Tropical wood · Tropical America
Chupón wood
Chupón (Pradosia spp., family Sapotaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,880 lbf (8,363 N), and air-dry it weighs about 52 lb/ft³ (833 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 251–252.
Other names, by country: Chupón, Chupón torito, Toco (Venezuela), Abihy, Burahem, Paracuhuba doce (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,880 lbf (8,363 N)
- Green: 1,440 lbf (6,405 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,440 lb for green material and 1,880 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 52 lb/ft³ (833 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.68 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.68; air-dry density 52 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 10.5% tangential
- Radial 4.4%, volumetric 14.8%
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 one data set, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 11,770 psi (81 MPa) | 2.32 million psi (16 GPa) | 7,660 psi (53 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood yellowishor grayish-brown with more or less reddish cast; sapwood narrow, yellowish or grayish, not always distinct from the heartwood. Texture fine to medium, uniform; grain usually straight, sometimes interlocked; luster low; without characteristic odor but taste sometimes bitter or astringent.
- Working properties
- Works easily and finishes to a smooth surface. Good steam-bending properties.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated durable in test exposures to white-rot and brown-rot organisms, but is not suggested for uses where high durability is required.
- Uses
- General construction, heavy-duty flooring, also suggested for tight cooperage, tool handles.
- Where it grows
- Amazon basin and extending into the Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 251–252, 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 chupón against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.