You may have heard furniture made from new types of wood, one of them being sengon tekik wood. Sengon is popularly cultivated in India, Southern China, and Southeast Asia especially Indonesia. Sengon itself actually has many subtypes which can be differentiated from each other. Although it is getting more exposure in American markets, people still doubt it when it is turned to be furniture.
Since there are many types of sengon, it is best to know what differs sengon tekik wood from its other similar wood.
Sengon buto (red sengon)
With its scientific name Enterolobium cyclocarpum, locals identify this tree as sengon buto. Buto means giant in local language. The underlying reason is because this tree can rapidly grows. Also, its height can even reach 30 meter.
However, this type of sengon wood isn’t appreciated much to be used for furniture. These days there have been fewer people cultivating sengon buto since the wood isn’t that dense. That comes as a consequence of its rapid growth, making it such softwood instead of hardwood. Hence, this wood may break easily.
Sengon Laut
This species isn’t actually included into sengon wood. Thanks to its similarity with other sengon species, Javanese call this P. falcataria – a species that comes from Maluku – as sengon laut. Some people call other names such as sengon sabrang or sengon landi.
Its physical feature includes tall tree with whitish stem skin. Quite sturdy compared to sengon tekik quality, but the wood is easy to cut, and it doesn’t take long to dry it off. However, the drawback comes after its drying process, as the dried sengon laut will tend to be bent and/or twisted.
Sengon Solomon
Comes far from the Solomon island, this sengon wood has been cultivated in many areas, especially in Indonesia. People also think of this as a decent investment because the wood has good resistance to diseases. The posture is also superior to other local Indonesian sengon wood. Its height can reach more than 20 meter, with larger diameter too.
This type of sengon can adapt well in a dry land and can be ‘harvested’ after 5 to 7 years, which is faster compared to other sengon. Although can be less sturdy than other furniture wood, it’s not whimsical that many people keep cultivating this type of sengon.
Sengon tekik
Compared to all of those sengon – in terms of sturdiness, this sengon wins the third place after sengon Solomon and sengon Laut. This one is the true local Indonesian sengon which despite of its softwood feature, there are still many people using it for furniture.
It’s not uncommon to see furniture made up from sengon wood. However, think again about its use. Since furniture usually will be used for long time, it’s better to choose the right wood as the material. As for sengon tekik wood, you can choose this if looking for the light weighted furniture.
