Tropical wood · Tropical America
Chicha wood
Chicha (Sterculia apetala, family Sterculiaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 270–530 lbf (1,201–2,358 N), and air-dry it weighs about 25 lb/ft³ (400 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 283–284.
Other names, by country: Anacaúita (Puerto Rico), Bellota, Chiapas (Mexico), Panamá (Panama), Sunsún (Venezuela), Camajurú (Colombia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 270–530 lbf (1,201–2,358 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness at 12% moisture content ranges from 270 to 530 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 25 lb/ft³ (400 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.33 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.33; air-dry density 25 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.3% tangential
- Radial 3.7%, volumetric 11.8%
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 | 4,460 psi (31 MPa) | 0.98 million psi (6.8 GPa) | 2,140 psi (15 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 7,110 psi (49 MPa) | 0.96 million psi (6.6 GPa) | 4,230 psi (29 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 4,900 psi (34 MPa) | 0.97 million psi (6.7 GPa) | — |
| 12% MC | 5,900 psi (41 MPa) | — | 3,680 psi (25 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light brown, reddish-brown, or yellowish-brown, not sharply demarcated from the yellowish sapwood. Luster medium; texture medium; grain straight to irregular; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Generally reported to be easy to work with both hand and machine tools; timber from Panama showed considerable fuzzy grain after planing.
- Durability
- No resistance to attack by decay fungi or insects, also prone to blue stain.
- Uses
- Boxes and crates, interior construction, plywood, particleboard, millwork.
- Where it grows
- Southern Mexico and Central America to Peru and Brazil. Widely planted elsewhere in the tropics as a shade tree, for the edible seeds, and as a honey plant.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 283–284, 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 chicha against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.