Sipo - Rough Lumber

Sipo

Botanical Name: Entandrophragma utile
Other Name: Utile, Sipo Mahogany
Origin: West and Central Africa
Density: 0.63
Color: Heartwood is golden to reddish brown. Fairly well defined sapwood is a contrasting pale brown.
Uses: Fine woodworking projects such as furniture, cabinets, instruments, veneer, turned articles, and boat building

Sipo, also known as Utile, is an African wood that is considered to be the closest, aesthetically, to Genuine Mahogany (although not a true “Swietenia”). It is prone to planer tear out due to interlocked grain.

Aesthetically, the wood is similar, also, to its African first cousin, Sapele (with both being species of the Entandrophragma genus) — although Sipo is more porous, and has richer colour.