Tropical wood · Tropical America
Mastate wood
Mastate (Poulsenia armata, family Moraceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Air-dry, it weighs about 25 lb/ft³ (400 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 249–250.
Other names, by country: Ababábite, Carnero (Mexico), Tumu (Honduras, Nicaragua), Cocuá, Mastate (Panama), Corbón, Cucúa (Colombia), Majagua (Ecuador).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- No moisture content printed
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 360 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 25 lb/ft³ (400 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.33 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.33; air-dry density 25 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.9% tangential
- Radial 3.8%
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 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 | 6,960 psi (48 MPa) | 0.97 million psi (6.7 GPa) | — |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood absent or not clearly distinguishable from the yellowish-white sapwood which becomes brownish or oatmeal on exposure. Luster rather high; texture coarse; grain straight to interlocked; without distinctive odor or taste. A silica content of 7.32% is reported.
- Working properties
- Saws wooly when green; wood difficult to plane smoothly if grain is interlocked. Dulls tools rapidly because of the very high silica content.
- Durability
- Reported to be perishable in contact with the ground.
- Uses
- General construction work (interior). Inner bark has long been used to make blankets, mats, and clothing.
- Where it grows
- From Vera Cruz, Mexico, through Central America and southward to Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 249–250, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for cabinets and trim with the species picker
Weigh mastate against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.