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Sen
The small supplies of sen available commercially come from Japan, though the tree also grows in China and Korea. Its wood is easily mistaken for ash. Sen is a large tree, up to 25 m high, yielding good-quality logs up to 1m in diameter.A combination of pale colour, straight grain and ring-porous structure gives sen its remarkable likeness to ash. The wood is almost white, sometimes with a greyish tint, and is often, like some Japanese ash, rather slowly grown. Some 20 per cent lighter than ash, it can be readily distinguished if a cleanly cut end-surface is examined, because, unlike ash, it has wavy lines of tissue between the zones of its large pores. Sen is a mild wood which presents little difficulty in handling, though shrinkage on drying is fairly high and it does tend to surface-split. Lighter in weight than ash, and appreciably weaker, it especially lacks the outstanding toughness of ash and is particularly brittle when slow grown. The timber saws easily and well, machines to a good finish, and can be sliced to give an attractive veneer. Sen tends to split when nailed and for outside use should be treated with preservative. The wood is moderately stable in use. Sen is used in Japan for many purposes - for furniture, decorative surfaces, lacquer work, handles, combs, etc. It is commonly made into veneer and plywood - the form in which it is usually seen outside Japan. Extract from 'The International book of WOOD' curtesy Michael Beazley Publishers Limited 1979. |
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