Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Medang wood
Medang (Litsea spp., family Lauraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 525–600 lbf (2,335–2,669 N), and air-dry it weighs about 31 lb/ft³ (497 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 673–674.
Other names, by country: Boi loi (Vietnam), Medang padang (Sarawak), Batikuling (Philippines), Ondôn (Burma), Bollywood (Australia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 525–600 lbf (2,335–2,669 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 525 to 600 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 31 lb/ft³ (497 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.40 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) variable with species, mostly about 0.40; air-dry density 31 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.0% tangential
- Radial 3.6%, volumetric 10.1%
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 5 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 | 7,370 psi (51 MPa) | 1.37 million psi (9.4 GPa) | 3,650 psi (25 MPa) |
| 16% MC | 9,250 psi (64 MPa) | 1.47 million psi (10.1 GPa) | 5,070 psi (35 MPa) |
| Green | 7,420 psi (51 MPa) | 1.37 million psi (9.4 GPa) | 3,500 psi (24 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 10,900 psi (75 MPa) | 1.7 million psi (11.7 GPa) | 5,860 psi (40 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,300 psi (99 MPa) | — | 7,650 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 very variable greenish-yellow, yellowishor olive-gray, olive brown, grayish-brown, sometimes with dark streaks; sapwood lighter in color, not distinct. Grain straight to wavy; texture fine to somewhat coarse; lustrous when first cut but becoming dull with exposure; some species scented, others with an unpleasant odor when fresh that does not persist.
- Working properties
- Very easy to work with hand and machine tools, a favored carving wood in the Philippines. Sawdust may be a skin irritant.
- Durability
- Variable with species; L. sebifera is rated as durable in India and L. polyantha as perishable.
- Uses
- Joinery, carving, patternmaking, furniture, light construction, rotary-cut veneer.
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region, extending into Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 673–674, 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 medang against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.