Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Brush Box wood
Brush Box (Tristania spp., family Myrtaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,045–4,130 lbf (9,097–18,371 N), and air-dry it weighs about 55–70 lb/ft³ (881–1,121 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 759–760.
Other names, by country: Pelawan Pelawan (Sabah), Keruntum, Pelawan (Malaya), Selunsur, Melaban (Sarawak), Malabayabas (Philippines).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,045–4,130 lbf (9,097–18,371 N)
- Green: 1,760–2,620 lbf (7,829–11,654 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,760-2,620 lb for green material and 2,045-4,130 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 55–70 lb/ft³ (881–1,121 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.70–0.90 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) variable with species 0.70-0.90; air-dry density 55-70 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 9.5% tangential
- Radial 5.0%
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 | 17,000 psi (117 MPa) | 2.1 million psi (14.5 GPa) | 6,950 psi (48 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 26,200 psi (181 MPa) | 2.68 million psi (18.5 GPa) | 11,700 psi (81 MPa) |
| Green | 11,400 psi (79 MPa) | 1.7 million psi (11.7 GPa) | 5,650 psi (39 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,600 psi (121 MPa) | 2.22 million psi (15.3 GPa) | 9,270 psi (64 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pink-brown, gray-brown, red-brown, or dark red; sapwood pinkor red-brown, lighter than the heartwood, but not always sharply demarcated. Texture medium to fine; grain interlocked, sometimes wavy; somewhat lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Generally difficult to saw and machine because of high density, cutters may dull rapidly (silica content 0.04-0.22% but values as high as 3.4% are reported); dresses to a smooth surface; turns excellently.
- Durability
- Heartwood generally reported to be resistant to attack by decay fungi and termites.
- Uses
- Flooring, pallets, heavy construction, specialty items (pulleys, rollers, bearings, sheaves, tool handles).
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region and extending into Australia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Some species introduced to other tropical areas.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 759–760, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh brush Box against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.