Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Tawa wood
Tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa, family Lauraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,405 lbf (6,250 N), and air-dry it weighs about 44 lb/ft³ (705 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 569–570.
Other names, by country: None.
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,405 lbf (6,250 N)
- Green: 990 lbf (4,404 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 990 lb for green material, 1,405 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 44 lb/ft³ (705 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.58 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.58; air-dry density 44 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to ovendry: volumetric 11.4%.”
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 | 9,690 psi (67 MPa) | 1.59 million psi (11 GPa) | 4,390 psi (30 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 15,730 psi (108 MPa) | 2.06 million psi (14.2 GPa) | 8,370 psi (58 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Pale-colored grayish-brown wood sometimes with dark brown streaks; no sharp demarcation between sapwood and heartwood. Texture moderately fine; grain usually straight; luster low; without distinctive odor or taste. Silica content of 0.14% is reported.
- Working properties
- Works satisfactorily with both hand and machine tools; has a moderate blunting effect on cutters; tends to split in nailing. Glues well.
- Durability
- Heartwood is nondurable; sapwood vulnerable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- Flooring, joinery, furniture components, plywood, cooperage, turnery, doweling.
- Where it grows
- New Zealand, native to all parts of North Island and northeast area of South Island; at altitudes from sea level to approximately 1,000 ft.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 569–570, 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 tawa against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.