Ramin

• Medium to tall hardwood.
• Grows to 50m high and 1.2m diameter on good sites.
• Straight bole (trunk) and aerial roots but no true buttress.
• Bark is grey, brown, or red-brown, scaly and covered in very fine irritating hairs.
• Stems are sometimes fluted at the base.

• Species marketed as ramin occur in:
  • Malaysia
  • Indonesia
  • Philippines
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Fiji.
• Grows in coastal swamps and peat forests but can also found in low altitude rainforests.

Colour

• Sapwood not distinct from heartwood.
• Sapwood is a uniform, pale straw or cream white.

Grain

• Grain is straight or shallowly interlocked.
• Texture moderately fine to even.

• Construction: protected framing, internal flooring.
• Decorative: furniture, plywood, turnery, picture frames, mouldings and joinery, veneer, carving, panelling.
• Others: non-impact tool handles, toys, dowels, drawers.

• Density: 630kg/m³ at 12% moisture content; about 1.6m³ of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
• Strength groups: S4 unseasoned, SD4 seasoned.
• Stress grades: F7, F8, F11, F14 (unseasoned); F11, F14, F17, F22 (seasoned) when visually stress-graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
• Joint groups: JD3 seasoned.
• Shrinkage to 12% MC: 4.5% (tangential), 1.7% (radial).
• Unit shrinkage: 0.13% (tangential), 0.16% (radial)—these values apply to timber of G. macrophyllus reconditioned after seasoning.
• Durability above-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy less than 7 years).
• Durability in-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy less than 5 years).
• Lyctine susceptibility: untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctid borer attack.
• Termite resistance: not resistant.
• Preservation: relatively easy to impregnate with preservatives.
• Seasoning: seasons well but may be prone to surface checking and end splits, particularly in thicker sections; prone to sap stain fungi attack.
• Hardness: firm (rated 4 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
• Machining: easy to work to a smooth finish with hand and machine tools, although cutting edges can blunt moderately.
• Fixing: screws well, pre-drill when nailing near board ends to prevent splitting.
• Gluing: glues well.
• Finishing: painting, staining and polishing characteristics are good.

General characteristics

• Sapwood: not differentiated by colour.
• Heartwood: cream white to pale straw.
• Texture: moderately fine, uniform, generally straight grain.

Wood structure

• Vessels: solitary and radial groups up to 4 cells, medium size, uniform distribution; vessel lines visible but not prominent.
• Parenchyma (soft tissue):aliform with thin extended wings, sometimes confluent.
• Rays: fine.

Other features

• Burning splinter test: wood burns to ash.

• Bootle, K 2005, Wood in Australia: Types, properties and uses, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
• Ilic, J 1991, CSIRO atlas of hardwoods, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, Australia.
• Queensland Government, DAF 2018, Construction timbers in Queensland: Properties and specifications for satisfactory performance of construction timbers in Queensland. Class 1 and Class 10 buildings, Books 1 & 2, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane.
• Standards Australia, 2000, AS 2082-2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes, Standards Australia International, Strathfield, NSW.