![]() ![]() The wood is moderately difficult to work with either hand or machine tools, for the wood resists cutting and dulls cutting edges. It seasons somewhat slowly, with only a slight risk of checking and distortion once dry it is moderately stable in service. Unfortunately, the oxidation process will again prevail, turning the wood first to purple and later to a walnut brown and finally to a black-brown colour with age. However, the exterior brown colour is only at the surface and by removing a thin layer the original colouring can be restored. In due time, the purplish colour is lost and the wood turns a permanent attractive dark brown. The wood is very hard, extremely heavy, strong, tough, and very durable in the soil, but it is most often recognized for its unusual colouring, which at times is actually purple. The uniform texture varies from fine to medium the grain is usually straight and seldom interlocked, but is sufficiently irregular, along with variation in lustre and colour, to give the wood a pleasing stripe figure on the quarter-cut surface lustre is medium, somewhat greasy in appearance, and cold to the touch no distinctive odour or taste is present in seasoned wood. The heartwood is a greyish purple when freshly cut, later becoming a violet purple to deep purple through an oxidation process and then slowly darkening to an attractive deep brown it is clearly demarcated from the 5 - 10cm thick layer of creamy white to light pinkish cinnamon streaked with light brown sapwood. The bark of mature trees is used by local people for making canoes. It is used in medicine, as a substitute for turpentine, and to produce a red dye for dying textile fabrics. ![]() Other Uses An aromatic resin is extracted from the wood. ![]()
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