Tropical wood · Tropical America
Arariba wood
Arariba (Centrolobium spp., family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,030 lbf (4,582 N). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 87–88.
Other names, by country: Amarillo guayaquil (Panama, Ecuador), Guayacan hobo, Balaústre (Colombia, Venezuela), Araraúba, Araraúva (Brazil), Morosimo (Paraguay).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,030 lbf (4,582 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,030 lb for dry wood.”
- Air-dry density
- Not printed
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.61–0.69 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species from 0.61 to 0.69; airdry density 46 to 53 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 5.6% tangential
- Radial 2.4%, volumetric 8.4%
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 | 14,200 psi (98 MPa) | 1.5 million psi (10.3 GPa) | 5,900 psi (41 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 16,800 psi (116 MPa) | — | 7,900 psi (54 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 18,600 psi (128 MPa) | 2.13 million psi (14.7 GPa) | 9,550 psi (66 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,200 psi (119 MPa) | 2.44 million psi (16.8 GPa) | — |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood yellow or orange, typically variegated, sometimes "rainbow hued", usually changing to red or brown; rather sharply demarcated from the yellowish sapwood. Luster medium to high; texture fine to rather coarse; grain straight to irregular; some species without odor or taste, others with distinctive odor and sometimes with perceptive taste.
- Working properties
- The wood is easy to machine with all tools; finishing very smoothly but there may be some fuzzy grain on planing of radial surfaces.
- Durability
- The wood is reported to be highly resistant to attack by decay fungi, termites and other insects, and marine borers (teredo).
- Uses
- Heavy construction, railroad crossties, fine furniture and cabinet work, flooring, ship components (planking, keel, decking, and trim), turnery, decorative veneers, cooperage.
- Where it grows
- Five or six species of rather infrequent occurrence from Panama to Ecuador and southern Brazil.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 87–88, 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 arariba against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.