Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Burma Lancewood wood
Burma Lancewood (Homalium spp., family Flacourtiaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,850–2,690 lbf (8,229–11,966 N), and air-dry it weighs about 58 lb/ft³ (929 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 661–662.
Other names, by country: Myauk-chaw, Myaukugo (Burma), Puyot, Aranga (Philippines), Petaling padang, Selimbar (Malaya).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,850–2,690 lbf (8,229–11,966 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,850 to 2,690 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 58 lb/ft³ (929 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.76 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.76; air-dry density 58 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 15% moisture content
- 2.4% tangential
- Radial 1.1%
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 3 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 | 13,190 psi (91 MPa) | 1.89 million psi (13 GPa) | 6,880 psi (47 MPa) |
| 9% MC | 19,165 psi (132 MPa) | 2.2 million psi (15.2 GPa) | 10,050 psi (69 MPa) |
| 13% MC | 15,200 psi (105 MPa) | 2.26 million psi (15.6 GPa) | 6,030 psi (42 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood reddish-brown, grayish-brown, or yellow-brown, sapwood and heartwood not clearly differentiated. Luster low; grain usually straight, sometimes slightly to deeply interlocked; texture fine and even; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Rather high cutting forces are needed to saw and machine this wood because of the high density, otherwise works well and takes a smooth finish, excellent for turnery.
- Durability
- Generally reported to be durable to moderately durable and fairly resistant to termite attack.
- Uses
- Turnery, flooring, interior and exterior construction, furniture components, tool handles.
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region, extending into the Philippines, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Common throughout Burma.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 661–662, 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 burma Lancewood against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.