Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Gangaw wood
Gangaw (Mesua ferrea, family Guttiferae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,890 lbf (12,855 N), and air-dry it weighs about 60–66 lb/ft³ (961–1,057 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 685–686.
Other names, by country: Mesua (India), Penaga (Malaya), Bosnéak (Cambodia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,890 lbf (12,855 N)
- Green: 2,190 lbf (9,742 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,190 lb for green material and 2,890 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 60–66 lb/ft³ (961–1,057 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.80–0.85 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.80-0.85; air-dry density 60-66 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 9.5% tangential
- Radial 6.0%, volumetric 15.8%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
Strength
Bending strength is the modulus of rupture (MOR); stiffness is the modulus of elasticity (MOE); crushing strength is compression parallel to the grain. The sheet collects these from published tests: it prints 3 data sets, from different tests and sources, so they can differ widely; all are shown, in the sheet's order, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 23,100 psi (159 MPa) | — | 15,200 psi (105 MPa) |
| Green | 16,585 psi (114 MPa) | 2.32 million psi (16 GPa) | 8,835 psi (61 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 24,065 psi (166 MPa) | 2.87 million psi (19.8 GPa) | 12,430 psi (86 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood dark red or deep reddish-brown; sapwood pale whitishor pinkish-brown, rather wide, sharply differentiated. Texture even and rather fine; grain straight to interlocked; somewhat lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The wood is very difficult to saw, even when green; machines moderately well, but is liable to torn grain when dressing quartered faces.
- Durability
- The timber is rated durable in ground contact and is rarely attacked by termites.
- Uses
- Railway crossties, heavy construction, boatbuilding, mine props, tool handles.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed in the forests of India and Ceylon and extending into Indonesia, Malaya, and Cambodia.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 685–686, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for outdoor work with the species picker
Weigh gangaw against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.