Introduction

Occurs in the Johnstone River and Daintree areas of North Queensland, Malaysia, Fiji, Vietnam, Philippines, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Samoa.

Uses

Engineering: Cross arms, bridge building, piles, sleepers, posts, wharfing, mining timbers.

Construction: Framing, decking, treads, general construction.

Decorative: Furniture, especially outdoor settings and barbeque trolleys, turnery, panelling, joinery, shop fitting, cabinet making, parquet flooring, carving, veneer, counter and bench tops.

Others: Boat building especially for decking, vats, musical instruments and tool handles.

Qualities

Density: 830 kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; approximately 1.2 m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.           

Strength groups: S2 unseasoned; SD3 seasoned.                                                                         

Stress grades: F11, F14, F17, F22, (unseasoned), F14, F17, F22, F27, (seasoned), when visually stress graded in accordance with AS 2082:2000, Timber - Hardwood - Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.                     

Joint groups: J3 unseasoned; JD2 seasoned.

Shrinkage to 12% MC: 2.6% (tangential); 1.2% (radial).                                                                       

Unit shrinkage: 0.30% (tangential); 0.19% (radial). These figures apply to timber reconditioned after seasoning.

Durability above-ground: Class 1 - life expectancy over 40 years.

Durability in-ground: Class 3 - life expectancy 5 to 15 years.

Lyctine susceptibility: Untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctine borer attack.

Termite resistance: Resistant.

Preservation: Sapwood accepts preservative impregnation.

Seasoning: Kwila seasons well with kiln or air-drying, with little degrade and very little shrinkage or movement.

Hardness: Hard (rated 2 on a 6 class scale) in relation to indentation and ease of working with hand tools.

Machining: Working properties variable. Cuts cleanly but may have a blunting or gumming effect on cutting edges.   Cutting angle should be reduced to 20 degrees when planing quarter-sawn stock. Turns well.

Fixing: Kwila tends to split unless pre-bored, but holds fastenings well.

Gluing: Glues satisfactorily except with casein glues.

Finishing: It takes paint, stain and polish well, but gum bleed-through or oily patches may affect the finish.