Includes at least K. grandiflora, K. beccarianna, K. borneensis, K. excelsa, and K. malaccensis of the family Leguminosae
also widely spelled "kampas", this is a heavy, coarse-grained wood that is primarily used for construction and flooring. I have never encountered this wood as a veneer
my samples:
both sides of a sample plank of kempas / Koompassia malaccensis
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of kempas / Koompassia malaccensis --- note that most of this piece is sapwood. The one directly above has only a small edge of sapwood
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of kempas / Koompassia malaccensis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The slightly darker color of the labeled side is correct
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
flooring sample kindly donated by Dale Romain. This piece has been only rough sanded and you can easily see the belt-sanding scratch marks across the grain. The 2nd pic is moistened with water. Well, OK, if you want to get picky, the pic isn't moistened with water, the wood is. The moistened pic shows up an artifact that I did not see at all in the dry wood and that is the apparent presence of ray flakes. I say "apparent" because their direction relative to the grain makes them suspeciously unlike normal ray flakes but I don't know what else they could be.
end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- color is a little too dark
web pics
plank listed as kempas / Koompassia malaccensis
planks
plank with unlikely color, even if it has been moistened
flooring. This species is heavily used for flooring and there are many sites on the Internet that show it in that use.
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