Monkey Puzzle Wood Uses, Properties, Advantages, and Disadvantages

What is monkey puzzle wood?

Although it has a unique name, monkey puzzle wood can be chosen for several reasons. Monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana), also known as Chilean pine, is a wood found in Chile and Argentina.

Not only is the wood used, but the Monkey puzzle is also planted as an ornamental tree. The monkey puzzle tree is 65-115 feet tall, 3-5 feet trunk diameter.

This is a wood that has an attractive, even very attractive appearance. This wood has some good properties that make it good quality.

Monkey puzzle wood is commonly used for furniture, plywood, boats, and others.

The properties of monkey puzzle wood

The heartwood of the monkey puzzle is light brown, while the sapwood is paler. The appearance of this wood is unique, even approaching exotic with a beautiful decorative appearance.

This wood has a straight grain, a fine to medium uniform texture, and has a moderate natural luster.

However, unfortunately, this wood is not reliable in terms of durability, and we think you should choose another wood if this is considered important.

It is a softwood that is easy to work, has no characteristic odor, and its prices are in the moderately high range.

Monkey puzzle wood advantages

Easy to work: Clean monkey puzzle wood parts can be easy with machines and hand tools. However, parts with knots may become a problem and can result in tearing.

It can also result in uneven sanding. It could happen because of the density of the two regions. That’s why we hope you are more careful about this and try to work it well and correctly.

Before that, please do careful planning and use the best quality woodworking tools you can get.

The wood is that turns to glue and finishes nicely. And we hope you can make something good.

Appearance: Monkey puzzle Wood is an interesting wood, although we don’t categorize it as exotic. This wood looks beautiful with a grain pattern that is sometimes quite complicated.

One of the advantages of using this wood is that it is automatic as a decoration, no matter what you make.

However, if you want to get monkey puzzle wood with a very attractive appearance, it doesn’t seem like an easy thing to do.

You may have to spend more time and spend more money on this. But we hope it’s worth what you get.

Monkey puzzle wood Disadvantages

Moderately high price: We hope you don’t expect to get a monkey puzzle cut from its natural habitat Because international trade is very restricted.

However, you can expect monkey puzzle wood prices to be moderately high for domestic softwoods.

We thought it was quite good because some rare and unique woods are priced very high, even though they are imported.

If you want, it seems like it will be easier to buy finished goods and then remake them into the things you want. That seems like a pretty good way.

Availability: As I said earlier, the international trade for monkey puzzle wood is very restricted.

We think it’s because this species is in danger of extinction, and it is. The monkey puzzle is listed on the IUCN Red List as endangered.

That’s because this species has a natural habitat area of less than square miles. Not only that, but IUCN also estimates that the arena is highly fragmented and declining.

If you need another reason, we will mention that monkey puzzle wood is included in CITES Appendix I (it also includes finished wood products).

Bad resistance: This is one of those low-resistance woods, and we hope you don’t expect too much from it. Monkey puzzle wood is considered not durable until easily damaged in its resistance to decay.

In addition, this wood also has poor insect resistance, and we think it is not suitable for outdoor use and direct contact with the ground.

Not only that, but monkey puzzle wood is also susceptible to mold staining, making the color change.

Although it’s not essential, it seems bad enough if you want a beautiful appearance.

Monkey puzzle wood for furniture

Monkey puzzle wood is commonly used as furniture, and we also think it’s a good choice. However, this doesn’t seem like a good choice if you want large furniture for long-term use or outdoor use.

Because monkey puzzle wood has low resistance, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea for simple furniture for the room because it can make your home more beautiful.

However, we think you should buy a finished item instead of making it yourself because it seems hard to get the monkey puzzle wood unless you’re doing a remake of the finished item.

Monkey puzzle wood for plywood

This is also one of the woods that can be used as plywood, although we don’t recommend it. Monkey puzzle wood does have some good qualities, and it’s good at this.

However, it is wood with poor resistance to both decay and insect attack. It seems like it can be quite a crucial problem for plywood if you use it.

Especially if you use the plywood for the outer layer and outdoor use, we hope you think about it again and use other wood instead of monkey puzzle wood if you need plywood.

Monkey puzzle wood for paper (pulpwood)

Our sources of information say that monkey puzzles can be used as pulpwood, although we don’t recommend it.

Pulpwood uses usually requires large quantities of wood because it’s usually only done for the business. Therefore, it’s not very good for monkey puzzle wood, whose population is categorized as endangered according to the IUCN Red List.

So, we hope you think again if you want to use it for pulpwood. In addition, it’s wood with an attractive appearance that is great for decoration.

Because of that, it seems that you are better off using it for furniture or other decorative items.

Monkey puzzle wood for turned objects

We highly recommend using wood with an attractive appearance as turned objects Because it can be a beautiful decoration and has high artistic value.

So, if you have monkey puzzle wood or get the chance to work on it, we recommend turning them into turned objects. Whatever you make, we don’t care about it.

To be sure, it must be beautiful and very interesting tuned objects. The quality of the wood is also good for that and can be worked well, although it’s possible that some problems can occur and make your work more difficult.

Monkey puzzle wood for boats

The monkey puzzle wood can also be used for boats, although we still have doubts about this.

We think its poor durability is a significant drawback for monkey puzzle wood if you want to use it as a boat. However, if you want it, then go for it.

But, don’t expect the boats you make are better or equivalent to the boats made of Ash, Cedar, Mahogany, and Oak.

Because it’s unlikely that will happen, one of which is because monkey puzzle wood is softwood, moderately high price, and seems difficult to get.

Monkey puzzle wood for carving

The last use we will mention is for carving. We think this is the best option other than turned objects.

However, we don’t think you should expect too much to make curved objects in large sizes because it looks like monkey puzzle wood can be obtained in only insufficient size.

Apart from the high price, international trade is also very restricted. That’s why it seems that the only monkey puzzle wood you can get is finished goods that you can remake.

But it looks like it will be a beautiful result if it works well.