Limba (Terminalia superba) in numbers: hardness, weight, strength, shrinkage, movement and decay resistance, taken from the tables of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory’s Wood Handbook, followed by what the wood is like to work and what it is used for. The values are averages from small, clear, straight-grained test specimens; real boards with knots, sloping grain or a different moisture content will differ.
| Property | Limba |
|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% moisture | 490 lbf (2,180 N) |
| Janka side hardness, green | 400 lbf |
| Hardness rank | harder than 28 of the 168 woods with a 12% hardness value in our database |
| Density at 12% moisture | 28.4 lb/ft³ (455 kg/m³)* |
| Weight per board foot (12%) | 2.37 lb* |
| Specific gravity (ovendry weight, green volume) | 0.38 |
| Specific gravity at 12% moisture | 0.41* |
| Bending strength (modulus of rupture), 12% | 8,800 psi |
| Stiffness (modulus of elasticity), 12% | 1.01 million psi |
| Crushing strength (compression parallel to grain), 12% | 4,730 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial / tangential / volumetric | 4.5% / 6.2% / 10.8% |
| Tangential / radial shrinkage ratio | 1.38 |
| Dimensional change per 1% moisture (radial / tangential) | 0.00151 / 0.00187 |
| Heartwood decay resistance | slightly or nonresistant |
What it is
Limba (Terminalia superba), also called afara, korina or ofram, grows widely from Sierra Leone to Angola and the Congo basin, in both rainforest and savanna forest, and is a favoured plantation species in West Africa. The heartwood ranges from grey-white to creamy or yellow-brown. Some logs carry dark streaks that are nearly black; this is sold as black limba, while plain, pale wood is white limba.
The Handbook says the pale colour has long been an asset for blond furniture, and the streaked wood is valued for decorative veneer. The grain is generally straight and the texture uniform but coarse.
Working properties
Limba is easy to work with all types of tools and slices into veneer without difficulty. It is easy to dry, and shrinkage is reported to be rather low; tangential shrinkage in our data is about 6.2%. It is light, about 28.4 lb per cubic foot at 12% moisture content (our estimate), and soft at 490 lbf of Janka hardness, close to yellow-poplar.
Limba is not resistant to decay, insects or termites and sits in the slightly or nonresistant class of Table 14-1, so it is an indoor wood. The open, coarse grain usually needs filling before a high-gloss finish.
Weight and density
At 12% moisture content limba weighs about 28.4 lb per cubic foot (estimated from its specific gravity and shrinkage), so one board foot (144 cubic inches) weighs about 2.37 lb. An 8 ft board of actual size 3/4 × 5-1/2 in. (a 1×6) holds 0.229 cubic feet and weighs about 6.5 lb; an 8 ft piece 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in. (a 2×4 size) weighs about 8.3 lb. Green wood is much heavier because of the water it holds.
Density here is ovendry weight plus 12% water, divided by volume at 12% moisture content (Wood Handbook Eq. 4-12: density = specific gravity at 12% × 62.43 lb/ft³ × 1.12).
Wood movement
The Wood Handbook gives dimensional change coefficients for each species: the fraction of its width a board gains or loses for every 1% change in moisture content, between about 6% and 14%. For limba they are 0.00187 across a flatsawn face (tangential) and 0.00151 across a quartersawn face (radial).
Worked example: a flatsawn board 7-1/4 in. wide (a nominal 1×8) that goes from 6% moisture content in a heated winter house to 12% in a humid summer changes width by 7.25 × 0.00187 × 6 = 0.081 in. (about 3/32 in.). The same board quartersawn moves 0.066 in. (about 1/16 in.). Allow for this in panels, tabletops and floors; the wood movement calculator works it out for any size and moisture range.
How it compares
| Species | Janka (lbf) | Density (lb/ft³) | Bending (psi) | Stiffness (Mpsi) | Tangential shrink (%) | Decay resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limba | 490 | 28.4* | 8,800 | 1.01 | 6.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Yellow-poplar | 540 | 29.4 | 10,100 | 1.58 | 8.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
| African mahogany (khaya) | 830 | 31.0* | 10,700 | 1.4 | 4.5 | moderately resistant |
| Okoume | 380 | 24.8* | 7,400 | 1.14 | 6.1 | slightly or nonresistant |
| American basswood | 410 | 25.9 | 8,700 | 1.46 | 9.3 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Black ash | 850 | 34.3 | 12,600 | 1.6 | 7.8 | slightly or nonresistant |
Uses
Principal uses are plywood, furniture, interior joinery and sliced decorative veneer. Under the name korina it is also a well-known tonewood for solid electric guitar bodies, valued for its light weight.
Frequently asked questions
Is korina the same as limba?
Yes. Korina is a trade name for limba, Terminalia superba, along with afara and ofram.
What is black limba?
Limba with dark, nearly black streaks in the heartwood. Pale wood without the streaks is sold as white limba. Both are the same species.
How hard is limba?
About 490 lbf of Janka side hardness at 12% moisture content in the Wood Handbook, similar to yellow-poplar.
Is limba good for outdoor use?
No. The Handbook says it is not resistant to decay, insects or termites.
Sources
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. Numbers are generated from our parsed copy of the Handbook tables, so every page uses the same data. Values marked * are estimates computed with the Handbook’s own equations. Spotted an error? Please let us know.