Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Keledang wood
Keledang (Artocarpus spp., family Moraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,250 lbf (5,560 N), and air-dry it weighs about 32–57 lb/ft³ (513–913 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 563–564.
Other names, by country: Ainee, Lakuch (India), Antipolo, Anubing (Philippines), Beruni, Terap (Sabah), Selangking (Sarawak), Ma-hat (Thailand).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,250 lbf (5,560 N)
- Green: 1,210 lbf (5,382 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,210 lb for green material and 1,250 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 32–57 lb/ft³ (513–913 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.41–0.75 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species from 0.41 to 0.75;. air-dry density 32 to 57 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.5% tangential
- Radial 2.9%
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 3 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 | 8,300 psi (57 MPa) | 0.98 million psi (6.8 GPa) | 4,400 psi (30 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,300 psi (85 MPa) | 1.26 million psi (8.7 GPa) | 6,550 psi (45 MPa) |
| 13% MC | 13,300 psi (92 MPa) | 1.71 million psi (11.8 GPa) | 8,260 psi (57 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood yellow to brown, sometimes with an olive-green tinge, some species turning dark brown upon exposure; sapwood sharply defined in some species; texture moderately coarse to coarse; grain interlocked; moderately lustrous; without distinctive odor or taste. Vitreous silica content of up to 6.4% is reported.
- Working properties
- Some species reported to be difficult to saw and machine, others are easy to work and dress smoothly.
- Durability
- There is considerable variation in heartwood durability within and between species ranging from perishable in ground contact to highly durable.
- Uses
- Flooring, joinery, furniture and cabinetwork, musical instruments, turnery, veneer and plywood, heavy construction (under cover).
- Where it grows
- The genus is widely distributed in Indo-Malaya. The bread and jackfruits are cultivated throughout the tropics.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 563–564, 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 keledang against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.