Mesquite's Physical and Mechanical Properties

Many of mesquite wood's physical and mechanical properties equal, if not surpass those of most commonly used hardwoods. One of Mesquites fines characteristics is its extremely high dimensional stability. It is also one of the hardest and most durable of all native American woods. These and the many other great characteristics is what lends Mesquite to so many diverse applications such as: beautiful hardwood flooring, doors, mantles, cabinets, find furniture, and much more.

The graphs following compare Mesquite's physical and mechanical properties to other find hardwoods commonly used in flooring, furniture and other fine woodworking applications.

Flooring                                                                 
Note that one of the most important properties of a hardwood, especially in flooring applications, is the stability and hardness the wood possesses, and as the graph shows, Mesquite is around four times more stable and two times as hard as Red Oak, which is the most common hardwood flooring used today.

The stability of Mesquite tells us that when used in a flooring application it will be less susceptible to warping, splitting, swelling and other damages caused from a change in moisture content. The extreme hardness of Mesquite implies that as a flooring material it will be durable and wear resistant.

Mesquite's physical and mechanical properties clearly prove its vitality as a superior hardwood.

Relative Hardness of Selected Wood Species    

pounds per sq. inch

The relative hardness of a material is determined by the Janka hardness test which measures the force required to embed a 0.444-inch steel ball to half its diameter in the selected material. It is one of the best measurements of the ability of a wood species to withstand denting and wear.

Movement and Stability Comparisons of  Selected Wood Species                             

dimensional change coefficient

The numbers in the chart reflect the dimensional change coefficient for the various species, measured as tangential shrinkage or swelling within normal moisture content limits of 6-15 percent.

The dimensional change coefficient can be used to calculate expected shrinkage or swelling. Simply multiply the change in moisture content by the change coefficient, then multiply the width of the board.

In actual practice, however, change would be diminished in a complete floor, as the boards' proximity to each other tends to restrain movement.