HARDWOOD RECORD 



Some Important Foreign Woods. 



Teak. 



Teclona giandis. 

 Teak, ' ' the oak of the Indian forests, ' ' 

 resembles that wood in some particulars, al- 

 though it has a more uniform structure and 

 is not so heavy. A cubic foot weighs ap- 

 proximately fifty pounds seasoned. The wood 

 known as African teak, Oldfieldia africana. 

 is of another family and is marketed both as 

 African mahogany and as African oak. Teak, 

 iu the accepted meaning, refers to the East 



SPECIMEN FOREST GROWTH OF TEAK. 



Indian wood, which is native to Burma, Siam, 

 Ceylon and Java. 



Teak is moderately hard and very strong 

 and durable. The pores secrete an oil which 

 repels the attacks of borers and preserves 

 metal fixtures. This secretion gives a dull 

 finish to the wood and renders it cool and pe- 

 culiar to the touch. The grain is even and 

 remarkably straight, and the wood is smooth 

 and easily worked — characteristics that pe- 

 culiarly fit it for carving. Many restaurants 

 and other public buildings are furnished 

 •with elaborately carved imported tables, 



ARTICLE II. 



chairs and cabinets of this handsome wood. 

 For ship-building teak is one of the very fin- 

 est materials that can be had, as it is also 

 for railroad sleepers, timbers, etc., although 

 in this country it is chiefly known in its 

 ornamental capacity. It does not alter its 

 shape when seasoned, and seems almost im- 

 perishable in many climates. Thus it com- 

 bines the highest excellence in decorative 

 qualities with all the attributes necessary to 

 the stoutest and most durable construction 

 work. 



The wood has a strong aromatic odor; it 

 liurns well, with a vigorous, large flame and 

 noisy crackling. Its color varies with dif- 

 ferent trees, and according to its location, 

 from very dark brown to almost yellow. The 

 Slam wood is generally conceded to be the 

 lightest. 



Teak trees are found either composing 

 the great bulk of the forest, enveloped and 

 iuterlaced by clinging tropical vines, or 

 singly, along rivers. They require much 

 moisture, although they do not thrive on land 

 which is overflowed, or which is generally 

 (lamp. 



In its early life the tree shoots up rapidly, 

 liut it is not mature for felling until about 

 lifty years old. Its maximum height is said 

 to be 230 feet. The trunk is slender, seldom 

 reaching a diameter of more than two and 

 ;i half feet at the age of eighty years, or 

 possibly three feet when past the century 

 mark. 



Logs over forty feet in length are rare. 

 A small proportion of a Javanese shipment, 

 fur instance, will run from sixteen to thirty 

 foet. However, the majority measure from 

 tiu feet or less up to sixteen or eighteen. 



Depths and widths of rough hewn logs run 

 from ten to thirty-six inches, with an aver- 

 age of only about fifteen inches. The very 

 short lengths are not shipped out but are 

 used as sleepers or for furniture in native 

 markets. 



Before felling teak trees are girdled. This 

 cif course causes them to die, but if not prac- 

 ticed the tree does not receive its full quota 

 iii strength and resistance to the elements, 

 as the process seems to facilitate secretion 

 of the natural oil, to which it owes no small 

 proportion of these qualities. 



In Burma teak is being scientifically lum- 

 bered and replaced, and in India and Java 

 it is being planted extensively according to 

 approved afforestation methods, but in Siam 

 the plan of the government seems to be to 

 get as much out of its forests as possible, 

 with the least expenditure, so that within a 

 few years that country will be out of the teak 

 market, unless this policy is altered. All 

 the good territory in Siam is already held 

 by foreign concessionaires — large English, 

 Danish and French companies, and in Java 

 and Burma conditions are similar. Teak is 

 the second most valuable export of Siam, 



so that the country 's wasteful policy in re- 

 gard to it is extraordinary. 



It is said that from 1902 to 1905 six Ger- 

 man shipbuilding concerns used about 200,000 

 cubic feet of teak, while one ear concern an- 

 nually uses about 70,000. At Wilhelmshafen 

 teak has lately brought as high as $2 a cubic 

 foot. 



Methods of lumbering and transportation, 

 as practiced in Siam, are interesting. The 

 trees are dragged from the forest to the 

 nearest stream and slowly floated down to a 

 port or mill for export. The banks of the 

 river at Rangoon, for instance, are strewn 

 with these logs, many of which have been a 

 dozen years or more in reaching destination 

 from the time they were felled. They are 

 bound into large rafts, and upon the rafts 

 many woodsmen build their huts, living lu 

 them sometimes for years, steering and watch- 

 ing them until they reach port. Once ar- 

 rived at the sawmill they are squared oflf and 

 sent on to the quays, where they are neatly 

 piled by trained elephants. It is an c.\ceed- 



FOMAHE AND FUUIT OP TEAK. 



ingly interesting spectacle for a foreigner to 

 see the huge animals patiently and cleverly 

 balancing each great timber between tusks 

 and trunk, and placing it evenly on ft 

 growing piles. When a log is too hi: 

 they turn it end by end until it is pla.r 

 at the proper angle on the pile. Sometimes 

 they push the logs along, at the same time 

 dragging other pieces by traces. A fully- 

 grown elephant, untrained, is valued at ali" 

 $2,500, and though they are not trained inr 

 about twenty-five years old, and are cxtrcin. 

 delicate in some respects, so that the nior 

 tality of a herd is great, they are of such 

 value in their work that one of the groat 

 timber companies of Burma employs mi 

 than 2,000 of them in various parts of • 

 country, breeding and purchasing them <■<•• 

 tinually. 



The Dutch government is pursuing a most 

 admirable policy with regard to the forests 

 of Java, particularly the immense tracts of 

 virgin teak growth which occupy the heart 

 of the island, and also towards the other 

 v.iluable tropical timbers wliii-h abound lln r. 



