Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Indian Almond Wood wood
Indian Almond Wood (Terminalia catappa, family Combretaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 35–45 lb/ft³ (561–721 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 749–750.
Other names, by country: Ketapang (Malaya), Talisai (Sabah, Philippines), Badam (Andaman Islands).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 35–45 lb/ft³ (561–721 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.45–0.58 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.45-0.58; air-dry density 35-45 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.7% tangential
- Radial 4.5%, volumetric 10.3%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood brick red to reddish-brown, often marked with darker stripes; sapwood lighter, poorly defined. Texture medium to somewhat coarse; grain interlocked and irregular; lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Saws and machines easily but torn and fuzzy grain is common in planing, shaping, and turning. Sands to a fairly good surface.
- Durability
- Heartwood is classified as perishable and is very susceptible to dry-wood termite attack.
- Uses
- Furniture and cabinetwork, general light construction, flooring, decorative veneer. The tree produces an edible seed. 2. Desch, H. E. 1941-1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan For. Rec. 15. 2 vol.
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region extending to the Philippines, common in coastal areas; widely planted as an ornamental throughout the tropics, often becoming naturalized.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 749–750, 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 indian Almond Wood against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.