Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Terminalia tomentosa complex wood
Terminalia tomentosa complex (Terminalia tomentosa complex, family Combretaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,100–2,340 lbf (9,341–10,409 N), and air-dry it weighs about 54 lb/ft³ (865 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 753–754.
Other names, by country: Taukkyan (Burma), Sadar, Matti, Asan, Marda (India).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,100–2,340 lbf (9,341–10,409 N)
- Green: 1,505–1,850 lbf (6,695–8,229 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,505-1,850 lb for green material and 2,100-2,340 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 54 lb/ft³ (865 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.73 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.73; air-dry density 54 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.4% tangential
- Radial 4.8%, volumetric 13.2%
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 | 11,290 psi (78 MPa) | 1.66 million psi (11.4 GPa) | 5,590 psi (39 MPa) |
| 13% MC | 15,380 psi (106 MPa) | 1.91 million psi (13.2 GPa) | 8,275 psi (57 MPa) |
| Green | 10,710 psi (74 MPa) | 1.5 million psi (10.3 GPa) | 5,360 psi (37 MPa) |
| 9% MC | 12,870 psi (89 MPa) | 1.68 million psi (11.6 GPa) | 7,910 psi (55 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood varying from light brown with few markings to dark brown or brownish-black and figured with darker streaks; sapwood reddish-white, sharply differentiated. Grain fairly straight; texture coarse; dull to somewhat lustrous; without characteristic odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Rather difficult to work with hand tools if grain is irregular, machines well, a good turnery wood, reported to be difficult to glue and nail.
- Durability
- Only moderately durable, sapwood liable to powderpost beetle attack.
- Uses
- Furniture, cabinetwork, joinery, paneling, specialty items, boatbuilding, railroad crossties (treated), decorative veneers.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed in India and Burma.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 753–754, 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 terminalia tomentosa complex against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.