Tropical wood · Tropical America
Araríba wood
Araríba (Sickingia spp., family Rubiaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Green, its Janka hardness is 1,070 lbf (4,760 N), and air-dry it weighs about 40 lb/ft³ (641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 277–278.
Other names, by country: Guayatil colorado, Palo colorado (Panama), Brasilete, Carmesí (Colombia), Aguacatire, Paraguatá (Venezuela), Palo rosado (Peru), Arareua, Arariba, Pau Brasil (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Green: 1,070 lbf (4,760 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness for green material 1,070 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 40 lb/ft³ (641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.52 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.52; air-dry density 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.2% tangential
- Radial 2.8%, volumetric 10.6%
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 2 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 | 10,800 psi (74 MPa) | 1.2 million psi (8.3 GPa) | 5,030 psi (35 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 14,400 psi (99 MPa) | — | 6,700 psi (46 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood rather dark brown, usually poorly developed; sapwood usually becoming red, pink, or violet-rose throughout or more often variegated and often fading to yellowish-brown on the surface. Luster medium to low; texture rather fine and uniform; grain straight to irregular; odorless when dry, taste slightly bitter. Janka side hardness for green material 1,070 lb. Amsler toughness at 15% moisture content 130 in.- lb (2-cm specimen).
- Working properties
- Working properties are reported as good.
- Durability
- Based on a laboratory evaluation, reported to have moderate resistance to attack by decay fungi.
- Uses
- Turnery, boxes and crates, interior trim, millwork, light construction. Wood and bark yield a red dye used commercially.
- Where it grows
- Continental tropical America from southern Mexico to southern Brazil and Paraguay.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 277–278, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for cabinets and trim with the species picker
Weigh araríba against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.