OKAN

okan TIMBER USES

The tropical timber okan is a very heavy and hard material, very durable, suitable for use in highly exposed environments: it is used for the construction of bridges, especially in marine environments, and for railway sleepers or heavy frameworks.

Okan can be used for the following purposes:

Carpentry and interior fittings

• Wooden floors

Outdoor equipment - Recreation

• Exterior staircases and guard railing
• Single-level terraces and pool areas
• Elevated terraces, balconies and corridors
• Shelters, outdoor furniture and playgrounds
• Gates
• Visual barriers and windbreak panels, pergolas

Industrial usage and heavy work

• Hydraulic works in a submerged marine environment
• Structures and bridges in contact with soil or freshwater
• Sleepers and dunnage
• Industrial floors and heavy framework
• Vehicle, wagon and container bottom (or floor)

Shipbuilding

• Pleasure-boating pontoons

Miscellaneous uses

• Turnery, cutlery and brushmaking
• Sculptures

 Where to buy okan timber?

DISTRIBUTION AREA OF okan

The distribution area of the tropical species okan extends from West Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana) to Central Africa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, DRC).

ECOLOGY and Biology of okan

The exotic species okan is a deciduous and non-gregarious species of dense evergreen and semi-deciduous rainforests. Its seeds are dispersed by the wind from November to March.

DESCRIPTION OF okan TIMBER

• Color: red brown
• Sapwood: clearly demarcated
• Texture: medium
• Grain: interlocked
• Interlocked grain: marked

okan: PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

Read the Tropix sheet ok okan (CIRAD).

okan: NATURAL DURABILITY AND TREATABILITY

• Funghi: class 1 - very durable
• Dry wood borers: durable - sapwood demarcated (risk limited to sapwood)
• Termites : class D - durable
• Treatability: class 4 - not permeable
• Use class ensured by natural durability: class 4 - in ground or fresh water
• Species covering the use class 5: Yes

Read the Tropix sheet ok okan (CIRAD).

PROCESSING OF okan TIMBER

Read the Tropix sheet ok okan (CIRAD).

Sources :

• CIRAD
• ATIBT
• Q. Meunier, C. Moumbogou, J.-L. Doucet, 2015, Les arbres utiles du Gabon