Tropical wood · Tropical America
Cramantee wood
Cramantee (Guarea spp., family Meliaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 800–1,330 lbf (3,559–5,916 N), and air-dry it weighs about 34–44 lb/ft³ (545–705 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 155–156.
Other names, by country: C. trichilioides: Guaraguao (Puerto Rico), Trompillo (Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia), Fruta de loro (Ecuador), Cedrillo (Argentina), Gitó, Cedrohy (Brazil). G. excelsa: Cedrillo, Trompillo de plaza (Mexico), Cramantee (Belize), Guano blanco (Colombia), Cabimbo (Venezuela).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 800–1,330 lbf (3,559–5,916 N)
- Green: 930 lbf (4,137 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 930 lb for green material, ranges from 800 to 1,330 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 34–44 lb/ft³ (545–705 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.46–0.57 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.46 to 0.57; air-dry density 34 to 44 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.0% tangential
- Radial 3.4%, 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 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 | 8,000 psi (55 MPa) | 1.34 million psi (9.2 GPa) | 4,070 psi (28 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,400 psi (79 MPa) | 1.6 million psi (11 GPa) | 6,300 psi (43 MPa) |
| Green | 9,550 psi (66 MPa) | 1.22 million psi (8.4 GPa) | 4,600 psi (32 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,750 psi (88 MPa) | 1.4 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 6,950 psi (48 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 17,900 psi (123 MPa) | — | 7,750 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 pinkish to deep reddishbrown; sapwood distinct but not sharply demarcated from the heartwood. Luster is rather low; texture medium; grain rather straight; green wood is aromatic but odor and taste very mild or not distinctive in dry specimens.
- Working properties
- The wood saws and machines easily and well in all operations except boring where there is a tendency to tear and crumble.
- Durability
- Heartwood has good resistance to dry-wood termites and is durable in the ground.
- Uses
- Furniture, cabinet work, turnery, interior trim, joinery, ship construction (planking and trim), general carpentry, and decorative and utility veneer and plywood.
- Where it grows
- West Indies, Mexico and Central America, and southward to southern Brazil and Argentina. Frequently planted in coffee plantations for shade.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 155–156, 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 cramantee against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.