Azobe has a very tight interlocked grain with a strong and coarse texture. There is a thin sapwood (pink to brownish bark on the outer portion of the trunk) and a heartwood (reddish-brown to purple skin on the inner part of the trunk). Due to its strength, pressurized preservative treatment is not necessary. Azobe is resistant to natural enemies. A characteristic of large vessels is their whitish deposits (especially on the boundary between the sapwood and the heartwood), which highlight and intensify their hardness. In the world, Azobe is known to be the hardest wood for industrial purposes.