Pyinmana wood comes from Southeast Asia, in this case from Laos. The tree (Lagerstroemia balansae) gets 15-20 meters tall and up to 1 meter thick, during blossom the tree is covered all over with incredible lavender coloured blooms and is therefore cultivated as an ornamental tree throughout the world wherever the climate allows its growth. The wood is known by countless regional names as Tabek, Bang Lang, Bungor, the biological genus name Lagerstroemia was given to the tree by Linné in order to honor Magnus Lagerström, who was the director of the Swedish East India Company and brought many samples of unknown plant species with his merchant ships to Europe. The wood of this exotic tree is moderate heavy (about 600 kg/m3) and hard, the color spectrum can range from golden yellow over reddish-brown to pale brown, remarkably often the wood is very curly or shows burl grain patterns, in these cases it has a beautiful luster. The heavily grained wood is often also referred to as Asian satinwood, but these names are The use of pyinma wood is almost limitless, from construction timber, windows, vehicles, floors and boats to the finest furniture and decorative arts ranges the spectrum of this attractive wood!
Small defects such as bark ingrowths, loose pin knots, swirls, hairline cracks, flaws and the like are the rule with most burl woods due to the swirly grain with high tensions in the wood and do not represent a defect and thus a reason for complaint. Such defects can be filled quickly and easily during processing with thin super glue, synthetic resin and, if necessary, a little dark sawdust.
