Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Chengal wood
Chengal (Balanocarpus spp., family Dipterocarpaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,130 lbf (9,475 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. 567–568.
Other names, by country: Takien-chan (Thailand), Kong, Karakong (India), Mindanao Narek, Narek (Philippines).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,130 lbf (9,475 N)
- Green: 2,085 lbf (9,275 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,085 lb for green material and 2,130 lb for dry.”
- 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 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 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 | 17,680 psi (122 MPa) | 2.63 million psi (18.1 GPa) | 10,000 psi (69 MPa) |
| 16% MC | 21,560 psi (149 MPa) | 2.84 million psi (19.6 GPa) | 10,900 psi (75 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light yellow-brown with a distinct green tinge when fresh, changing on exposure to a dark brown or dark purple-brown; sharply demarcated from the pale yellow sapwood. Luster moderate; grain usually only shallowly interlocked; texture fine and even; odor and taste not distinctive.
- Working properties
- Easy to work with both hand and machine tools but there is some tendency for saws to gum up; planes to a smooth surface and takes a very good polish.
- Durability
- Heartwood is very resistant to insect and fungal attack; but is reported as vulnerable to marine borers.
- Uses
- Heavy construction, railroad crossties, boat building, utility poles, industrial flooring, vats, casks, and tanks.
- Where it grows
- B. heimii is widely distributed in the Malay Peninsula including Thailand south of Pattani. Other species reported in India and the Philippines.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 567–568, 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 chengal against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.