Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Ohia wood
Ohia (Metrosideros collina subsp. polymorpha, family Myrtaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,090 lbf (9,297 N), and air-dry it weighs about 57 lb/ft³ (913 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 687–688.
Other names, by country: Vuga (Fiji Islands), Anume (Samoa).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,090 lbf (9,297 N)
- Green: 1,270 lbf (5,649 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,270 lb for green material and 2,090 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 57 lb/ft³ (913 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.70 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.70; air-dry density 57 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 12.1% tangential
- Radial 6.9%, volumetric 19.1%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 10,100 psi (70 MPa) | 1.8 million psi (12.4 GPa) | 4,720 psi (33 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 18,300 psi (126 MPa) | 2.37 million psi (16.3 GPa) | 8,900 psi (61 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood reddishto purplish-brown; grading gradually into the pale brown sapwood. Texture fine to medium; grain usually interlocked; lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste. Color banding in the growth rings together with interlocked grain produces an attractive figure.
- Working properties
- The wood saws and machines with difficulty because of high density; works well (defect-free) in shaping and boring but rates poorly in planing and turning.
- Durability
- Heartwood is not resistant to attack by decay fungi; has good resistance to subterranean and dry-wood termites.
- Uses
- Strip flooring, pallets, pile-driver cushions, poles and posts, wharf fenders.
- Where it grows
- Islands of the Pacific. Most abundant of the indigenous Hawaiian trees and may form large, almost pure stands. A pioneer species that is one of the first invaders of disturbed areas.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 687–688, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh ohia against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.