KOTO

koto TIMBER USES

The tropical timber koto is mainly used in interior fittings. It is a light and soft wood, easy to work, which is used among other things to make household objects such as knife handles.

It can be used to make the following products:

Structures and panels

• Lightweight structures
• Plywood, inside face and outside face
• Sliced veneer

Carpentry and interior fittings

• Doors and door frames
• Moulding
• Interior panelling and cladding
• Layout and furnishings

Miscellaneous uses

• Turnery, cutlery and brushmaking
• Packing and crating

Where to buy koto timber?

DISTRIBUTION AREA OF koto

The exotic species koto is found in a distribution area from West Africa (Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria) to Central Africa (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, DRC).

ECOLOGY and Biology of koto

The African species koto is a deciduous, non-gregarious species that grows in semi-deciduous forests. Its winged seeds are dispersed by the wind.

DESCRIPTION OF koto TIMBER

• Color: creamy white
• Sapwood: not demarcated
• Texture: medium
• Grain: straight or interlocked
• Interlocked grain: slight

koto: PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

Read the Tropix sheet of koto (CIRAD).

koto: NATURAL DURABILITY AND TREATABILITY

• Funghi: class 5 - not durable
• Dry wood borers: susceptible - sapwood not or slightly demarcated (risk in all the wood)
• Termites : class S - susceptible
• Treatability: class 1 - easily permeable
• Use class ensured by natural durability: class 1 - inside (no dampness)
• Species covering the use class 5: No

PROCESSING OF kotibe TIMBER

Read the Tropix sheet of koto (CIRAD).

Sources :

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