Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Cinnamon Wood wood
Cinnamon Wood (Cinnamomum spp., family Lauraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 26–39 lb/ft³ (416–625 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 593–594.
Other names, by country: Dalchini, Ohez, Gondhori (India), Karawé Hmanthein (Burma), Kayu (Sabah), Kaliñgag (Philippines), Kusunoki (Japan).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 26–39 lb/ft³ (416–625 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.35–0.50 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species 0.35 to 0.50; air-dry density 26 to 39 pcf.”
- Shrinkage
- Not as one figure
- As printed: “Shrinkage green to ovendry: volumetric 7.4%.”
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 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 | 10,700 psi (74 MPa) | — | 5,660 psi (39 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, olive, reddish, brownish-gray to red, reddish-brown, orange-brown, or light brown, varying with species; not sharply demarcated from sapwood in some species. Sometimes figured with dark streaks; grain straight, interlocked, or wavy; texture medium coarse to fine; more or less lustrous; often fragrant with odors of camphor, anise oil, or other scents, without distinctive taste. Amsler toughness 120 in.-lb for dry material (2-cm specimen). 593
- Working properties
- Easy to saw and works well with both hand and machine tools, finishes smoothly.
- Durability
- Variable with species; some reported to be durable in ground contact and largely immune to insect attack.
- Uses
- Cabinetwork, trunks, chests and caskets, furniture, wardrobes. Trees in this group are cultivated for cinnamon spice, natural camphor, and other aromatic oils.
- Where it grows
- The various species are widely distributed in Southeast Asia, Southern China, Formosa, Japan, and southwards to Australia. Widely planted in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 593–594, 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 cinnamon Wood against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.