Monkeypod displays only a moderate natural luster even when quite finely surfaced.
Monkeypod endgrain presents as diffuse and porous with the large pores in no specific arrangement. Heartwood deposits are occasionally present. The growth rings are indistinct and the rays are not usually visible without a lens.
Surprisingly for a wood of such low density and softness, Monkeypod is rated as durable to very durable in terms of its resistance to fungal rot and decay. And, Monkeypod is resistant to most insect attacks as well.
Working Characteristics
The most immediately obvious working characteristic of Monkeypod is that it is quite soft and lightweight, and yet, it is also quite strong and very structurally stable with almost no movement in use.
Monkeypod is considered quite easy to work with both machine and hand powered tools, most likely due to its extreme softness and low density. However, as is often the case with a soft and low density wood, is can be quite difficult, if not outright impossible, to achieve extremely clean cuts because Monkeypod, like most low density woods tends to leave fuzzy surfaces behind.
Monkeypod Bowl Exterior
Fuzzed or even torn surfaces are much more common when working with interlocked grain or highly figured pieces of Monkeypod. One way to overcome this problem is to work with figured Monkeypod while the wood is still green as this will greatly reduce difficulties due to tearing during machining operations, including plane operations. This is a safe and good approach with Monkeypod because the wood moves so little during drying that there is minimal risk of distortion or warping of any type as the wood dries.
Monkeypod is known to glue easily and to take a finish quite well.
Monkeypod is not reported to feature any specific odor when freshly cut or otherwise worked.
Pricing and Availability
Monkeypod is most commonly available in lumber formats as well as smaller sizes sold as craft wood while turning blanks in either bowl or spindle sizes tend to be much less common.
Prices for Monkeypod are going to be in the mid to high range for an imported wood, although if one is looking to Monkeypod as an alternative to Koa, which it resembles, then Monkeypod prices will be generally lower than those commanded by Koa.
As is essentially universal in the lumber world, Monkeypod boards or blanks that feature figured grain patterns will command much higher prices when available.
In this blog, I always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods, Bell Forest Products, NC Wood, Got Wood?, and WoodTurningz.
Of these vendors, only West Penn Hardwoods and WoodTurningz are offering any Monkeypod at this time.
Woodturningz only offers Monkeypod in pen blank size at a cost of $1.50 each.
West Penn Hardwoods offers Monkeypod in lumber formats, 4/4, for $10 per board foot, although short lengths will sell for as little as $7.99 per board foot. In addition, for the truly ambitious with deep pockets, West Penn Hardwoods sells a wide range of full Monkeypod slabs, all for multiple hundreds of dollars, or more.
Monkeypod Bowl Blanks
So, what is a wood turner to do who has his or her heart set on trying Monkeypod?
I have worked with a few other vendors in the past, several of whom offer Monkeypod. I have had varying degrees of experience with these vendors so I offer them solely as a courtesy without any implied or explicit endorsement.
Exotic Woods USA, at this time, has just one small spindle of Monkeypod, but they have sold a wide range of it in the past and may do so again.