Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Queensland-maple wood
Queensland-maple (Flindersia spp., family Rutaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 725 lbf (3,225 N), and air-dry it weighs about 35 lb/ft³ (561 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 647–648.
Other names, by country: Silkwood, Maple silkwood (Australia), New Guinea silkwood (New Guinea), Australian-maple (Great Britain).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 725 lbf (3,225 N)
- Green: 635 lbf (2,825 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 635 lb for green material and 725 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 35 lb/ft³ (561 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.45 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.45; air-dry density 35 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to 12% moisture content
- 5.0% tangential
- Radial 3.5%
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 3 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 | 7,240 psi (50 MPa) | 1.33 million psi (9.2 GPa) | 3,680 psi (25 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,400 psi (85 MPa) | 1.66 million psi (11.4 GPa) | 7,180 psi (50 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,100 psi (77 MPa) | 1.48 million psi (10.2 GPa) | 6,440 psi (44 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood brownish-pink, darkening to a medium brown shade; sapwood narrow, grayish. Texture medium; grain often interlocked, sometimes wavy or curly, producing a wide range of figure; silky luster; slightly scented when freshly cut.
- Working properties
- The timber works well in most hand and machine operations, torn grain is common when planing quartered surfaces, takes a good finish, nails and glues well.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated nondurable.
- Uses
- Fine furniture and cabinetwork, decorative veneers, interior joinery, paneling, musical instruments, rifle stocks.
- Where it grows
- Northern Queensland (Australia) and extending into New Guinea.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 647–648, 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 queensland-maple against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.