Kempas
Scientific Name:
Koompassia malaccensis
Other Names and Species:
Impas
Mengris
Thongbeung
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The origin places of Kempas are from Indonesia & Malaysia. The sapwood of kempas is yellow to pale white, while the heartwood is orangish-red to reddish-brown in color upon drying. This species has an meshed, sometimes corkscrewed grain, is fairly lusterous, and is coarse in texture.
Weight:
Average weight is relatively heavy at 55 lbs./cu. ft. Specific gravity is .72, making this wood somewhat floaty.
Use:
Kempas possibly used both residentially and commercially wherever a medium reddish colored wood is desired. Flooring, mouldings, furniture and cabinets is perfectly match to this wood.
General characteristics:
Kempas is less stable than red oak and in very dry climates prostrate to shrinking. Care must be fancied properly equalize this species before installation. An Asian hardwood valued for its strength, kempas ranges in color from light pinkish-brown when freshly milled to reddish-brown and yellowish-red upon exposure to light.
Compact with superior wearing properties, kempas offers a combine of elegance, natural beauty and affordability that few flooring species could equalize. This wood can offer you good feature such as a superior multidimensional stability, moderate to high variation in color, sands, nails and finishes well. Kempas undergoes a medium degree of muting of the color range over time and a slight darkening to a medium reddish color.
Working Properties:
Kempas contains pockets of hard deposits that can provide some difficulty when sawing and can promote blunting of tools. High resistance to cutting in most machine operations. Pre-boring is suggested yet the wood holds nails well once applied. This species sands well and glues well, but does require some filling to ensure a good polish. It dresses smoothly in most applications, and finishes well.
Drying and Shrinkage:
Dries rather easily but slowly and with a low shrinkage rate. It can experience some splitting, checking and distortion due to abnormalities in the wood. Very stable in service.
Durability and Preservation:
Kempas has a natural resistance to decay. The wood is durable to fungi but susceptible to dry wood borers and termites. The timber is not durable but it is amenable to preservative treatment. Wood has a slightly acidic character and may tend to promote corrosion in metals. When exterior utilization is anticipated, the wood must be treated with preservatives.
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