Tropical wood · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Toon wood
Toon (Cedrela spp., family Meliaceae) is a tropical timber from Southeast Asia and Oceania. Dry, its Janka hardness is 550–1,035 lbf (2,447–4,604 N), and air-dry it weighs about 32 lb/ft³ (513 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 587–588.
Other names, by country: Toon (India), Thitkado (Burma), Youhom (Thailand), Soeren (Indonesia), Epi, Kapere (Papua-New Guinea).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 550–1,035 lbf (2,447–4,604 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness ranges from 550 lb to 1,035 lb for dry material.”
- Air-dry density
- 32 lb/ft³ (513 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.42 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) averaging about 0.42; air-dry density 32 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.3% tangential
- Radial 3.8%, volumetric 10.8%
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 | 8,290 psi (57 MPa) | 1.25 million psi (8.6 GPa) | 4,290 psi (30 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 11,895 psi (82 MPa) | 1.55 million psi (10.7 GPa) | 6,485 psi (45 MPa) |
| Green | 5,700 psi (39 MPa) | 1.01 million psi (7 GPa) | 2,790 psi (19 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 10,600 psi (73 MPa) | 1.3 million psi (9 GPa) | 3,480 psi (24 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light brick-red when first exposed aging to a rich reddish-brown; sapwood pinkish, grayish-white, or yellow-brown, rather sharply defined. Texture rather coarse and uneven; lustrous; grain generally straight to somewhat interlocked; fragrant cedary odor, pronounced when fresh, characteristic acrid taste.
- Working properties
- The timber works well though there is some gumming of cutters, dresses smoothly; easy to nail, screw, and glue.
- Durability
- Heartwood is moderately durable but vulnerable to termite and borer attack.
- Uses
- Joinery, furniture and cabinetwork, decorative veneers, racing boats, musical instruments, and patternmaking.
- Where it grows
- India and Burma as well as scattered in evergreen and moist mixed deciduous forests throughout Southeast Asia including Australia.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 587–588, 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 toon against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.