Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Nyatoh wood
Nyatoh (Palaquium spp., family Sapotaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 840–1,195 lbf (3,737–5,316 N), and air-dry it weighs about 38–45 lb/ft³ (609–721 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 697–698.
Other names, by country: Bauvudi (Fiji Islands), Nato (Philippines), Njatuh (Indonesia), Jangkar (Sarawak). This is a commercial grouping of species that weigh mostly 38-45 pcf air-dry.
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 840–1,195 lbf (3,737–5,316 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 840-1,195 lb for air-dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 38–45 lb/ft³ (609–721 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.50–0.60 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies considerably with species but commercial grouping is mostly 0.50-0.60; air-dry density 38-45 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to air dry: radial 1.3-3.0%; tangential 2.3-4.0%.”
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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14% MC | 14,445 psi (100 MPa) | 1.97 million psi (13.5 GPa) | 7,625 psi (53 MPa) |
| 17% MC | 10,050 psi (69 MPa) | 1.48 million psi (10.2 GPa) | 4,040 psi (28 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood varies from pale pink to red-brown or purple-brown; sapwood lighter in color, not sharply defined. Grain straight to shallowly interlocked; texture moderately fine, even; has a sour smell when freshly milled; sometimes shows an attractive moire or "watered silk" figure.
- Working properties
- Nonsiliceous species saw easily and dress to a smooth surface, there is some gum buildup on cutters. Species with silica are extremely abrasive and are difficult to saw with standard mill equipment.
- Durability
- Generally rated as nondurable and has a low resistance to termite attack. Sapwood liable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- Furniture, interior joinery, plywood, a general utility wood. The bark is laticiferous and some species are worked to produce gutta-percha.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Western Pacific Islands.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 697–698, 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 nyatoh against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.