Select Language:  

logo

< Back SILKY OAK, LACEWOOD (Grevillea robusta) Print Friendly View

< Back Print Friendly View

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.

View More Information

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.

  • Wood Macro Photo Radial Plane
  • Wood Micro Photo Of Transversal Section

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.)

Please Provide Information To View Producer Information

* Or, continue as guest