Tropical wood · Tropical America
Albarco wood
Albarco (Cariniana pyriformis, family Lecythidaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,020 lbf (4,537 N), and air-dry it weighs about 35 lb/ft³ (561 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 73–74.
Other names, by country: Abarco (Colombia), Bacú (Venezuela), Cerú, Jequitibá rosa, Jequitibá amarella, Tauary (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,020 lbf (4,537 N)
- As printed: “Air-dry Janka side hardness 1,020 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 35 lb/ft³ (561 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.46 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.46; air-dry density 35 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.4% tangential
- Radial 2.8%, volumetric 9.0%
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 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 13,800 psi (95 MPa) | 1.41 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 7,100 psi (49 MPa) |
| Green | 10,200 psi (70 MPa) | 1.53 million psi (10.5 GPa) | 4,620 psi (32 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 12,500 psi (86 MPa) | — | 6,320 psi (44 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood reddishor purplish-brown, sometimes with dark streaks usually not sharply demarcated from the pale brown sapwood; luster medium; texture medium; grain straight to interlocked; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Working properties generally satisfactory with only a slight blunting effect on cutting edges; but species in this grouping are also reported to cause rapid dulling of cutters. Silica is estimated to be in excess of 0.05%. Veneers reported to be cut without difficulty.
- Durability
- Heartwood reported to be durable, particularly deeply colored material; has good resistance to dry-wood termite attack.
- Uses
- General construction and carpentry, furniture components, shipbuilding, flooring, veneer for plywood, and turnery.
- Where it grows
- A genus of about 10 species distributed from eastern Peru and northern Bolivia through central Brazil to Venezuela and Colombia. Very common in forests of northern Colombia growing on lower slopes and wellwatered valleys.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 73–74, 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 albarco against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.