Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Perupok wood
Perupok (Lophopetalum spp., family Celastraceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 30–40 lb/ft³ (481–641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 675–676.
Other names, by country: Taung-yemaré (Burma), Banate, Balpale (India), Seng Sa, Song sa (Thailand), Mata ulat (Malaya), Dual, Adau (Brunei), Sang trang (Vietnam).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 30–40 lb/ft³ (481–641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.40–0.52 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.40-0.52; air-dry density 30 to 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.9% tangential
- Radial 3.5%, volumetric 9.4%
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 2 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 | 8,580 psi (59 MPa) | 1.17 million psi (8 GPa) | — |
| 12% MC | 11,500 psi (79 MPa) | — | 5,700 psi (39 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light yellow, light pinkishor brownish-gray, or brown with a purple cast, mottled with light brown on the tangential surface; sapwood not clearly differentiated. Texture fine to medium and even; grain fairly straight to. interlocked; luster medium; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Reported to be very easy to saw and work, takes a fine finish, easy to rotary peel into veneers.
- Durability
- Heartwood is vulnerable to attack by decay fungi.
- Uses
- Plywood, joinery, furniture components, light construction.
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region, North Borneo, and Indonesia.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 675–676, 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 perupok against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.