Tropical wood · Africa
Kamassi wood
Kamassi (Gonioma kamassi, family Apocynaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,730 lbf (12,144 N), and air-dry it weighs about 58 lb/ft³ (929 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 417–418.
Other names, by country: Cape boxwood, Kamassihout, Knysna boxwood, Kamassi boxwood (South Africa).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,730 lbf (12,144 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,730 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 58 lb/ft³ (929 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.75 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.75; air-dry density 58 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- Not printed
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 one data set, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 20,970 psi (145 MPa) | 2.54 million psi (17.5 GPa) | 10,530 psi (73 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood a uniform yellow or yellow brown, heartwood and sapwood not clearly defined. Texture exceptionally fine and even; grain straight, no figure; odor is lacking, but with a bitter taste. Fine dust may cause headaches, giddiness, skin inflammation, and asthma.
- Working properties
- Sawing satisfactory with only a moderate blunting effect, not too difficult to work with hand tools, works to an excellent finish in most operations, turns exceptionally well.
- Durability
- Reported to be durable in ground contact but also reported to be liable to staining.
- Uses
- Precision instruments, fancy turnery, engravers' work, shuttles, small tool handles.
- Where it grows
- Confined mainly to the midland coastal districts of South Africa.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 417–418, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for turning with the species picker
Weigh kamassi against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.