PALDAO
BOTANICAL NAME: Dracontomelon dao of the family Anacardiaceae. Synonyms include Dracontomelon cumingianum, Dracontomelon edule, Dracontomelon mangiferum, Dracontomelon puberulum, and Dracontomelon sylvestre.
NOTE: about 1/5 of the time, the genus is seen spelled "Dracontomelum", which is incorrect.
COMMON NAMES: The most-used common name in the USA in addition to paldao is New Guinea walnut.
Other common names include: aduas (philippines), alauihau (philippines), batuan (philippines), bili-bili (philippines), bio (philippines), boewah raoe (celebes), chu (cambodia and laos and vietnam), dahoe (indonesia and west malaysia), dahu (indonesia and papua new guinea), dahu basar daun (borneo), damoni, dao (indonesia and papua new and daoe (indonesia and west malaysia), dar (papua new guinea), dau (indonesia), dewu (indonesia), dorea, dragonplum, gahu, guineawood (papua new guinea), habas (philippines), halauihau (philippines), hamarak (philippines), jaap (irian barat), kaili (indonesia), kamarak (philippines), kia-kia (philippines), kiakia (philippines), lamio (philippines), landawu (indonesia), laup (papua new guinea), loali (papua new guinea), loup (papua new guinea), lup (papua new guinea), lupigi (philippines), makadaag (philippines), makau (philippines), malaiyau (philippines), mamakau (philippines), matai anak (west malaysia), mengkuang (brunei and sarawak), mindoro (philippines), mon (papua new guinea), new guineawood, new-guinea-wood (irian barat), new-zealand-wood (asia), nga-bauk (burma), ngame (celebes), nieuw-guinea noten (papua new guinea), noyer de la nouvelle-guinee (papua new guinea), omamio (philippines), omanio, orau (indonesia), paldao (philippines), paldap (philippines), philippijns noten (philippines), raap (irian barat), rago (indonesia), rao (indonesia), raoe (java), rau (indonesia), raug (indonesia), sangkuang (borneo and indonesia and malaysia), sangkuwang (borneo), senai (papua new guinea), sengkawang (indonesia), sengkuang (brunei and indonesia and sabah and west malaysia), senkuang (brunei and indonesia), singkawang (indonesia), singkuang (indonesia), taw-thitkya (burma), tjingkuang (indonesia), ulandug (philippines)
TYPE: hardwood
COLOR: the wide sapwood is pale yellow, pinkish or grayish and is clearly demarcated from the heartwood which is gray-brown to red-brown, usually with a faint greenish tinge and irregular dark brown or black streaks. Reportedly the light olive green color of some of this wood, when fresh, will darken to walnut brown
GRAIN: straight to interlocked or wavy, the wood can yield crotch patterns, swirls or irregular striping, sometimes with bold black stripes.
TEXTURE: reports are all over the map. Some say coarse, some say medium, some say fine. I personally have only ever had the veneer, not planks, but I've had several different lots of veneer and my impression from the veneer is that this wood ranges from medium to fine but not coarse.
PROPERTIES / WORKABILITY: machines easily with hand tools or machinery, except for a slight blunting effect on cutting surfaces when material has interlocked grain. Timber is reported to saw well, with moderate blunting of saw teeth. Glues satisfactorily, moderately strong, nails and screws well, joins well
DURABILITY: heartwood is reported to have moderate resistance to decay, and is reported to be resistant to termites in the Philippines. The timber is reported to respond poorly to preservative treatment.
FINISH: finishes well, except for wood with interlocked grain
STABILITY: medium movement in service
BENDING: reported to be unsuitable for steam bending.
ODOR: no discernible taste or odor
SOURCES: Malaysia, Philippines, East Indies and Indochina
USES: cabinet works, flooring, Veneer, turnery, joinery, moldings, musical instruments , beams, bedroom suites, furniture and cabinetry, interior joinery and flooring, gunstocks and architectural uses such as paneling and doors
The trees usually features prominent buttresses, which are used to make specialty table tops in the Philippines.
TREE: grows to heights of 120 feet with clear, straight boles of 65 to 80 feet long and trunk diameters of 7 to 8 feet.
WEIGHT: about 46 pounds per cubic foot
DRYING: dries well but care is needed. Experts recommend a slow drying schedule to avoid warping and checking. Thin material is especially vulnerable to drying problems. Thinner stock has a tendency to warp and the material may check if drying is done too rapidly.
AVAILABILITY: moderate to low
COST:
web quotes:
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While the Philippine mahoganies are probably the best known of the exported trees from that country, paldao is prized as a veneer that is used all over the world for fine furniture.
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Ben Clift, import manager for the David R. Webb Co. Inc., of Edinburgh, IN, says his company stocks paldao at times. "It is a species that we get a call for maybe twice a year. Clients use it for architectural projects or custom furniture. The textbooks say it resembles striped walnut and zebrawood and also that it is sometimes used in place of French walnut because of the similarity in color," Clift says.
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Paldao is very similar to Australian walnut (Endiandra palmerstoni) in color and grain