Millettia stuhlmannii of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family
Panga panga, which is an African wood, is often sold in the US as partridgewood, but that name is more appropriately applied to a South American wood, Andira inermis. Previously I had listed all of the woods on this page as partridgewood, but I have come to understand my error, which I believe arose partly because partridgewood IS another common name for Millettia stuhlmannii but to avoid confusion, knowledgeable vendors reprsent Millettia stuhlmannii as panga panga and use partridgewood for Andira inermis.
There is an obvious similarity of appearance between wenge and panga panga, and I have created a small page to discuss the differences, to the extent that one can see diferences. It is here: wenge vs panga panga. It should also be noted that the botanical designation Millettia stuhlmannii is sometimes used (incorrectly, I believe) for wenge, which is really Millettia laurentii.
my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions
both sides of a sample plank of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The somewhat reddish color on this piece is correct. Some of my own samples have had this shade and some have not (more blackish or dark brown)
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The labeled side is raw and thus has a slightly fuzzy look but the 2nd side is sanded down to 240 grit and is thus darker and shows the face grain details better. I note that the vendor has the Genus as Milletia, but that is wrong.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of the sapwood of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The golden yellow color is correct.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This piece is mostly sapwood and the golden yellow color is correct.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides and end grain of the piece Keith contributed. You can't tell it at all from these pics, but the surface in the 2nd pic has been sanded with 100-grit on the left side and fine-sanded with 220 grit on the right side. In reality, the right side shows up as clearly darker and shinier than the left side --- this is a dense wood and takes a high natural gloss when fine sanded. You can kind of get a hint of this by virtue of the flashbulb reflection cutting off abruptly in the middle where the sanding changes. Both levels of enlargement are given. In the pic directly below, I put the camera at an angle and you can see just a little better what I'm talking about.
angled shot showing the two sides with different levels of sanding
end grain closeups of both ends of the plank directly above --- color is slightly too dark
a face grain closeup of the piece directly above, in an area that emphasizes the similarity to wenge --- note, however, that a similarly figured area of a wenge plank would likely be 3 to 5 times bigger than this. This wood has a SIMILAR grain to wenge, but much tighter.
two edge grain closeups of the piece directly above
Ross Ward, who also sent along a pic of a table he built from the wood (see below) generously donated these samples, and he did have the name as panga pange. Thanks Ross.
Both sides of a small end-grain section cut from a plank. If you compare this to the web pic of end grain on the wenge site, you'll see a very close similarity. Both of these pics have faint red tinge in them that is not in the wood --- see the closeup below for a more correct color.
closeup of the piece directly above
All of the following pics are of the same piece and all have both levels of enlargement so you can REALLY see the grain pattern up close
a flat cut side and the same side moistened (but shown inverted relative to the dry shot)
a quartersawn side and the same side moistened (but shown inverted relative to the dry shot)
the other flat cut side
end grain and a moistened pic in the same orientation
face grain and side grain enlargements of the piece directly above
two planks and a small cut-off secton of another one. The upper plank is rift cut and the lower one is flat cut. The first pic shows the freshly sanded face of each and the second pic shows the side with an untouched patina (except for the small strip on the bottom which I did not turn over for the 2nd pic). If you click on each and then put the two pages side by side, you'll see that there is a substantial lightening of the color when the sanding takes off the patina.
end grain of the two planks
end grain closeups of the two planks directly above
a set of planks with reddish patina
plank with a reddish patina
plank and closeup
4 planks; the two upper are noticibly lighter in color and also noticibly lighter in weight than the two lower.
3 planks --- the middle one is like the lower 2 in the pic directly above and the two on each side of it are like the upper two in the pic directly above.
plank
plank and end grain --- notice how much darker this piece is than the one below; both are shown with accurate color. This piece is also noticibly heavier than the one below.
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above
plank and end grain --- the much lighter color of this piece is entirely accurate
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of panga panga / Millettia stuhlmannii --- HUGE enlargements are present.
four planks, with the upper two being of the somewhat heavier and darker variety
4 planks
plank
web pics:
planks
both sides of a slab --- I believe these pics were sent to me in an email but I have lost all track of it.
plank listed as partridgewood, but which I'm sure is Millettia stuhlmannii, not Andira inermis, and which appears to have been bleached.
LATER NOTEI was mistaken; this is just sapwood and the golden yellow color is correct. I now have a couple of sapwood samples up in my own samples.
FALSE COLOR the actual color on these pices is shown above in the "my samples" section. This vendor is good to deal with but often does very poor photography.
several planks from the vendor from whom I bought most of my panga panga (which he sells as partridgewood)
turning sticks
scales
pen blanks
knife handle
a table made by Ross Ward, who uses the correct name (panga panga) for the wood despite my trying, incorrectly, to convince him it should be called partridgewood.
the apparent dark streak on the left side is an effect of the REST of the table having gotten extra light reflected off of a glass picture frame on the wall next to the table. I assume that the darker color of the table (relative to the samples Ross sent) is due to a finishing agent, although it could be due to the distance of the camera and Ross's not having done color correction. The table is about 10" wide and 22" long
two sections of panga panga, on either side of a piece of padauk, on a laminated bowl. The grain hardly shows up, even on the pic on the left which is fresh off the lathe and particularly not in the pic on the right which is after a coat of natural stain. Both levels of enlargement are available and the grain can be seen pretty clearly in the 2nd enlargement, particularly in the left-hand pic. The base of the bowl is walnut
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