Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
East Indian Satinwood wood
East Indian Satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia, family Rutaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,600 lbf (11,565 N), and air-dry it weighs about 61 lb/ft³ (977 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 589–590.
Other names, by country: Satinwood, Billu, Mashwal, Mududad (India), Ceylon Satinwood (Ceylon).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,600 lbf (11,565 N)
- Green: 1,840 lbf (8,185 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,840 lb for green material and 2,600 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 61 lb/ft³ (977 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.80 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.80; air-dry density 61 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.1% tangential
- Radial 5.5%
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 | 12,615 psi (87 MPa) | 1.65 million psi (11.4 GPa) | 6,520 psi (45 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 16,500 psi (114 MPa) | 2.02 million psi (13.9 GPa) | 10,030 psi (69 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 or golden-yellow not distinctly demarcated from the sapwood. Texture fine and even; highly lustrous; grain narrowly interlocked, often with attractive mottle figure; fragrant but without characteristic taste.
- Working properties
- Difficult to work with hand and machine tools, torn grain common when planing quartersawn surfaces; finishes cleanly; turns very well; takes a fine polish.
- Durability
- The heartwood is rated as extremely durable; sapwood vulnerable to attack by borers and termites.
- Uses
- Decorative veneers, furniture and cabinetwork, turnery, interior joinery, specialty items.
- Where it grows
- Central and southern India and Ceylon.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 589–590, 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 east Indian Satinwood against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.