Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Orientalwood wood
Orientalwood (Endiandra palmerstonii, family Lauraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 42 lb/ft³ (673 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 629–630.
Other names, by country: Walnut bean (Australia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 42 lb/ft³ (673 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.55 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.55; air-dry density 42 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.6% tangential
- Radial 4.5%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood varies from light or pinkish-brown to dark brown, often with pinkish, grayish-green or blackish streaks, resembles European walnut; sapwood light brown, 3-4 in. in width. Grain generally interlocked and frequently wavy giving a broken stripe figure when quartered; texture medium; without distinctive odor or taste when dry; lustrous. Silica content of 0.19-1.08% is reported.
- Working properties
- Works rather well provided cutting edges are kept sharp. Silica deposits cause rapid dulling of knives so carbide-tipped cutters should be used. Gluing is satisfactory.
- Durability
- Rated as nondurable.
- Uses
- Furniture, cabinetwork, decorative veneers, paneling, joinery and millwork, flooring.
- Where it grows
- Confined to Northern Queensland (Australia), chiefly in the coastal districts.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 629–630, 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 orientalwood against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.