Friday fun…. We’ve been feeding a few Panga Panga slabs through our surfacer to freshen them up a bit and bring out their remarkable figure.
Panga Panga (Millettia stuhlmannii) grows across East Africa, particularly Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, and is nearly identical to Wenge (Millettia laurentii). It has been praised for having wonderful tonal qualities, which some luthiers have been bold enough to compare with Brazilian Rosewood! We won’t be drawn into that debate, but we do particularly love the timber for its rich dark chocolate brown colour and the partridge feather figure of its grain pattern.
Because the timber is open grained, it does benefit from some filling before finishing, and many believe a wax finish is the best way to show off it charms to maximum effect.
We have a number of these slabs, typically measuring 500-600mm wide, 3.5 -4m long and 80mm thick, making them absolutely perfect for an imposing bar counter or rustic bench. Until they find their ultimate use we just feel incredibly privileged to have them around. There are now two of them on display in our showroom in Epping so please do take a look next time you pass though. We do also have sawn Panga Panga and Wenge in a range of sizes should you be inspired to use the timber in other ways.
