Bakau |
The timber is very hard and very heavy with a density of 630-1170kgm¯³ air dry. The sapwood is in various shades of light yellow-brown, light brown, light red-brown or light pink-brown and is difficult to distinguish to moderately distinct from the heartwood, which is grey-brown, yellow-brown, red-brown or purple-brown and usually darkens on exposure and becomes more red. Texture is fine and even, with fairly straight and usually interlocked grain. The timber is very strong (Strength group A). It is easy to slightly difficult to resaw and cross-cut. Planing is easy to slightly difficult and planed surface is smooth. The timber reported to be difficult to season, being liable to check and end-split. Shrinkage is very high especially in the tangential direction, with radial shiringkage averaging 1.4% and tangential shringkage 5.1%. The durabality of the timber varies with species, e.g. Rhizophora apiculata (Bakau minyak), Bruguiera gymborrhiza (Tumu merah) and B. sexangula (Tumu putih) as classified as moderately durable whereas Bruguiera parviflora (Lenggadai) is classified as non-durable.
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