Effect of girdling on the physical and mechanical properties of teak wood.

Teak wood has always been in demand because it is famous as strong and durable timber. One of the efforts to increase the quality of the teak wood is girdling the trees before harvesting. The girdling is carried out in a circle up to the cambium part to stop the growth because new cells are not formed. This study aimed to examine the teak wood properties with different treatments before logging (ungirdled and girdled for one year). Three trees each were cut and collected at the breast-height for girdled and ungirdled treatment. The physical and mechanical properties of 80-year-old teak wood girdled for one year were identified to determine the wood characteristics using British Standards 373:1957. The results showed that the physical and mechanical properties between girdled and ungirdled treatments had no significant difference, except the green moisture content with p-values less than 0.05. In addition, the green moisture content of one-year-girdled teak wood decreased by 55% and had slightly higher physical properties (1.3%) in air-dry moisture content compared to ungirdled treatment. The mechanical properties were also slightly higher 0.2% and 2.0% at hardness and compressive strength, respectively, and modulus of rupture was higher by 5.0%. Both girdled and ungirdled teak wood are classified as strength class II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]