Another Monkey Puzzle thread

monthehoops

You wait all your life for a monkey puzzle thread and then two come along at once...

In our garden a large, mature monkey puzzle keeled over due to the storms. This thing is 40-50 years old so I'm guessing it's fully matured. I'm just wondering would it be a good wood to make a front door out of? I would get a local guy to plank it, dry it out and then have a carpenter make a front door & frame out of it. The tree has a little bit of sentimental value so I'd prefer to make something out of it rather than sell it.

kadman

http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Araucaria+araucana

http://www.edenproject.com/visit-us/whats-here/plant-a-z/monkey-puzzle

Common uses

The monkey puzzle was first used extensively to make railway sleepers for access to the coal fields, steel works, paper mills and ceramics industries that built up around Concepción, the port at the industrial heart of Chile. Later the timber was used for general carpentry, ladders, skis, piano interiors, oars, rulers and even aeroplanes. In the UK, the monkey puzzle became an archetypal Victorian park tree

http://www.tranquilityhouses.com/lifestyle/timber/information/hardness.php

So choose your floor timber; look after it and enjoy it.

Tranquility Hardness factor Species English Species Latin Tranquility Hardness Rating

Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus 97
Beech (spalted) Fagus sylvatica 97
Turkey Oak Quercus cerris 96
Horse Chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum 95
Yew Taxus baccata 94
Monkey Puzzle Araucaria araucana 94
Hornbeam Carpinus betulus 93
Red Oak Quercus rubra 91
Ash Fraxinus excelsior 91
Oak Quercus robur 89
Larch Larix decidua 89
Juniper Juniperus communis 89
Caucasian Fir Abies nordmanniana 89
Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa 88
Cherry Prunus avium 88
Poplar Populus nigra ‘Italica’ 87
Horse Chestnut – Birr Aesculus hippocastanum 85
Douglas Fir Pseudotsuga menziesii 83
Blue Cedar Cedrus atlantica glauca 78
Nootka Cypress Xanthocyparis nootkatensis 70
Western Red Cedar Thuja plicata 40

According to this info, it has a better hardness rating than oak and larch, cant be bad.

monthehoops

Thanks kadman, I'm not sure what a lot of that means but I think it means it'll make a fine door

monthehoops

I rang a sawmill just there to ask if they'd plank the monkey puzzle. The guy there asked what I wanted to use it for and I explained I wanted to make an external door from it. He said it's not suitable for that as it's one of the softest woods around.

kadman

monthehoops wrote: »

I rang a sawmill just there to ask if they'd plank the monkey puzzle. The guy there asked what I wanted to use it for and I explained I wanted to make an external door from it. He said it's not suitable for that as it's one of the softest woods around.

Well according to specs,

http://eol.org/pages/1034857/overview
Wood density 0.52 g/cm^3

It has the same airdry density as mahogany AIR DRY DENSITY (g/cm3): 0.50

http://www.maderasyproyectos.com/woods.html.

So he is not correct in his description of being the softest wood around.





I am having trouble finding spec on the durability at the moment, but I,ll keep you posted.

kadman

http://globaltrees.org/threatened-trees/trees/monkey-puzzle/

The species is of great historical and social importance. Piñones are edible and form an important food source for the indigenous Pehuenche people of central south of Chile. Monkey puzzle wood has a high mechanical resistance and moderate resistance to fungal decay. It has been used for beams in buildings, bridges, piers, roofs, furniture, boat structures, veneers and plywood.

Well it appears its a good structural timber with moderate resistance to fungal decay. But it has been widely used for construction of buildings as well as boats. So now you know.

The Glass Key

I've cleared a few wind blown Monkey Puzzle trees and found them surprisingly soft, they seem to grow too fast in Ireland that might be part of the problem. The main trunk cuts up very easily with a chainsaw about the same as the softest softwoods.

On the other hand its the sort of wood that should suck up loads of preservative which could make it very long lived in use.

kadman

The Glass Key wrote: »

I've cleared a few wind blown Monkey Puzzle trees and found them surprisingly soft, they seem to grow too fast in Ireland that might be part of the problem. The main trunk cuts up very easily with a chainsaw about the same as the softest softwoods.

On the other hand its the sort of wood that should suck up loads of preservative which could make it very long lived in use.

Well, with that hands on expert opinion, I would use it only internally .:)