Acacia wood, the strong, durable and inexpensive wood

Acacia tree is widely grown in the tropical regions. The tree can grow on barren soil with  little water. In Indonesia the acacia tree many are planted to “green”  the barren soil or roadside. The acacia tree can be used as initial tree to green the area. After the tree grow, then some other productive plant can be grown in the area. The acacia trees can became the protector for some other tree such as: vegetable or fruit plant.

The acacia wood actually can be used for many purposes. There are many species of acacia which each has varied properties and has many uses. In the woodworking industry, acacia wood is good choice for furniture, flooring and ornament product.

The acacia wood has a nice appearance, light brown base color, the color is vary from white with orange streaks at the sapwood to the reddish with black streaks at the heartwood. The wood is strong, hard and heavy. Its density is vary from about 700 kg/m3 to 1200 kg/m3 depend to the species and its origin. Generally it is heavy, strong and durable and high resistant to the insect attacked. It is strong enough to be used as outdoor furniture and hard enough to be used as flooring.

 Acacia wood

The good controlling is needed in the drying process of the acacia wood. It is hardwood , too fast drying is high risk of to the wood defect such as rupture or warping. The drying of wood takes a relatively long time about 30 days to 45 days depending on the thickness of the board.

acacia wood furniture

Finishing for acacia wood.

Overall acacia wood has light brown base color ranging from light brown at the sapwood to dark brown in the heartwood. This wood has a nice and strong character of grain with soft grain texture and small pores. The acacia wood can be finished in the transparent wood color with nice and interesting looked. The oil finish or natural wood finish is mostly used to the acacia outdoor furniture. The transparent finish is also most used to the acacia flooring.

The paint finish can also be accommodated well by this wood. This wood has soft texture, small and shallow pores. We can make close pores finish quite easy. Two or three times application of paint coat usually enough to make close pores finish for this wood.