standard name: keruing

Botanical Name

Family

Distribution

Found abundantly in low-lying undulating land and also the hill dipterocarp forests. A few species are also found in semi-swampy regions.

General Description

Sapwood is well-defined and grey-brown in colour. Heartwood is red-brown or purple-red weathering to a dark red-brown.

Grain is straight to deeply interlocked.

Texture is moderately coarse to coarse and even.

Vessels are moderately large or very large with simple perforations, few or moderately few, exclusively solitary, evenly distributed but often with a tendency to arrangement in short oblique lines. Tyloses are abundant in some species.

Wood parenchyma is both apotracheal and paratracheal; apotracheal parenchyma as scattered or confluent patches containing vertical resin canals and in some species with diffuse strands or short tangential lines independent of resin canals; paratracheal parenchyma very sparse and as incomplete borders to the vessels but not always distinct with a hand lens

Rays are of two distinct sizes, medium-sized rays distinct to the naked eye.

Vertical canals are as large or larger than the vessels in some species. Arrangement diffuse or in short tangential lines containing 2 to 7 canals in a series or very rarely in continuous tangential series.

Physical Property

Mechanical Properties

Durability

Moderately durable

Treatability

Average

Working Properties

Planing: Easy to slightly difficult, Finish: Smooth to moderately smooth

Boring: Easy to slightly difficult, Finish: Smooth to fairly smooth

Turning: Slightly difficult, Finish: Rough

Nailing: Very poor

Uses

Suitable for heavy and general building construction, bridges, harbour works, railway sleepers, transmission posts, framework of wagons and wagon flooring, container flooring and truck bodywork.

source from Malaysian Timber Council