Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Totara wood
Totara (Podocarpus spp., family Podocarpaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 450–860 lbf (2,002–3,825 N), and air-dry it weighs about 25–40 lb/ft³ (400–641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 711–712.
Other names, by country: Malaalmaciga, Dilang butiki (Philippines), Totara, Miro, Matai (New Zealand), Setada (Malaya), Rempayan (Sabah), Landin (Sarawak), Paya (Thailand), Djamudju (Indonesia), Amunu (Fiji).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 450–860 lbf (2,002–3,825 N)
- Green: 445–580 lbf (1,979–2,580 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 445-580 lb for green material and 450-860 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 25–40 lb/ft³ (400–641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.33–0.52 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species 0.33-0.52; air-dry density 25-40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.7% tangential
- Radial 3.3%, volumetric 10.4%
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 4 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 | 6,370 psi (44 MPa) | 1.22 million psi (8.4 GPa) | 3,070 psi (21 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 9,360 psi (65 MPa) | 1.38 million psi (9.5 GPa) | 5,850 psi (40 MPa) |
| Green | 8,855 psi (61 MPa) | 1.34 million psi (9.2 GPa) | 4,535 psi (31 MPa) |
| 14% MC | 10,390 psi (72 MPa) | 1.52 million psi (10.4 GPa) | 7,030 psi (48 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pinkish-, yellowish-, or orange-brown; sapwood whitish, often not differentiated. Texture fine and even; grain straight; lustrous, sometimes becoming dull with age; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Works readily in all hand and machine operations.
- Durability
- Variable from nondurable to durable.
- Uses
- Joinery, millwork, tanks and vats, light construction, flooring, veneers, furniture components, general carpentry, carving.
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region, New Zealand, New Guinea, Borneo, and extending to the Fiji Islands.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 711–712, 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 totara against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.