Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Andaman Padauk wood
Andaman Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides, family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,630 lbf (7,251 N), and air-dry it weighs about 48 lb/ft³ (769 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 717–718.
Other names, by country: Andaman redwood, Vermillion wood (U.S.A.).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,630 lbf (7,251 N)
- Green: 1,270 lbf (5,649 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,270 lb for green and 1,630 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 48 lb/ft³ (769 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.63 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.63; air-dry weight 48 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 4.4% tangential
- Radial 3.3%, volumetric 6.4%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
Strength
Bending strength is the modulus of rupture (MOR); stiffness is the modulus of elasticity (MOE); crushing strength is compression parallel to the grain. The sheet collects these from published tests: it prints 2 data sets, from different tests and sources, so they can differ widely; all are shown, in the sheet's order, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 12,160 psi (84 MPa) | 1.6 million psi (11 GPa) | 6,825 psi (47 MPa) |
| 8% MC | 15,210 psi (105 MPa) | 1.78 million psi (12.3 GPa) | 9,160 psi (63 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood variable, mainly a rich crimson hue or shades of red to brown, often with darker red or blackish streaks, sometimes pale red or yellowish; sapwood grayish and narrow. Texture rather coarse; grain generally interlocked; dull to lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Not difficult to saw and machine but because of interlocked grain does not dress to a smooth finish, turns well, takes a good polish.
- Durability
- The heartwood is rated as very durable and also resistant to termite attack.
- Uses
- Joinery, flooring, furniture, decorative veneers, paneling, parquet, cabinetwork.
- Where it grows
- Found only in the Andaman Islands; growing in deciduous and semimoist deciduous forests, usually on or near riverbanks.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 717–718, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for furniture with the species picker
Weigh andaman Padauk against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.