1S2 
TIMBER 
period of years. There is probably no timber so unsatis- 
factory in conversion as teak ; the heartwood is generally 
rambling, i.e., not straight, very much shaken, and often 
hollow and rotten for a considerable distance, and a large 
insect called the "bee hole-borer "plays havoc with the outer 
laj^ers. This insect is really the larva of a moth (Duoiuitus 
82^) aUied to the goat moth of Europe which is so 
destructive to the willow. Damage is also caused to the 
trees by parrots, woodpeckers, and wild animals which 
make wounds forming centres of decay. In consequence 
of these frequent defects it is not possible to run teak 
through the mill in the same way as fir or pine, each log 
having to be carefully examined by the sawyer in order 
that it may be broken up with the least amount of waste. 
The ordinary market sizes are approximately as follows : 
Squares, 12 to 30 ft. long, 9 inches to 24 inches square. 
Slabs, 6 to 24 ft. long, 9 inches to 24 inches wide, 2 
inches to 8 inches thick. 
Scantlings anything under the above. 
Teak, when fresh sawn, is light brown in colour and 
smells rather like tan. After exposure to weather it turns 
grey, but when kept under cover it turns a reddish brown 
which gets richer with age ; the wood is of an oily texture, 
and the annual rings are distinctly marked. It is mode- 
rately hard, strong, clean and straight in grain, though rather 
coarse and open, is fairly easily worked, but contains a 
metalHc substance like phosphate of lime, which blunts the 
planes. It does not split, crack, shrink, or alter its shape 
after being cut like so many other timbers, which is doubt- 
less due to the careful seasoning which the timber receives 
before it is put on to the market. Teak does not corrode 
iron with which it comes in contact, being in this respect 
superior to oak, and is much used as backing for armour 
plate in ironclads, the oil contained in the timber probably 
