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SILKY OAK, LACEWOOD (Grevillea robusta)
Trade Name
Silky oak, Lacewood
Scientific Name
Grevillea robusta A. Cunn. ex R. Br.
Family
PROTEACEAE
Common Names
Traxibafn (Vietnam); Ngaan hoa (Vietnam); Son india (Thailand); Khadaw hmi (Myanmar); Salamandar (Indonesia); Silky oak; Grevillea; Lacewood (United States of America)
Description Of The Tree
Botanical Description
It is a small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall. The bole is straight, branchless for up to 15 m, up to 80 cm in diameter, usually without buttresses.
Natural Habitat
Grevillea robusta generally occurs in dry savanna forests up to 1,800 m of altitude.
Natural Distribution
It is native to eastern Australia.
Plantations Available?
This species is widely planted in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. Extensively planted as a shade tree for coffee and tea plantations and as an ornamental.
Wood Identification
Anatomic Description Of Wood
Tyloses common. Vessels per mm2 5 to 20. Intervessel pits scalariform. Vessel-ray pits reticulate and/or foraminate. Multiple perforation plates. Axial parenchyma in marginal or in seemingly marginal bands. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty and/or vasicentric. Over 9 cells per parenchyma strand. Axial parenchyma in narrow bands on lines up to 3 cells wide. 4 to 10 rays per mm (medium). Oil and/or mucilage cells associated with the axial and/or ray parenchyma (idioblasts). Body ray cells procumbent with mostly 2 to 4 rows of upright and/or square marginal cells (Kribs-II). Fibers with simple to minutely bordered pits.
Availability
Cites Status
Unrestricted
General Wood Description
Color
The sapwood is cream. The heartwood is pink or light red when freshly cut, turning yellow-brown to red-brown on drying.
COLOR INDEX (1=Black, 7=Light yellow,white)
5
Grain
The grain is straight or wavy.
Texture
Texture is usually medium to coarse.
Luster
The wood surface is lustrous.
Natural Durability
Timber of this species is liable to marine borers, pinhole borers and termite attack.
Natural durability index (1= Very high durability, 7=Vey low durability)
6
Resistance To Impregnation
The sapwood is permeable, but the heartwood is moderately resistant to impregnation.
Wood Physical Properties
Basic Density or Specific Gravity (O.D. weight/vol. green) (g/cm³)
0.56
Air-dry Density (Weight and volume at 12%MC) (g/cm³)
0.61
Total shrinkage Tangential (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)
9.6
Total shrinkage Radial (Saturated to 0%MC) (%)
3.2
Drying Defects
Ease of Drying: Seasoning is reported to be good. Drying Defects: Risk of little checking and warping.
Recommended Dry Kiln Schedule
UK-C; US-T3-C2
Dimensional stability ratio (Total Tangential Shrinkage %/Total Radial Shrinkage %)
3.0
Wood Chemical Properties
Wood Mechanical Properties
Bending Strength (MOR),12%MC (kgf/cm²)
790
Stiffness (MOE) 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
107000
Compression parallel to fiber 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
460
Shear strength radial 12%MC (kgf/cm²)
117
Janka hardness (side) 12%MC (kgf)
378
Workability
Sawing
The response of this wood in sawing is easy to fair. Green wood saws easily but it may gum up the saw-blades.
Rotary Veneer Cutting
This timber is reported to be suitable for lamination.
Sliced Veneer
This timber is reported to be suitable for lamination.
Machining
It is easy to machine.
Planing
A cutting angle of 10 degrees is required to obtain a good finish on quarter-sawn faces.
Turning
30
Response To Hand Tools
The wood responds well to hand tools.
REFERENCED USES
End Uses Summary
HOUSING GENERAL, boards, flooring, parquet, panelling, FURNITURE AND CABINETS, cabinets, PLYWOOD AND VENEER, Decorative veneer, TURNING, BENDING, TOOLS, agricultural tools, PACKING, CONTAINERS, truck bodies, truck flooring, NAVAL CONSTRUCTION, OTHER AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, handicrafts
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
Parquet
- 15 - Empire Timbers
Paneling
- 18 - W3TROPICOS Missouri Botanical Garden
Furniture Cabinets
- 21 - Tropical timbers of the world. Part III-Southeast Asian and Oceanian Species.
Cabinet
- 24 - Empire Timbers
Panels, Veneers
- 25 - Directory of Timber Trade Malaysia
Decorative veneer
- 28 - Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forest of Fiji
Turning
- 30 - Embassy of Honduras in Japan
Bending
- 35 - Embassy of Myanmar in Japan
Tools
- 42 - Utilización Industrial de Nuevas Especies Forestales en el Perú.
Agricultural Tools
- 44 - Atlas of Peruvian Woods
Packing
- 45 - Recopilación y Análisis de Estudios Tecnológicos de Maderas Peruanas
Truck Body
- 53 - Timbers of the New World
Truck Flooring
- 54 - Bulletin of the Government Forest Experiment Station N.157: Identification of Tropical Woods
Shipbuilding
- 55 - Tropical Timber Atlas of Latin America
Handcraft
- 66 - Maderas latinoamericanas. VII. Caracteristicas anatomicas. propiedades fisicomecanicas, de secado, y tratabilidad de la madera juvenil de Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav. Oken.)
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