Tropical wood · Tropical America
Curupay wood
Curupay (Anadenanthera marocarpa, family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Air-dry, it weighs about 66 lb/ft³ (1,057 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 21–22.
Other names, by country: Angico preto (Brazil), Cebil, Cebil colorado (Argentina), Curupay-atá (Paraguay).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- No moisture content printed
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 3,840 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- 66 lb/ft³ (1,057 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.86 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.86; air-dry density 66 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.6% tangential
- Radial 4.6%, volumetric 12.0%
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 3 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 | 22,200 psi (153 MPa) | 2.37 million psi (16.3 GPa) | 10,100 psi (70 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 26,900 psi (185 MPa) | — | 12,600 psi (87 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 29,290 psi (202 MPa) | 2.6 million psi (17.9 GPa) | 14,100 psi (97 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale brown, darkening on exposure to reddish-brown with darker colored almost black streaks; sapwood yellow-brown or light pink. Texture fine and uniform; grain usually irregular and interlocked; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The timber is difficult to work on account of its hardness, severe blunting effect on cutting edges. In planing, a cutting angle of 10 to 15 degrees is suggested to prevent tearing of irregular grain.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated as very durable.
- Uses
- Used for heavy exterior construction and marine work, flooring, railroad crossties, tool handles, turnery. The bark is extracted for its tannin.
- Where it grows
- Has a wide distribution in Argentina but also found in the subtropical and dry forests of Brazil and Paraguay.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 21–22, 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 curupay against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.