may be up to 10 cm (4 in.) wide. The texture is rather fine.
The grain is interlocked and produces narrow and uniform
striping on quarter-sawn surfaces. The wood averages about
674 kg m–3 (42 lb ft–3) at 12% moisture content, and its me-
chanical properties are in general higher than those of white
oak (Quercus alba). The wood works fairly easily with ma-
chine tools, although the interlocked grain makes it difficult
to plane. Sapele finishes and glues well. The heartwood is
rated as moderately durable and is resistant to preservative
treatment.
As lumber, sapele is used for furniture and cabinetwork,
joinery, and flooring. As veneer, it is used for decorative
plywood.
Selangan Batu
(see Balau)
Sepetir
The name sepetir applies
to species in the genus Sin‑
dora and to Pseudosindora
palustris. These species are
distributed throughout Ma-
laysia, Indochina, and the
Philippines.
The heartwood is brown
with a pink or golden tinge that darkens on exposure to air.
Dark brown or black streaks are sometimes present. The
sapwood is light gray, brown, or straw-colored. The texture
is moderately fine and even, and the grain is narrowly inter-
locked. The strength of sepetir is similar to that of shellbark
hickory (C. laciniosa), and the density of the air-dried wood
is also similar (640 to 720 kg m–3 (40 to 45 lb ft–3)). The
wood dries well but rather slowly, with a tendency to end-
split. The wood is difficult to work with hand tools and has
a rather rapid dulling effect on cutters. Gums from the wood
tend to accumulate on saw teeth, which causes additional
problems. Sepetir is rated as nondurable in ground contact
under Malaysian exposure. The heartwood is extremely
resistant to preservative treatment; however, the sapwood is
only moderately resistant.
Sepetir is a general carpentry wood that is also used for fur-
niture and cabinetwork, joinery, flooring (especially truck
flooring), plywood, and decorative veneers.
Seraya, Red and Dark Red
(see Meranti Groups)
Seraya, White
White seraya or bagtikan,
as it is called in the Philip-
pines, is a name applied to
the 14 species of Parasho‑
rea, which grow in Sabah
and the Philippines.U.S. oak (Quercus). The lumber air dries rapidly with little
or no degrade. However, material containing tension wood
is subject to warp, and the tension wood may cause fuzzy
grain as well as overheating of saws as a result of pinching.
The wood is not durable with respect to stain, decay, and
insect attack, and care must be exercised to prevent degrade
from these agents. The wood stains and finishes easily and
presents no gluing problems.
Sande is used for plywood, particleboard, fiberboard,
carpentry, light construction, furniture components, and
moulding.
Santa Maria
Santa Maria (Calophyllum
brasiliense) ranges from
the West Indies to south-
ern Mexico and southward
through Central America
into northern South
America.
The heartwood is pinkish
to brick red or rich reddish brown and marked by fine and
slightly darker striping on flat-sawn surfaces. The sapwood
is lighter in color and generally distinct from the heartwood.
The texture is medium and fairly uniform, and the grain is
generally interlocked. The heartwood is rather similar in ap-
pearance to dark red meranti (Shorea). The wood is moder-
ately easy to work, and good surfaces can be obtained when
attention is paid to machining operations. The wood aver-
ages about 608 kg m–3 (38 lb ft–3) at 12% moisture content.
Santa Maria is in the density class of sugar maple (Acer
saccharum), and its strength properties are generally simi-
lar; the hardness of sugar maple is superior to that of Santa
Maria. The heartwood is generally rated as moderately du-
rable to durable in contact with the ground, but it apparently
has no resistance against termites and marine borers.
The inherent natural durability, color, and figure on the
quarter-sawn face suggest that Santa Maria could be used
as veneer for plywood in boat construction. Other uses are
flooring, furniture, cabinetwork, millwork, and decorative
plywood.
Sapele
Sapele (Entandrophragma
cylindricum) is a large Af-
rican tree that occurs from
Sierra Leone to Angola
and eastward through the
Congo to Uganda.
The heartwood ranges in
color from that of Ameri-
can mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) to a dark reddish or
purplish brown. The lighter-colored and distinct sapwood
General Technical Report FPL–GTR– 190