Sifat Dasar dan Sifat Pengeringan Tiga Jenis Kayu Kurang Dikenal Asal Hutan Alam Papua

Abstract

One of serious problems which is commonly complained in wood industries is wood drying process because of long time and frequent deformation and checks. So, wood drying is an imperative process in wood industries. Indonesia has about 4 000 wood species, but only a few of these woods are well known in their properties and uses. Wood drying property is influenced by physical and anatomy properties of different woods. The objective of this research was to reveal the physical properties, anatomy and drying properties of three lesser known wood species from natural forests in Papua, namely briya hatam (Rhustaitensis guild) pala hutan (Gymnacranthera paniculata), and ketapang (Terminalia complanata) with respective families comprising Myristicaceae, Anacardiaceae and Combretaceae. These basic properties and drying property were beneficial direction on determining their uses. The physical properties of woods included moisture content, specific gravity and shrinkage. The anatomy of wood was observed based on their structures while wood drying test included drying rate, defects evaluation, and drying schedule. The results of research showed that specific gravity and the anatomy of wood structure influenced the wood drying property. All the three wood species were difficult to be dried. Briya hatam with the higher specific gravity (0.52) had more drying defects than pala hutan and ketapang whose specific gravity 0.47 and 0.38 respectively. According to the drying test and basic properties of woods, the proper drying schedule (temperature and humidity) for briya hitam, pala hutan and ketapang were 4580 0C and 9028%; 5080 0C and 8530%; 5080 0C and 90 – 28% respectively.