Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Kauri wood
Kauri (Agathis spp., family Araucariaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 700–870 lbf (3,114–3,870 N), and air-dry it weighs about 30–36 lb/ft³ (481–577 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 547–548.
Other names, by country: Dakua makadre (Fiji), Kauri pine (New Zealand), Bindang (Sarawak), Menghilan (Sabah), Damar minyak (Malaya), Tolong (Brunei), Almaciga (Philippines).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 700–870 lbf (3,114–3,870 N)
- Green: 480–760 lbf (2,135–3,381 N)
- As printed: “Side hardness 480 to 760 lb for green material and 700 to 870 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 30–36 lb/ft³ (481–577 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.41–0.47 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.41 to 0.47; air-dry density 30 to 36 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.0% tangential
- Radial 4.2%
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 6 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 | 6,600 psi (46 MPa) | 1.33 million psi (9.2 GPa) | 2,840 psi (20 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,750 psi (81 MPa) | 1.65 million psi (11.4 GPa) | 5,900 psi (41 MPa) |
| Green | 7,790 psi (54 MPa) | 1.57 million psi (10.8 GPa) | 3,370 psi (23 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,070 psi (90 MPa) | 1.89 million psi (13 GPa) | 5,600 psi (39 MPa) |
| Green | 8,570 psi (59 MPa) | 1.4 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 4,040 psi (28 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 13,600 psi (94 MPa) | 1.6 million psi (11 GPa) | 6,900 psi (48 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale cream, golden-brown, to dark reddishor yellowish-brown if resinous; usually not distinct from the sapwood. Lustrous; grain mainly straight; texture fine and uniform; generally without distinctive odor or tastes (A. australis has a faint pleasant odor).
- Working properties
- The timber works easily with hand and machine tools, finishes with a clean smooth surface; good nailing and screwing properties; good veneer peeling characteristics; paints and polishes well; easy to glue.
- Durability
- Generally reported to be nondurable and vulnerable to termite attack; prone to blue stain. Heartwood of A. australis is moderately durable in ground contact.
- Uses
- Vats and tanks, patternmaking, millwork, boatbuilding, furniture. components, face veneers, shingles, pencil slats. Trees are tapped for its copal used in varnishes and lacquers (A. alba). ADDITIONAL BEADING
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed in Indo-China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and extending to New Guinea, New Zealand, and Fiji. Found from sea level to high altitudes.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 547–548, 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 kauri against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.