Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Tasmanian-myrtle wood
Tasmanian-myrtle (Nothofagus spp., family Fagaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,325 lbf (5,894 N), and air-dry it weighs about 33–45 lb/ft³ (529–721 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 693–694.
Other names, by country: Myrtle Beech, Tasmanian Beech (Australia), Mountain Beech, Silver Beech (New Zealand).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,325 lbf (5,894 N)
- Green: 1,000 lbf (4,448 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,000 lb for green material and 1,325 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 33–45 lb/ft³ (529–721 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.43–0.58 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species 0.43-0.58; air-dry density 33-45 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to air dry for Silver Beech: radial 3.1%; tangential 5.7%; volumetric 9.3%.”
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 6 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 | 10,300 psi (71 MPa) | 1.68 million psi (11.6 GPa) | 4,780 psi (33 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 15,700 psi (108 MPa) | 1.97 million psi (13.6 GPa) | 8,170 psi (56 MPa) |
| Green | 7,000 psi (48 MPa) | 1.13 million psi (7.8 GPa) | 3,200 psi (22 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,500 psi (79 MPa) | 1.48 million psi (10.2 GPa) | 5,500 psi (38 MPa) |
| Green | 8,000 psi (55 MPa) | 1.38 million psi (9.5 GPa) | 3,600 psi (25 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 15,500 psi (107 MPa) | 2.04 million psi (14.1 GPa) | 7,800 psi (54 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pink or reddish-brown; sapwood paler, narrow, separated from the heartwood by a zone intermediate in color. Texture fine and uniform; grain generally straight, sometimes interlocked, wavy, or curly; lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The timber can be worked readily in most hand and machine operations, excellent turnery; good steam bending properties; takes a satisfactory finish.
- Durability
- Heartwood is classified as nondurable; species with well-defined dark colored heartwood, though, are rated as durable in New Zealand. Sapwood is liable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- Furniture components, turnery, flooring, plywood, food containers, patternmaking, carving, joinery, brush and broom handles, pulp and paper, dowels.
- Where it grows
- Southernmost part of Victoria and reaching over to Tasmania (Australia) and extending to New Zealand with principal production resources in the West Coast and Southland regions of South Island.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 693–694, 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 tasmanian-myrtle against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.