Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Kedondong wood
Kedondong (Canarium spp., family Burseraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 26–40 lb/ft³ (416–641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 581–582.
Other names, by country: Dhup, White Dhup (India), Kedondong (Malaya), Merdongdong (Indonesia), Pagsahingin (Philippines), Kaunicina-Kaunigai (Fiji Islands).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 26–40 lb/ft³ (416–641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.35–0.52 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species, mostly 0.35 to 0.52; air-dry density 26 to 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.6% tangential
- Radial 5.1%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 8,610 psi (59 MPa) | — | 4,280 psi (30 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood usually pink or light brown, sometimes with yellow streaks, or reddish-brown; sapwood lighter and often not clearly demarcated. Texture fine to moderately coarse; grain rather straight to shallowly interlocked; lustrous; without distinctive odor or taste. Silica content up to 1.68% is reported.
- Working properties
- Generally easy to work but varies with species because of density range and presence or absence of silica.
- Durability
- Heartwood perishable and is readily attacked by termites. Sapwood is very susceptible to powder-post beetle infestation.
- Uses
- Veneer and plywood, light construction (under cover), furniture components, joinery, boxes, and crates.
- Where it grows
- Throughout southeastern Asia and reaching northward to Taiwan.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 581–582, 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 kedondong against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.