Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Bishopwood wood
Bishopwood (Bischofia javanica, family Euphorbiaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,370 lbf (6,094 N), and air-dry it weighs about 34–54 lb/ft³ (545–865 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 571–572.
Other names, by country: Gintungan, Paniala (India), Aukkyu, Ye-Padauk (Burma), Nhoi (Vietnam), Term (Thailand), Tuai (Philippines), Koka (Fiji).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,370 lbf (6,094 N)
- Green: 915 lbf (4,070 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 915 lb for green material and 1,370 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 34–54 lb/ft³ (545–865 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.45–0.71 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) ranges from 0.45 to 0.71, averaging about 0.56; air-dry density 34 to 54 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 9.8% tangential
- Radial 4.4%
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 4 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 | 6,920 psi (48 MPa) | 0.86 million psi (5.9 GPa) | 3,610 psi (25 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 16,000 psi (110 MPa) | 1.63 million psi (11.2 GPa) | 7,130 psi (49 MPa) |
| Green | 6,970 psi (48 MPa) | 1.26 million psi (8.7 GPa) | 3,370 psi (23 MPa) |
| 10% MC | 14,190 psi (98 MPa) | 1.69 million psi (11.7 GPa) | 8,560 psi (59 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood purple-red-brown, darkening to a much deeper shade on exposure; sapwood light cream-colored to reddish-brown, rather distinct from the heartwood. Texture moderately fine to rather coarse; grain interlocked; slightly lustrous; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Machining characteristics are rated as good, works to a smooth finish.
- Durability
- Heartwood moderately durable; but ratings vary from perishable in the Philippines to durable in the Fiji Islands.
- Uses
- General construction (protected from the weather), flooring, furniture components. Good quality Kraft and soda pulps were prepared from this wood.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed Indo-Malayan species extending into the Philippines, Korea, and Polynesia. Common along streams at low and medium altitudes.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 571–572, 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 bishopwood against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.