Tropical wood · Tropical America
Mahot wood
Mahot (Couratari spp., family Lecythidaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 880 lbf (3,914 N), and air-dry it weighs about 37 lb/ft³ (593 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 103–104.
Other names, by country: Congolo-Garapelo (Panama), Tabarí, Tauarí (Venezuela), Coco Cabuyo (Colombia), Ingiepipa (Surinam), Tauary (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 880 lbf (3,914 N)
- Green: 740 lbf (3,292 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 880 lb at 12% moisture content and 740 lb for green material.”
- Air-dry density
- 37 lb/ft³ (593 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.50 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.50; air-dry density 37 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.3% tangential
- Radial 4.1%, volumetric 11.3%
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 4 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 | 9,240 psi (64 MPa) | 1.73 million psi (11.9 GPa) | 4,260 psi (29 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,520 psi (93 MPa) | 1.8 million psi (12.4 GPa) | 7,460 psi (51 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,200 psi (119 MPa) | — | 8,650 psi (60 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 14,200 psi (98 MPa) | 1.73 million psi (11.9 GPa) | 7,600 psi (52 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Sapwood not distinct from the heartwood which is cream colored with a pinkish or yellowish tinge. Luster rather low to high; grain straight or uniformly interlocked; texture medium to coarse; luster high; odor and taste usually lacking, odor reported as fetid in some species. Silica to 0.8% reported.
- Working properties
- The wood is rated fair to good in all machining operations. High silica content in some species requires specially tipped cutters.
- Durability
- Considerable variability of heartwood resistance to decay fungi is reported, from durable to nondurable. Some species show fair resistance to marine borer attack.
- Uses
- General interior construction and carpentry work, boxes and crates, furniture components, veneer and plywood, and railroad crossties (treated).
- Where it grows
- Several commercial species extending from Costa Rica and Panama southward to the Guianas and Brazilian Amazon.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 103–104, 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 mahot against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.