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PINE (Pinus merkusii)
Trade Name
Pine
Scientific Name
Pinus merkusii Junghuhn & de Vriese
Family
PINACEAE
Common Names
Th[oo]ng-hail[as] (Vietnam); Th[oo]ngnh[uw]a (Vietnam); Kai-plueak-dam (Thailand); Son-haang-man (Thailand); Son-son-bai (Thailand); Sambali (Philippines); Tapulau (Philippines); Uyam (Indonesia); Tusam (Indonesia); Pinus (Indonesia)
Scientific Name Synonyms
Pinus sumatrana Junghuhn; Pinus merkusiana Cooling & Gaussen
Description Of The Tree
Botanical Description
A large tree up to 50(-70) m tall with a straight and cylindrical bole free of branches for 15-25 m and an average diameter of 55 cm, but occasionally up to 140 cm; bark usually thick, rough and deeply furrowed.
Natural Habitat
P. merkusii is locally common in northern Sumatra up to 2000 m altitude. It is the shouthernmost occurring pine of all pines, and the only one whose natural distribution extends into the southern hemishpere. The tree is used to shade out alang-alang grass
Natural Distribution
Eastern Myanmar, Indo-China, southern China, northern Thailand, the Philippines (Mindoro, western Luzon), Sumatra (Aceh, Tapanuli, Kerinci mountain).
Plantations Available?
Commonly planted in South-East Asia.
Non Timber Uses
-
Wood Identification
Anatomic Description Of Wood
Parenchyma absent. Rays 4-7/mm, very fine, uniseiate and fusiform rays present, approximately 10-15 cells high, ray tracheids present with one to several marginal cells occasionally interspersed, dentate; crossfield pitting single large window-like in the earlywood.
Availability
Cites Status
Unrestricted
General Wood Description
Odor
With distinctive odor or taste.
Color
Heartwood is yellowish-brown to red-brown colored; sapwood is yellowish-white to light reddish-yellow. The two are sharply defined.
Grain
Usually straight.
Texture
Moderately coarse to coarse.
Luster
Low to moderate.
Natural Durability
Fairly durable, but often prone to termites attack. The timber is also susceptible to blue-stain, Ambrossia beetles and dry-wood borers.
Natural durability index (1= Very high durability, 7=Vey low durability)
3
Internal Growth Stresses
-
Silica Content
Silica Content: o.2%.
Resistance To Impregnation
Vary from low to moderately resistant to impregnation. The sapwood more permeable than heartwood.
Wood Physical Properties
Basic Density or Specific Gravity (O.D. weight/vol. green) (g/cm³)
0.58
Air-dry Density (Weight and volume at 12%MC) (g/cm³)
0.64
Total shrinkage Tangential (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)
8.3
Total shrinkage Radial (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)
4.9
Drying Defects
Ease of Drying: 25 mm material can be seasoned satisfactorily,particularly quartersawn boards.Backsawn boards may show some minor checking .A few boards are subject to twist, ofset by stack weighting and a final steaming treatment. Where twist is not a problem,a high h Drying Defects: Kiln drying time from green to 12% m,c.is about 8～9days. Air drying to 25 % m.c, reduces this to about 3 days. When twist is a problem, stacks should be weighted and given a 3 hours final steaming treatment, otherwise a high humidity treatment should fo
Dimensional stability ratio (Total Tangential Shrinkage %/Total Radial Shrinkage %)
1.7
Wood Chemical Properties
Wood Mechanical Properties
Bending Strength (MOR),12%MC (kgf/cm²)
540
Stiffness (MOE) 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
104855
Compression parallel to fiber 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
265
Shear strength radial 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
61
Janka hardness (side) 12%MC (kgf)
250
Janka hardness (end grain) 12%MC (kgf)
276
Workability
Sawing
Low to moderately resistant to cut
Rotary Veneer Cutting
Good
Sliced Veneer
Good
Blunting Effect
-
Machining
Good
Planing
Good
Moulding
Easy
Boring
Moderate to Good.
Mortising
-
Nailing
Good.
Gluing
Good, especially after treated with a cleaning fluid.
Staining
Vary, from good to moderately good.
Coatings
Vary from moderately good to good
Steam Bending
-
Response To Hand Tools
Good
Substitute Species
-
REFERENCED USES
End Uses Summary
EXTERIOR GENERAL, poles, stakes posts, HOUSING GENERAL, boards, flooring, frames, panelling, FURNITURE AND CABINETS, common furniture, cabinets, PLYWOOD AND VENEER, faces, common veneer, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION, boats, OTHER AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, pencil, matches, particleboard, paper
Poles
- 3 - Estudo dendrologico e determinacao das caracteristicas fisicas e mecanicas do genipapo (Genipa americana)
Stake Posts
- 5 - Propriedades fisicas e mecanicas da madeira e do contraplacado de Pinus elliottii
General Housing
- 10 - Silica in Timbers
Boards
- 13 - Dry kiln schedules for commercial woods. Temperate and tropical. Section III. Latin American (Mexico, Central, and South America) Woods–Conventional Temperatures
Flooring
- 14 - Handbook of Hardwoods
Frames
- 16 - Woods of the World
Paneling
- 18 - W3TROPICOS Missouri Botanical Garden
Furniture Cabinets
- 21 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part III-Southeast Asian and Oceanian Species.
Furniture, Common
- 23 - Handbook of Hardwoods
Cabinet
- 24 - Empire Timbers
Panels, Veneers
- 25 - Directory of Timber Trade Malaysia
Faces
- 26 - Annual Review and Assessment of the World Timber Situation 1998-ITTO
Common Veneer
- 29 - Embassy of Ecuador in Japan
Shipbuilding
- 55 - Tropical Timber Atlas of Latin America
Boats
- 56 - Manual de Identificación de Especies Forestales de la Subregión Andina.
Pencils
- 67 - Maderas latinoamericanas. VIII, Calophyllum brasilense, Couratari panamensis, Dendropanax arboreum y Bombacopsis sessilis
Matches
- 71 - Proprietes physiques et mecaniques des bois tropicaux, premier supplement
Particleboard
- 80 - Estudio Integral de la Madera para Construcción
Paper
- 82 - Compilation of Data on the Mechanical Properties of Foreign woods (Part 2) Central and South America.
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