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Dark Red Meranti Wood
Dark Red Meranti Wood

Dark Red Meranti Wood

Dark Red Meranti Wood

 		  
   
INTRODUCTION
The Standard Malaysian Name for the dark red and lightweight wood of the genus Shorea (Dipterocarpaceae). Vernacular names used include meranti (Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak) with various epithets, seraya (Sabah) with various epithets, nemesu (Peninsular Malaysia), nemusu (Peninsular Malaysia), seraya (Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah), obar suluk (Sabah) and also various local names too numerous to list here. Major species producing this wood include S. acuminata (partly), S. argentifolia, S. curtisii, S. ovata, S. monticola, S. pauciflora, S. platyclados and S. slootenii. The sapwood is pink with a grey tinge and is not clearly defined from the heartwood, which is medium red to deep red to deep red-brown.  
Also known as Dark Red Meranti (Brunei); Meranti ketuko, Meranti Merah and Meranti merah tua (Indonesia); Dark red Lauan, Dark Red Philippines Mahogany, Mayapis, Red lauan, Tangile and Tiaong (Philippines); and Saya and Saya-Daeng (Thailand).

DENSITY
The wood is a Light Hardwood with a density of 415-885 kg/m3 air dry.

NATURAL DURABILITY
The standard graveyard tests on untreated specimens carried out by the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) have classified dark red meranti as moderately durable with an average service life ranging from about 2.0 years (S. singkawang) to 3.9 years (S. platyclados). For the species S. curtisii, S. pauciflora, S. platyclados and S. acuminata, the heartwood is classified as moderately durable (with an average service life of 2-5 years). Similar tests on S. pauciflora at Princess Risborough (U.K.) have indicated that the wood is moderately durable with a service life of 10-15 years (under temperate conditions). The sapwood of dark red meranti is susceptible to dry-wood termite attacks, which may eventually spread to the heartwood. However, an initial invasion of the heartwood is less likely to occur. Untreated wood of S. curtisii was only slightly attacked by marine borers after eight months submergence at Port Klang (Thomas, 1933). Preliminary work done by Oliver & Woods (1957, 1959) have tentatively classified dark red meranti as resistant to such attacks.

PRESERVATIVE TREATMENT
The wood is difficult to treat with preservatives. Generally, it was found that all forms of meranti (including dark red meranti) absorb less preservative than kempas and keruing when subjected to identical treatments.  

TEXTURE
Texture is moderately coarse and even, with interlocked grain. 

STRENGTH PROPERTIES
The wood falls into Strength Group C (Engku, 1988b) or SG 5 (MS 544:Part 2:2001).

Strength Properties of Dark Red Meranti
Species Test Condition Modulus of Elasticity(MPa) Modulus of Rupture(MPa) Compression parallel to grain (MPa) Compression perpendicular to grain (MPa) Shear strength (MPa)
S. acuminata Green 10,500 54 27.4 2.41 6.3
Air dry - - - - -
S. curtisii Green 12,800 69 36.3 3.86 7.2
Air dry 13,900 90 45.4 5.03 8.0
S. pauciflora Green 12,700 71 37.7 3.45 7.5
Air dry - - - - -
S. platyclados Green 11,300 58 30.0 2.69 6.3
Air dry 12,100 77 39.6 4.14 8.7
S. singkawang Green 10,100 55 31.8 3.03 7.6
Air dry 11,200 74 38.8 2.97 8.3
  
MACHINING PROPERTIES
It is easy to saw and work and produces a smooth planed surface.

Machining Properties Dark Red Meranti
Species Test Condition Sawing Planing Boring Turning
Re-sawing Cross Cutting Ease of planing Quality of finish Ease of boring Quality of finish Ease of turning Quality of finish
S. acuminata (part only; the darker coloured varieties) Green easy easy easy smooth easy smooth - -
Air dry easy easy easy smooth easy smooth easy moderately smooth
S. curtisii Green easy easy easy smooth to slightly smooth easy smooth - -
Air dry easy easy easy moderately smooth easy smooth - -
S. pauciflora Green easy easy easy smooth easy smooth - -
Air dry easy easy easy smooth easy smooth easy smooth
S. platyclados Green very easy easy easy smooth moderately easy smooth - -
Air dry easy easy easy smooth moderately easy smooth easy smooth
S. singkawang Green easy easy easy smooth easy rough - -
Air dry easy easy easy smooth easy slightly rough easy smooth

NAILING PROPERTY
The nailing property is rated as good.

AIR DRYING
The seasoning properties of some species tested are summarised below:
Species Time to air dry (months) Remarks
13 mm thick boards 38 mm thick boards
S. curtisii 2 3 Fairly fast drying; free from seasoning defects.
S. pauciflora 2.5 4 Fairly fast drying; free from seasoning defects.
S. platyclados 2 4 Fairly fast drying; free from seasoning defects.
S. singkawang 3 5 Fairly slow drying rate; free from seasoning defects.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

KILN-DRYING
Kiln Schedule F is recommended. The wood dries rapidly without any degrade.

Kiln Schedule F 
Moisture Content (%) Temperature (Dry Bulb) Temperature (Wet Bulb) Relative Humidity (%) (approx.)  
   
� F � C � F � C    
Green 120 48.5 111 44.0 75    
60 120 48.5 109 43.0 70    
40 125 51.5 109 43.0 60    
30 130 54.5 109 43.0 50    
25 140 60.0 115 46.0 45    
20 155 68.0 124 51.0 40    
10 170 76.5 136 58.0 40    

SHRINKAGE
The shrinkage of some species tested is summarised below:
Species Shrinkage (%) (Green to air dry) Remarks
Radial Tangential
S. curtisii 2 4.1 High shrinkage
S. pauciflora 1.7 2.9 High shrinkage
S. platyclados 2.1 4.4 High shrinkage
S. singkawang 1.1 3.4 Fairly high shrinkage, especially in the tangential direction.
 
 
 
 
 

MOVEMENT IN SERVICE
The movement of seasoned wood is classified under Type I and Type II.

DEFECTS
All woods in the meranti group are liable to be attacked by shot-hole and pin-hole beetles, but the attack is usually not serious in species of dark red meranti. Although most of these attacks take place in the living trees, any delay in extraction after felling may also lead to serious damage. Spongy heart is a common defect in the red meranti group. Wood with this defect is exceptionally brittle and may result in compression failure and the corresponding reduction in strength properties. In a study of logs of dark red meranti and light red meranti from Perak state, about 30 logs of seraya (S. curtisii), over 40 logs of nemesu (S. pauciflora) and more than 100 logs of light red meranti were found to contain varying degree of spongy heart. This presence of spongy heart was less severe and also less spread in dark red meranti than in light red meranti . But large sized logs of dark red meranti (both seraya and nemesu) tend to rot away at the centre leaving a hollow core with active termite attack on the fringes (Mohd. Alwy, 1961). One prominent feature of dark red meranti is the presence of exceptionally numerous and conspicuous lines of resin canals, which may be objectional to some user. Small resin pockets are present but they are seldom numerous. One case was noted in which abnormally large horizontal resin canals in S. ovata marred the appearance of the sawn wood.

USES
The wood is suitable for joinery, furniture, high class interior finishing, flooring, decking, panelling, partitioning, mouldings, skirtings, fancy doors, door and window frames and sills, staircase (angle blocks, rough bracket and tread), plywood, railway sleepers, posts, beams, joists, rafters, pallets (expendable type), vehicle bodies (framework, floor boards and planking), ship and boat building (keels, keelsons, framework and general planking), cooling tower (non structural members) and other light constructional works.

 
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