Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Kelat wood
Kelat (Eugenia spp., family Myrtaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 915–1,480 lbf (4,070–6,583 N), and air-dry it weighs about 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 641–642.
Other names, by country: Obar (Sabah), Makaasim (Philippines), Obah (Sarawak), Jaman (India), Thabye (Burma), Dangkhao, Mao (Thailand), Yasiyasi (Fiji Islands).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 915–1,480 lbf (4,070–6,583 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 915-1,480 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.65 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies considerably with species, averaging about 0.65; air-dry density 50 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.8% tangential
- Radial 4.5%, volumetric 14.8%
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 | — | — | 6,250 psi (43 MPa) |
| 16% MC | 16,850 psi (116 MPa) | 2.55 million psi (17.6 GPa) | 8,550 psi (59 MPa) |
| Green | 11,345 psi (78 MPa) | 1.56 million psi (10.8 GPa) | 5,530 psi (38 MPa) |
| 11% MC | 13,770 psi (95 MPa) | 1.83 million psi (12.6 GPa) | 8,440 psi (58 MPa) |
| Green | 9,700 psi (67 MPa) | 1.56 million psi (10.8 GPa) | 5,000 psi (34 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,100 psi (97 MPa) | 1.82 million psi (12.5 GPa) | 7,680 psi (53 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood variable, grayish, goldenbrown, or brown with tints of pink, red, or purple; sapwood lighter in color but not well defined. Texture moderately fine and even; grain interlocked; luster low; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The timber saws and machines well and usually dresses smoothly, some roughness in turning.
- Durability
- Generally rated as moderately durable in ground contact and as moderately resistant to termite attack.
- Uses
- Fencing, domestic and industrial flooring, general construction, railroad crossties, furniture components. Bark of some species used for tanning.
- Where it grows
- Throughout the Indo-Malayan area and extending to the Western Pacific islands. A very large genus with many of the countries in this region reporting 50 to 150 species.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 641–642, 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 kelat against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.