Mango Wood (Mangifera indica): Properties, Density & Uses

What mango is

Mango is the timber of Mangifera indica, the same tree grown across the tropics for its fruit. It sits in the family Anacardiaceae, alongside cashew and sumac.1 Because the tree is planted first and foremost for fruit, almost all of the wood reaching sawmills is a by-product: orchard trees are felled once they pass their productive fruiting life, and the trunk that would otherwise be burnt is milled instead.2 That gives mango an unusual profile among tropical hardwoods — it is a genuine medium-density timber that arrives as a reclaimed, low-impact material rather than the output of forest logging.

Where it grows

The species is native to a belt running from north-eastern India and Bangladesh through Myanmar into mainland South-East Asia.1 Centuries of cultivation have carried it into virtually every warm-climate country, so mango timber turns up wherever orchards are established.4 The tree is a large evergreen, commonly 24–30 m (80–100 ft) tall with a broad crown and a trunk of about 0.6–1.2 m (2–4 ft) in diameter; some sources cite a wider 10–45 m span reflecting the difference between open orchard trees and forest-grown stems.3

Appearance and grain

The heartwood is typically a golden to pinkish brown, often streaked with pink, grey and near-black.2 A spalted, figured look is common: mango takes fungal staining readily, and the resulting dark lines are prized for decorative furniture and turning. The sapwood is paler and wide. Grain runs straight to interlocked, giving occasional ribbon figure on quartered faces, with a medium-to-coarse but even texture, a moderate natural lustre and no characteristic odour once dry.2

Weight, density and strength

Air-dried, mango weighs about 675 kg/m³ (42 lb/ft³) at 12% moisture, with published figures spread across roughly 650–720 kg/m³ because it is a variable orchard-grown timber.2 Its specific gravity is 0.52 basic and 0.68 at 12% moisture. Strength backs up the weight: a modulus of rupture near 88.5 MPa (12,830 lbf/in²), an elastic modulus around 11.5 GPa (1,672,000 lbf/in²) and a Janka hardness of 1,070 lbf (4,760 N).2 That makes it markedly denser, harder and stiffer than a light peeler such as okoume. Movement in service is moderate — radial shrinkage about 3.6%, tangential about 5.5%, a T/R ratio near 1.5 — so the wood is reasonably stable once properly seasoned.

Working, gluing and finishing

Mango works readily with both hand and machine tools and planes cleanly where the grain is straight; nailing, screwing and gluing are all good.3 Two things cause trouble. Interlocked or wild grain tears out on planing and moulding, so sharp tooling and a slightly reduced cutter angle help. And because the wood carries a high silica content, it blunts cutting edges faster than its density alone would lead you to expect.2 It turns and polishes well, stains and finishes without fuss, but must be dried carefully — rushed seasoning invites fungal discolouration and some distortion.2

Durability and treatment

This is mango's main limitation. Rated moderately durable to perishable depending on the source, the wood has little reliable resistance to decay and is readily attacked by fungi, dry-wood borers and termites when left untreated in exposed or damp conditions.3 It does take preservative treatment reasonably well.2 The practical conclusion is straightforward: keep mango to interior, dry or treated applications, and do not rely on it in outdoor or wet service.

Sustainability and legality

Mango carries a favourable sustainability story. Its IUCN Red List status is Data Deficient (2021) — a reflection of limited formal population data rather than any known threat — and it is not listed on CITES.5 As a pantropical cultivated fruit tree it faces no supply pressure as a timber, and orchard-sourced wood is effectively a reclaimed by-product, which makes harvesting it environmentally benign in most cases.2

How Cochin Wood uses mango

At Cochin Wood Industries we treat mango as one of our staple packing hardwoods: an abundant, affordable Indian species that is well suited to pallet decking and the structural members of packing cases and crates. Its medium density and honest strength give the load-bearing stiffness a pallet or export case needs, while the fact that it comes from spent orchard trees keeps it cost-effective for volume packaging. Because mango is not naturally durable, we use it where it belongs — in dry, interior or treated packing service rather than long-term outdoor exposure — and pair it with our own plywood in boxes and crates engineered for the goods being shipped. If you are sourcing packing-grade hardwood or a complete crating solution, mango is one of the timbers we draw on. See the full species library for how it compares.