Tropical wood · Africa
Mutenye wood
Mutenye (Guibourtia arnoldiana, family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Air-dry, it weighs about 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 423–424.
Other names, by country: Benge, Mbenge (Zaire).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.64 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) about 0.64; air-dry density 50 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial 4.6-5.8%; tangential 8.0-9.2%; volumetric 10.5-14.7%.”
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 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 21,400 psi (148 MPa) | 2.04 million psi (14.1 GPa) | 11,400 psi (79 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 22,300 psi (154 MPa) | 3.1 million psi (21.4 GPa) | 12,200 psi (84 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale yellowish-brown to medium brown, sometimes with a reddish tinge, with gray to almost black striping; sapwood dull gray with a yellowish cast, distinct. Texture moderately fine and fairly even; grain straight to interlocked, sometimes wavy; highly figured. Included phloem and gum pockets sometimes present. Amsler toughness 244-510 in.-lb at 12% moisture content (2-cm specimen). 423
- Working properties
- Through hard and heavy, works well with hand and machine tools, picking of interlocked grain in planing, veneers well but bolts must be preheated. Reported that silica may cause rapid dulling of cutters, but also reported to be nonsiliceous.
- Durability
- Heartwood reported to be moderately durable and moderately resistant to termite attack.
- Uses
- Turnery, flooring, furniture components, decorative veneer.
- Where it grows
- West Central Africa.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 423–424, 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 mutenye against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.