Unique Sapele Pommele Prized Worldwide.

POMMELE IS THE French term for dappled and it is especially apt for describing highly figured woods like sapele, makore and bubinga when the so-called quilted or blistered looks are present.

Sapele can be plain or have ribbon-like stripes or a highly figured grain, but the term "sapele pommele" is reserved for a specific figure.

Charles Stem, president of The Wood Gallery Inc., Wood Knobs, IN, is often asked by customers to describe the look of sapele pommele. "I liken it to champagne bubbles, rising in a glass," says Stem, who used sapele pommele framed with solid mahogany for his office desktop. "Sapele pommele is one of my favorite woods. It's just a beautiful look."

Rick Banas of Interwood Forest Products Inc., Shelbyville, KY, a subsidiary of Fritz Kohl Veneer Mill, Germany, compares the look to that of a turtle shell. "You also have material with smaller eyes and swirly grain, but the most popular sapele pommele with our customers is the large turtle shell look or bigger eyes with veining."

Albert Constantine Jr. describes the look of sapele pommele as a "plum pudding and blister figure" in his book Know Your Woods.

A Step Beyond Bird's-Eye

However you describe it, sapele pommele is and has long been a popular look for fine furniture and architectural work. Stem thinks sapele pommele "takes off where bird's-eye maple quits" in the sense that sapele pommele is available in wider widths and longer lengths. "Maple trees usually have the bird's-eye figure in a log for 3 to 4 feet and then it plays out," Stem says. "With sapele pommele, you typically see good material that is uniform up to 12 feet. I have seen material that is 30 inches wide after it has been cut."

Stem says some material has the "wonderful champagne bubble look for 3 to 5 feet and then displays a big bubble, sort of like a hiccup. This affects the ability to book match the material." While some consider this a defect in grain, he adds, others appreciate and enjoy the wild character.

Banas says that heavier figured material is usually found near the outside of the tree, and notes that the figure may not penetrate through the log. "With some logs, you get yields of 200,000 square feet of pommele figure while others may only produce 2,000 square feet of pommele."

"Sapele is like many of the African species," he says, "in that each tree gives a variety of figures. For sapele, you can get figures such as mottled, block or fiddle-back or a variation of all three." Banas says he has seen pommele logs ruined because they were sliced incorrectly. The logs were cut perpendicular to the grain instead of cutting the circumference of the tree.