Tropical wood · Tropical America
Freijo wood
Freijo (Cordia spp., family Boraginaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,000 lbf (4,448 N), and air-dry it weighs about 34–40 lb/ft³ (545–641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 99–100.
Other names, by country: C. goeldiana: Freijo, Yrei Jorge (Brazil); C. alliodora: Laurel blanco, Pardillo (Venezuela), Bojón (Mexico), Canalete (Colombia), Louro (Brazil); C. trichotoma: Peterebi (Argentina).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,000 lbf (4,448 N)
- Green: 910 lbf (4,048 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness averages about 910 lb for green material and about 1,000 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 34–40 lb/ft³ (545–641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.44–0.52 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species from 0.44 to 0.52; air-dry density 34 to 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.1% tangential
- Radial 3.4%, volumetric 9.2%
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 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 | 9,050 psi (62 MPa) | 1.28 million psi (8.8 GPa) | 4,040 psi (28 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,180 psi (84 MPa) | 1.51 million psi (10.4 GPa) | 6,330 psi (44 MPa) |
| Green | 10,540 psi (73 MPa) | 1.83 million psi (12.6 GPa) | 4,940 psi (34 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,700 psi (101 MPa) | 2.09 million psi (14.4 GPa) | 7,240 psi (50 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood yellowish to brown, uniform or more or less streaked and variegated; light-colored material not clearly differentiated from sapwood. Luster is medium to high often rich and golden; texture very variable from fine to coarse; grain usually straight to shallowly interlocked; dark-colored specimens have spicy scent otherwise without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The wood is easy to work and finishes smoothly; readily glued.
- Durability
- The heartwood is rated as durable upon exposure to both white-rot and brown-rot fungi but degree of durability appears to be related to the coloring of the wood. Also reported to have good resistance to dry-wood termites. The wood has good weathering characteristics and absorbs moisture at a moderate rate. Not resistant to attack by marine borers in some areas, but C. alliodora is reported to have high resistance in Panama waters.
- Uses
- General construction, millwork, fine cabinet and furniture components, flooring, decorative veneer, cooperage, boat construction; for some applications used as a substitute for teak, walnut, or mahogany.
- Where it grows
- The several commercial species have a range that includes southern Mexico to the southern edge of the tropics in South America. Freijo is found in the Atlantic zone of Pars and in the Tocantins and Xingu River basins of Brazil.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 99–100, 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 freijo against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.