Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Berangan wood
Berangan (Castanopsis spp., family Fagaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 42 lb/ft³ (673 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 583–584.
Other names, by country: Philippine chestnut (Philippines), Indian chestnut (India), Thitè (Burma).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 42 lb/ft³ (673 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.50 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species but mostly 0.50; air-dry density 42 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- Not printed
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 one data set, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 10,570 psi (73 MPa) | 1.29 million psi (8.9 GPa) | 5,755 psi (40 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light yellowish-brown, grayish-brown, or dark brown, varying with species; sapwood yellowish, light brown, sometimes sharply demarcated. Texture mostly rather coarse; grain fairly straight to interlocked; may be lustrous when first cut; without distinctive odor or taste when dry.
- Working properties
- Mostly reported as easy to work and saw; takes a good finish; easy to split.
- Durability
- Susceptible to attack by decay fungi and termites. Sapwood vulnerable to powder-post beetles.
- Uses
- General construction work under cover, furniture components, some species are used for shingles.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed, from India into Upper Burma, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 583–584, 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 berangan against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.