Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Punah wood
Punah (Tetramerista glabra, family Tetrameristicaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Air-dry, it weighs about 45 lb/ft³ (721 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 757–758.
Other names, by country: Punak (Indonesia), Entuyut (Sarawak and Brunei), Tuyot (Sabah).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- No moisture content printed
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 910 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 45 lb/ft³ (721 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.61 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.61; air-dry density 45 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 10.7% tangential
- Radial 6.1%, volumetric 17.3%
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 one data set, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 9,690 psi (67 MPa) | 1.86 million psi (12.8 GPa) | 4,570 psi (32 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood straw-colored or light brown, sometimes tinged with pink: sapwood lighter in color, not clearly differentiated. Texture moderately coarse; grain generally straight; luster low; timber has a waxy feel; has an unpleasant odor when fresh, but this does not persist.
- Working properties
- The timber saws and machines fairly well; finish after planing tends to be fibrous and requires considerable sanding; tends to split in nailing.
- Durability
- Rated as moderately durable in Malaysia but generally considered as unsuitable for use in ground contact; prone to sap stain.
- Uses
- General construction, joinery, flooring, furniture components.
- Where it grows
- Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra; found in coastal swamp forests.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 757–758, 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 punah against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.