| dc.description.abstract | The need for commercial timber in Indonesia is increasing, while the potential for forests in Indonesia is
decreasing, both in terms of the area of production forest and in terms of the quality of the wood produced.
Gerunggang wood (Cratoxylon arborescens (Vahl.) Blume) is one of the native plant species of peat swamp forest
from the Guttiferae family. Gerunggang wood is usually used by the community as a building material, light
construction, bridges, ships, furniture, flooring, panels, particle board, etc. Before being processed and used, the
wood is dried first by natural drying. Natural drying was chosen because its implementation is relatively easy and
inexpensive. Therefore, it is necessary to know the length of drying time required from wet wood to the moisture
content of the wood according to its use so that later it can obtain quality wood products and have good
dimensional stability. This study aims to determine the time required for natural drying of Gerunggang wood to
reach 15% moisture content at different thicknesses and types of boards. This research was conducted at the
Laboratory of Biology and Wood Preservation, Faculty of Forestry, University of Mulawarman Samarinda. The
material used in this study was Gerunggang wood (Cratoxylon arborescens (Vahl.) Blume) which had been cut and
produced radial and tangential types of boards with a thickness of 2.5 and 5 cm, respectively. Drying is done
naturally by stacking it in an open space under the roof using a wedge. The results showed that the time required
to dry Gerunggang wood boards naturally under the roof with an initial moisture content of 33-35% to 15% air dry moisture content at a thickness of 5 cm was longer than 2.5 cm thick, while the type of board at a thickness of
5 cm the same drying time is relatively different. For boards with a thickness of 2.5 cm, it takes 21 days for radial
boards and 15 days for tangential boards, while for boards with a thickness of 5 cm it takes 29 days for radial
boards and 25 days for tangential boards.
Keywords : Natural drying, Gerunggang wood (Cratoxylon arborescens (Vahl.) Blume), Board thickness, Type of
board | en_US |
