Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Hoop-pine wood
Hoop-pine (Araucaria spp., family Araucariaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 650 lbf (2,891 N), and air-dry it weighs about 31 lb/ft³ (497 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 561–562.
Other names, by country: Pin colonnaire, Sapin de montagne (New Caledonia), Norfolk Island Pine (Norfolk Island), Bunya-bunya, Hoop Pine (Australia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 650 lbf (2,891 N)
- Green: 500 lbf (2,224 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 500 lb for green material and 650 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 31 lb/ft³ (497 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.42 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.42; air-dry density 31 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.3% tangential
- Radial 3.5%, volumetric 8.9%
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 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 7,100 psi (49 MPa) | 1.41 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 3,170 psi (22 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,000 psi (76 MPa) | 1.56 million psi (10.8 GPa) | 5,840 psi (40 MPa) |
| Green | 6,890 psi (48 MPa) | 1.41 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 3,760 psi (26 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,100 psi (90 MPa) | 1.88 million psi (13 GPa) | 7,060 psi (49 MPa) |
| Green | 6,120 psi (42 MPa) | 1.46 million psi (10.1 GPa) | 3,170 psi (22 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,100 psi (77 MPa) | 1.73 million psi (11.9 GPa) | 6,370 psi (44 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light yellowish-brown, occasionally with a pinkish tinge; not sharply demarcated from the straw-colored sapwood. Growth rings inconspicuous; lustrous; texture fine and even; grain typically straight; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The wood is easy to work with hand and machine tools; dense small knots are common and cause some torn and chipped grain in planing. Easy to nail and glue.
- Durability
- The timber is nondurable; sapwood is vulnerable to blue stain.
- Uses
- Interior joinery, boxes, flooring, veneer and plywood, light construction, furniture components, patterns, pulp and paper.
- Where it grows
- Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, and Norfolk Island. Planted as an ornamental elsewhere.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 561–562, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for furniture with the species picker
Weigh hoop-pine against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.