East Africa Trip...Wood Carvings

[cpowell]

I just returned from a 3 week business trip to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania. While in Malawi I visited a craft market dedicated to wood carvings in Salima, a village located next to Lake Malawi.

These craftsmen produce a fine product with some pretty simple tools. There is no electric power available so all is hand-tooled. The principal wood is mpingo (African blackwood).

I spent 3 1/2 hours shopping. There were around 25 different shops, with each shop belonging to one or two craftsmen. Think grass huts and dirt floors. Skill level and artistic talent varies widely between shops.

I have attached a few pics of the carvings. My photographic ability probably detracts from the beauty of the work.

Chuck

Chuck

 

[cskipper]

Those are really cool and must've been quite an experience. Thanks for sharing!

 

[DaveO]

Wow, that is some beautiful work. No Tormex, die grinders, or scroll saws, very impressive :eusa_clap :eusa_clap African Blackwood is really pretty wood similar to Ebony

African Blackwood
Latin Name: Dalbergia melanoxylon
A small tree growing to heights of 30 feet and generally diameters of less than one foot. Blackwood grows throughout East and Central Africa
Color: Heartwood is purplish-brown with black streaks. Sapwood is white.
Properties:extremely dense and hard. Density 75lb/ft3. Very fine even grain, oily, very stable.
Uses: The wood of choice for fine quality woodwind instruments such as oboes, clarinets and bagpipes.

African Blackwood is the most desirable wood for wind instruments. When air is caused to vibrate in the bore of an instrument, the less the walls of the bore absorb the sound waves inside it, the brighter and louder the sound. Blackwood, with its oil impregnated dense grain, is ideally suited for this. Further it is fine grained enough to machine like cast iron (its density is roughly equivalent) so that accurate bores and correctly placed and sized tone holes can be made. It is not subject to seasonal changes, which is critical in a musical instrument.
Working with Blackwood can be tricky because when heated by the machining process, the oil tends to glue the sawdust together in lumps on the tool, so that drills clog and so forth. When cut, Blackwood gives off a strong acrid smell like burning coffee. Like most tropical hardwoods it can provoke allergic reactions in some people.
Because of its properties, Blackwood does not need to be finished with other surface treatments but can be polished on a dry buffing wheel to a high gloss. With exposure to air the brown color fades to a uniform black.
Unfortunately, due to Blackwood's small initial size and desirability, it is becoming alarmingly scarce. This is also partially due to the high level of waste involved in the primitive African harvesting process. Many small instrument makers, for reasons of conscience as well as supply, have opted for African Ebony as a substitute for Blackwood. Ebony has roughly similar properties. There are still a few companies who direct the harvesting of Blackwood by the traditional methods. It would be a great boon to the longevity of the supply if some ecologically minded person or company would import some modern portable band saw mills into the areas where Blackwood is cut.

Dave

 

[dozer]

Chuck glad to see you made it back OK. Sounds like the craft shops were very interesting.

Dave that was a whole lot of info i didn't know. I knew that black wood was used for woodwind instruments but that was about all.

 

[DavidF]

What business are you in Chuck that takes you to Africa?

Africa is one of my all time favorite places for holidays. We have been to Kenya and south Africa a few times. Something magical that cannot be found anywhere else.

 

[Ray Martin]

With the characteristics Dave mentioned, such as the clumping of sawdust, it sounds as if this wood is more suited to hand work than power tools.

Is it as expensive as Ebony?

Ray

 

[cpowell]

David, I work in the tobacco leaf processing industry. Leaf is very important to the economies of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Ray, I believe blackwood is about as expensive as African ebony. Some of the pieces I bought are in ebony and some blackwood. The price of the carvings is quite low. I spent an average of around 3 dollars per carving. That price for a finished product is lower than buying rough stock here.

To be honest, trees are quite scarce in the areas of Malawi and Mozambique I visited...not because of exotic exports but because most of the natives rely on wood for cooking fuel and they have cut the trees down much faster than nature can replenish them. Lack of energy resources is a real bottleneck in some of these countries where most of the population struggles to meet basic survival needs.

Chuck