Basswood

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Common name: Basswood
Latin name: Tilia americana

+ General description
The sapwood of basswood is usually quite large and creamy white in colour, merging into the heartwood which is pale to reddish brown, sometimes with darker streaks. The wood has a fine uniform texture and indistinct grain that is straight.

+ Working properties
Basswood machines well and is easy to work with hand tools making it a premier carving wood. It nails, screws, and glues fairly well and can be sanded, stained, and polished to a good smooth finish. It dries fairly rapidly with little distortion or degrade. It has a fairly large shrinkage but good dimensional stability when dry.

+ Physical properties
The wood is light and soft with generally low strength properties and a poor steam bending classification.

Specific Gravity: 0.37 (12% M.C.)
Average Weight: 417 kg/m³ (12% M.C.)
Average Volumetric Shrinkage: 12.6% (Green to 6% M.C.)
Modulus of Elasticity: 10,067 MPa
Hardness: 1824 N

+ Durability
Non-resistant to heartwood decay, sapwood liable to attack by common furniture beetle. The wood is permeable for preservation treatment.

+ Main uses
Carving, turning, furniture, pattern-making, mouldings, interior joinery and musical instruments. An important specialised use is Venetian blinds

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