Tropical wood · Africa
Podo wood
Podo (Podocarpus spp., family Podocarpaceae) is a tropical timber from Africa. Dry, its Janka hardness is 830 lbf (3,692 N), and air-dry it weighs about 32 lb/ft³ (513 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 487–488.
Other names, by country: Yellowwood (South Africa), Wiriwiri, Mse, Mushunga (Tanzania), Musenene, Sapta (Uganda).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 830 lbf (3,692 N)
- Green: 560 lbf (2,491 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 560 lb for green material and 830 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 32 lb/ft³ (513 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.43 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.43; air-dry density 32 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.1% tangential
- Radial 2.8%
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 3 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 | 6,950 psi (48 MPa) | 0.88 million psi (6.1 GPa) | 3,200 psi (22 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,900 psi (82 MPa) | 1.17 million psi (8.1 GPa) | 6,250 psi (43 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 10,230 psi (71 MPa) | 1.39 million psi (9.5 GPa) | 6,470 psi (45 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Uniform light yellowish-brown with no clear distinction between sapwood and heartwood, sometimes showing red streaks due to presence of compression wood. Texture very fine and even; grain straight; growth rings usually indistinct; resin ducts absent.
- Working properties
- Easy to work with hand and machine tools, takes an excellent finish, shapes and turns well, glues easily, easy to veneer, moderate steambending properties.
- Durability
- Heartwood has low durability and liable to termite demage as well as other insect attack.
- Uses
- General construction, joinery, millwork, furniture components, boxes and crates, food containers, utility plywood.
- Where it grows
- Species supplying commercial timber are widely distributed in the highlands of East Africa, mainly in Kenya south to Rhodesia.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 487–488, 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 podo against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.