Tropical wood · Africa
Mtambara wood
Mtambara (Cephalosphaera usambarensis, family Myristicaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 740 lbf (3,292 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. 367–368.
Other names, by country: Mtambao (Tanzania).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 740 lbf (3,292 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 740 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 37 lb/ft³ (593 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.48 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.48; air-dry density 37 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 6.5% tangential
- Radial 3.0%
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 | 13,500 psi (93 MPa) | 2.45 million psi (16.9 GPa) | 6,430 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 and sapwood not differentiated, light reddish-brown. Texture medium; grain usually straight; without figure.
- Working properties
- Exceptionally easy to work with hand and machine tools and dresses to a good finish, nails easily and glues well, easy to peel into veneers.
- Durability
- The wood is vulnerable to attack by stain and decay fungi, liable to ambrosia beetle attack if extraction after felling is delayed.
- Uses
- Construction, joinery, furniture, boxes and crates, plywood, a general all-purpose utility wood.
- Where it grows
- Occurs in isolated patches in evergreen rain forests of Tanzania, on steep mountain slopes at altitudes of 3,000-4,000 ft.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 367–368, 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 mtambara against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.