Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Putat Paya wood
Putat Paya (Planchonia spp., family Lecythidaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,310–1,400 lbf (5,827–6,228 N), and air-dry it weighs about 48 lb/ft³ (769 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 709–710.
Other names, by country: Lamog (Philippines).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,310–1,400 lbf (5,827–6,228 N)
- Green: 1,050–1,300 lbf (4,671–5,783 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,050-1,300 lb for green material and 1,310-1,400 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 48 lb/ft³ (769 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.59 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.59; air-dry density 48 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 8.0% 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
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 4 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 | 9,300 psi (64 MPa) | 1.24 million psi (8.5 GPa) | 4,300 psi (30 MPa) |
| 13% MC | 13,800 psi (95 MPa) | 1.54 million psi (10.6 GPa) | 7,650 psi (53 MPa) |
| Green | 9,010 psi (62 MPa) | 1.63 million psi (11.2 GPa) | 4,970 psi (34 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 15,100 psi (104 MPa) | 1.9 million psi (13.1 GPa) | 7,700 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 light to dark red-brown with darker, almost purplish zones in some material; sapwood paler and sharply defined. Texture moderately fine and even; grain fairly straight to irregular and interlocked; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Rather easy to saw and machines well in all operations; predrilling prior to nailing is recommended; takes a fine polish.
- Durability
- Heartwood decay resistance is reported as variable and likely to be nondurable in service.
- Uses
- Generally used for rough temporary construction work, suggested for flooring and furniture components.
- Where it grows
- Indo-Malayan region and western Pacific Islands; quite common in seasonally flooded areas of Sabah.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 709–710, 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 putat Paya against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.