Tropical wood · Tropical America
Aceituno wood
Aceituno (Vitex spp., family Verbenaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,160 lbf (5,160 N), and air-dry it weighs about 40–46 lb/ft³ (641–737 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 311–312.
Other names, by country: Negrito coyote (Mexico), Barbás, Rajate bién (Guatemala, Honduras), Cuajado (Panama), Aceituno (Colombia, Venezuela), Perchiche (Ecuador), Tahuari (Peru), Tarumá cheiroso (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,160 lbf (5,160 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness at 12% moisture content 1,160 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 40–46 lb/ft³ (641–737 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.52–0.60 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.52 to 0.60; air-dry density 40 to 46 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.4% tangential
- Radial 3.2%, volumetric 10.4%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
Strength
Bending strength is the modulus of rupture (MOR); stiffness is the modulus of elasticity (MOE); crushing strength is compression parallel to the grain. The sheet collects these from published tests: it prints 4 data sets, from different tests and sources, so they can differ widely; all are shown, in the sheet's order, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 9,420 psi (65 MPa) | 1.49 million psi (10.3 GPa) | 4,780 psi (33 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,890 psi (89 MPa) | 1.57 million psi (10.8 GPa) | 7,010 psi (48 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,700 psi (122 MPa) | 2.4 million psi (16.5 GPa) | 10,900 psi (75 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 16,600 psi (114 MPa) | 2.04 million psi (14.1 GPa) | — |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood variable with species: yellowish-brown, deep brown, olive-green, or olive-brown; usually not sharply demarcated from the whitish, yellow, or pale brown sapwood. Luster low to high; texture rather fine to moderately coarse; grain straight, sometimes irregular; without distinctive odor or taste. A silica content of 0.76% is reported. Janka side hardness at 12% moisture content 1,160 lb. Forest Products Laboratory toughness average for green and dry material 108 in.-lb (5/8-in. specimen).
- Durability
- Depending on species varied from moderately durable to very durable when exposed to a white-rot and brown-rot fungus. Actual field exposures show some species as durable and others as susceptible to attack by decay fungi and insects.
- Uses
- Furniture, millwork, veneer and plywood, general carpentry, mallet heads, chisel handles (V. gaumeri) flooring.
- Where it grows
- Throughout tropical America from Mexico and the West Indies southward to Argentina and Uruguay.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 311–312, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for furniture with the species picker
Weigh aceituno against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.