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African Woods
All of Jungletraders' furniture is made from recycled African railway
sleepers (in the U.S. they are called railroad ties). These sleepers
were laid in the African soil over a hundred years ago, and the trees
from which they were milled had been living another 300-600 years before
that. As the aging railway lines are either upgraded or discarded, this
wood (once used as firewood) finds a third life in the hands of
the African craftsmen who expertly shape it into beautiful heirloom
quality works of art.
The builders
of the African railways selected these woods for their weight and density, since they needed
to survive the rigors of the harsh African climate without the use of any
chemical preservatives. The color and character the wood has acquired
from a century in African soil is rich and deeply shaded, which gives
each piece of furniture an absolutely unique look and feel.
This is
perhaps the only opportunity to own furniture made from trees that may
have been living in the 1300's and 1400's, before even Columbus sailed to
America. This wood virtually throbs with the life of the
dense, old-growth, hardwood jungle from which it came. Unlike most exotic hardwoods today, its re-use as
Jungletraders' furniture in no way contributes to the destruction of any
fragile ecosystems. It is estimated that in the next decade the supply of these used timbers will be exhausted. There will never be any more like them.
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Rhodesian Teak:
The rich deep red-brown heartwood of Rhodesian Teak is marked with
irregular black lines or flecks. Its mostly straight grain has a fine,
smooth texture.
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Lebombo Ironwood:
Sometimes called "Yellow Jarrah", this honey golden
colored heartwood is decoratively grained, extremely hard and durable
(many times with black streaks, and occasionally even with shades of
blue, red or orange).
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African Teak:
Color varies from pale golden brown to dark chocolate brown. Medium to
coarse texture with a grain that often produces interesting patterns.
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Panga Panga:
When freshly cut, the heartwood is a yellow-brown color, but then in a
few months it darkens to a deep brown, almost black, with alternate
layers of light and dark, forming distinctive and decorative figures.
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