Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Keranji wood
Keranji (Dialium spp., family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Green, its Janka hardness is 2,545–3,745 lbf (11,321–16,659 N), and air-dry it weighs about 60 lb/ft³ (961 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 611–612.
Other names, by country: Khleng (Thailand), Xoay, Kralanh (Cambodia), Kerandji (Indonesia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Green: 2,545–3,745 lbf (11,321–16,659 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,545 to 3,745 lb for green material.”
- Air-dry density
- 60 lb/ft³ (961 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.80 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species, about 0.80; air-dry density 60 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 15% moisture content
- 6.6% tangential
- Radial 3.7%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 27,200 psi (188 MPa) | — | 10,800 psi (74 MPa) |
| Green | 22,790 psi (157 MPa) | 2.79 million psi (19.2 GPa) | 12,860 psi (89 MPa) |
| Green | 18,700 psi (129 MPa) | 3.06 million psi (21.1 GPa) | 9,970 psi (69 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood generally golden-brown or red-brown when freshly cut but darkening on exposure, some species becoming almost black; sapwood white to yellowish-white, distinct. Texture moderately fine to somewhat coarse; grain interlocked to wavy; moderately to highly lustrous; without distinctive odor or taste; ripple marks prominent.
- Working properties
- Difficult to saw and machine because of the high density, rapid dulling of cutters, dresses smoothly.
- Durability
- Reported to be only moderately durable in ground contact. Sapwood vulnerable to powder-post beetle attack.
- Uses
- Carpenter tools, tool handles, industrial flooring, machinery parts, heavy construction. 2. Desch, H. E. 1941-1954. Manual of Malayan timbers. Malayan For. Rec. 15. 2 vol.
- Where it grows
- Malay Peninsula and extending into Indonesia as well as Sabah and Sarawak; found on flat and hilly lands but not in swamps.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 611–612, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh keranji against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.