Tropical wood · Tropical America
Estribeiro wood
Estribeiro (Luehea spp., family Tiliaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 900 lbf (4,003 N). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 189–190.
Other names, by country: Tapasquit (Guatemala), Mapola (Belize), Guacimo (Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama), Algodón de monte (Colombia), Guacimo blanco (Venezuela), Açoita cavallo (Brazil), Ibatingui, Sota caballo (Argentina).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 900 lbf (4,003 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness about 900 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- Not printed
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.47–0.53 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) slight variation with species from 0.47 to 0.53; airdry density 36 to 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.8% tangential
- Radial 3.4%, volumetric 11.0%
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 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 | 10,600 psi (73 MPa) | 1.21 million psi (8.3 GPa) | 4,540 psi (31 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 13,700 psi (94 MPa) | — | 6,450 psi (44 MPa) |
| Green | 8,500 psi (59 MPa) | 1.52 million psi (10.5 GPa) | 4,200 psi (29 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,900 psi (89 MPa) | 1.93 million psi (13.3 GPa) | 6,180 psi (43 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,800 psi (81 MPa) | — | 6,350 psi (44 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood brown or brownish, sometimes with a pinkish tinge and more or less streaked; not clearly demarcated from the sapwood. Luster varies from low to fairly high; texture fine to medium; grain straight to finely roey; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Generally reported to be easy to work, however one species is reported difficult to plane and another difficult to turn.
- Durability
- All species are reported to be vulnerable to attack by decay fungi and insects.
- Uses
- Millwork, furniture components, flooring, general construction, boxes and crates, veneer and plywood, particleboard, and shoe heels.
- Where it grows
- Varying with species from southern Mexico, through Central America, and southward to the Rio de la Plata region of Argentina.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 189–190, 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 estribeiro against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.