Malayan hardwoods kapur and keladan

LzAPUR, a medium commercial R.hardwood available from Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo, comes from both the Dryobalanops aromatica and, Dryobalanops oblongifolia. Technically the wood from D. oblongifolia is keladan, but for the export trade both woods are considered kapur.

The wood is an excellent mediumheavy construction timber, suitable for posts, beams, rafters, door and window frames, flooring, stair treads and stringers, keels and framework of boats and floor boards. It is readily available in the United States with no difficulty in obtaining supplies or consignments for exports.

The timber can be sawn easily. If it has been airdried it has good machining properties. Resawing, crosscutting, planing, boring and turning are easily done. The finish surfaces are moderately smooth in planing, smooth in boring and moderately smooth in turning. The wood has little resistance to splitting when nailed.

When wet the timber can be sawn and planed without difficulty although saw teeth often become gummed up with resin. When the wood is seasoned, silica can cause a slight dulling of sharp-edge tools.

Although not resistant to termite attack, the wood is naturally resistant to fungal attack. Tests have shown that D. aromatica in the same grade as teak, jarrah and greenhart is moderately durable and D. oblongifolia is not durable. Both are rarely susceptible to powder-post beetle attack, but are often attacked by the pin hole borer. The wood cannot be easily treated with preservatives because the heartwood is resistant to penetration by liquids. The classification for treating is "difficult."

Care must be taken in drying kapur. Because shrinkage is comparatively high, there is a tendency in the early stages of drying for surface checking and splitting. The shrinkage of narrow boards from green to airdry is 290 to 2.5v/o radially and about 590 tangentially. It takes approximately two months to dry Vz" boards and about twice that time for 2Vz" to 3" planks. Schedule E is recommended for kiln dryrng.

The average weight of kapur is

Story at a Glance

Two woods lrom same genus considered as one forexport good machining properties drieswell with care... useful for framing, floors, boat keels.

about 50 lb. per cu. ft. at l5o/o moisture. The grain in the true kapur is normally a shallow interlock while the grain in keladan is markedly interlocked. The texture of kapur is coarse but even, with clearly distinguishable pink tinged, light yellow brown sapwood.

Heartwood varies from a light redbrown to deep red which darkens on exposure to a red brown. Freshly cut kapur has a strong odor of camphor which disappears in a short time. When wet the timber becomes black in contact with iron or steel. Although this is not considered a defect because in damp locations the appearance of timber rarely matters.

There are no growth rings, but the effect of growth ring boundaries is produced by more or less continuous layers of parenchyma containing intercellular canals. The vessels are medium to moderately large, evenly distributed and rarely grouped although once in a while two or three vessels will be found in a group. Normally the vessels are blocked with tyloses. Rays are moderately fine to medium size. Parenchyma is usually found in the tangential layers containing the intercellular canals in paratracheal form. Occasionally it is found in narrow metatracheal layers. Ripple marks are often distinct.

The timber is considered to be potentially acceptable for plywood manufacturers.

All In The Family

(Continued from page 32) warehouse and a 60'x 84'office and showroom with a 3Vz acre yard area spilling over to property across the street. Employees number 20 including the family.

Plans are in the works for further remodeling and additions, according to the elder DeCou. He says "I know the children will be fully involved in that."

"We're excited about both the new growth in Atascadero and the fact we serve both the builder and the do-ityourselfers," Jay comments.

An Ace Hardware affiliate, the business has the capability of serving both contractors and do-it-yourselfers with a complete line of building materials. In addition to lumber, they stock pre-finished wall panels, doors, aluminum windows, roofing, brick and cement blocks. Plumbing, electrical supplies and paint also are available as well as hardware, hand and power tools. The store has a lawn and garden department, but no nursery.

With a business mix pegged at60s/o contractor/4090 d-i-y, DeCou offers delivery service, but no installation at present.

The family is flexible in management of the business and ready to adapt to the growth and needs of Atascadero which is in the throes of developing from a small town with most businesses (including DeCou Lumber Co.) located on the main street, El Camino Real.

You can expect that as the area grows, DeCou Lumber Co. also will grow. A branch store or two as the demand warrants is not out of the question, according to Jay.

When sending in a change of address please include zip code on both old and new addrbsses and either the old label or the inlbrmation from it. Thanks!

Vinyl Tile Samples

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Hedging on Benefits

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Wood Finishing Guide

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Alder Ego

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