which shows in some of the quarter-sawn blocks. When finely sanded, it has a ‘greasy’ feel with its natural oils being drawn out.

This wood has ‘small to medium movement in service’, consequently it possesses good stability properties. It is also easy to work, and carves well.
The bending strength quality of this species is very high, far superior to those of Mahogany. The compression strength as well as maximum crushing strength, is very high – higher than in Burmese teak or hard maple.

Danta has excellent resistance to abrasion and is regarded as a strong and ‘elastic’ timber.  It has many purposes: particularly boat building, furniture, decorative items, joinery and flooring amongst many others.

We often find it used in schools usually dating from the 1970s onwards.

An interesting little Danta fact: freshly cut logs will sink in water, so they cannot be transported by river.