Tropical wood · Tropical America
Caribbean Pine wood
Caribbean Pine (Pinus caribaea, family Pinaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,240 lbf (5,516 N), and air-dry it weighs about 26–51 lb/ft³ (416–817 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 233–234.
Other names, by country: Pino (generally in Latin America), Ocote (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua). Distribution; Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bahama Islands, and Cuba; widely introduced as a plantation species throughout the world (Australia, South Africa, Surinam, and elsewhere).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,240 lbf (5,516 N)
- Green: 980 lbf (4,359 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 980 lb for green material and 1,240 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 26–51 lb/ft³ (416–817 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.34–0.68 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies considerably and may range from 0.34 to 0.68; air-dry density 26 to 51 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.8% tangential
- Radial 6.3%, volumetric 12.9%
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 5 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 | 11,190 psi (77 MPa) | 1.88 million psi (13 GPa) | 4,900 psi (34 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 16,690 psi (115 MPa) | 2.24 million psi (15.4 GPa) | 8,540 psi (59 MPa) |
| Green | 9,000 psi (62 MPa) | 1.61 million psi (11.1 GPa) | 4,600 psi (32 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,700 psi (101 MPa) | 1.95 million psi (13.4 GPa) | 7,830 psi (54 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 8,830 psi (61 MPa) | 0.92 million psi (6.3 GPa) | — |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood generally golden-brown to red-brown and distinct from the lighter sapwood. Texture somewhat coarse; grain is typically straight; luster medium; strong resinous odor; growth zones generally clearly defined but often lacking in juvenile wood. Compression wood often present, at least in plantation-grown wood.
- Working properties
- The timber is easy to work with either hand or machine tools; however, high resin contents may cause some downtime due to gumming of cutters and machine tables. Takes nails and screws well and glues satisfactorily.
- Durability
- Durability and resistance to insect attack varies with resin content, heartwood generally rated moderately durable. Sapwood prone to blue stain.
- Uses
- General light and heavy construction, carpentry, flooring, joinery, utility poles and railroad crossties (treated), boat building, vats, utility plywood, pulp and paper products.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 233–234, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh caribbean Pine against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.