Tropical wood · Tropical America
Brazil-nut Tree wood
Brazil-nut Tree (Bertholletia excelsa, family Lecythidaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,150 lbf (5,115 N), and air-dry it weighs about 44 lb/ft³ (705 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 41–42.
Other names, by country: Castaña del Marañón (Colombia), Juvia, Yubia (Venezuela), Brazilnoot (Surinam), Castanha verdadeira, Castanheiro (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,150 lbf (5,115 N)
- Green: 940 lbf (4,181 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 940 lb green and 1,150 lb air dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 44 lb/ft³ (705 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.59 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) averages 0.59. Air-dry density 44 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.3% tangential
- Radial 3.9%, volumetric 11.2%
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 | 9,740 psi (67 MPa) | 1.61 million psi (11.1 GPa) | 4,530 psi (31 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,680 psi (101 MPa) | 1.76 million psi (12.1 GPa) | 6,890 psi (48 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood is uniform pinkish-brown becoming light chestnut-brown after exposure to light. Sapwood is about 2 to 4 in. thick, pale yellowish brown, sharply demarcated from heartwood. Texture rather coarse to medium; luster medium; grain typically interlocked; odor and taste not distinctive.
- Working properties
- The wood is moderately difficult to work, glues readily, and finishes smoothly. Exudations of gum tend to clog saws in cutting green material. Moderately easy to cut into smooth tight veneer of uniform thickness.
- Durability
- Laboratory tests indicate heartwood is very durable to durable in resistance to white-rot and brown-rot fungi. The wood displays good weathering characteristics.
- Uses
- Boat and ship decking, steam-bending applications, railroad ties, exterior construction, tanks, flooring, furniture, and cabinet stock. If free of gum, splits, and tension wood, should be suitable for interior decorative panels.
- Where it grows
- Common throughout the Amazon region of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru. In Venezuela also found in the forests of the upper Orinoco and Rio Negro. Reaches its best development on welldrained clayish or sandy clay soils.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 41–42, 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 brazil-nut Tree against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.