Patterns of Iron Stain on Gelam Wood (Melaleuca cajuputi Powell)

Abstract

Gelam wood is a tough wood that is often used to support building structures; usually, it was nailed to merge it each other which the nailing causes injury to the wood. The purpose of this research is to determine the patterns of distribution of iron stain in gelam wood. The wood’s observation macroscopical is carried out by nailed eye to know the iron stain pattern in the transverse, tangential and radial section of the wood. The research measured the distribution of iron stain caused by nails and observed the other organism’s presence. The observation found that there were iron stains around the nail scars, which to longitudinal and radial section was more intensive than tangential directions. There are no other organisms around the nail zone in macroscopical observation, and the other side of the wood was found. It can be concluded that the distribution of scars more visible in the longitudinal direction than the others due to the parallel of the cell length. While in the radial direction, the iron stains follow the length of the nail and in the tangential direction is less intensive because it inhibits the wall of the fibre cell and the less of the pith as the entrance of the stain.