Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Dacrydium spp. wood
Dacrydium spp. (Dacrydium spp., family Podocarpaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 785 lbf (3,492 N), and air-dry it weighs about 30–40 lb/ft³ (481–641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 605–606.
Other names, by country: Huon Pine (Australia), Sempilor (Sabah), Melor (Sarawak), Ru Bukit, Ekor Kuda (Malaya).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 785 lbf (3,492 N)
- Green: 625 lbf (2,780 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 625 lb for green material and 785 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 30–40 lb/ft³ (481–641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.40–0.52 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species 0.40 to 0.52; air-dry density 30 to 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 4.2% tangential
- Radial 3.0%, volumetric 6.2%
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 | 7,440 psi (51 MPa) | 1.22 million psi (8.4 GPa) | 3,290 psi (23 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,100 psi (77 MPa) | 1.31 million psi (9 GPa) | 5,430 psi (37 MPa) |
| Green | 6,440 psi (44 MPa) | 0.79 million psi (5.4 GPa) | 3,050 psi (21 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 8,500 psi (59 MPa) | 1.07 million psi (7.4 GPa) | 5,830 psi (40 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale yellow, yellowish-brown or reddish-brown, varying with species, irregular dark streaks in D. cupressinum; sapwood paler, not always clearly differentiated. Texture fine and even; grain straight; sometimes with resinous odor. RIMU
- Working properties
- Easy to work with hand and machine tools; turns well, and takes a good finish. Dry wood tends to split on nailing so green wood is used in framing or is prebored.
- Durability
- Not durable in ground contact.
- Uses
- Light construction, joinery, furniture components, flooring, boxes and crates, plywood.
- Where it grows
- New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Malay Archipelago, and Borneo.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 605–606, 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 dacrydium spp. against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.