Tropical wood · Tropical America
Holopyxidium jarana wood
Holopyxidium jarana (Holopyxidium jarana, family Lecythidaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 3,500 lbf (15,569 N), and air-dry it weighs about 58–65 lb/ft³ (929–1,041 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 163–164.
Other names, by country: Jarána, Inhauba (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 3,500 lbf (15,569 N)
- Green: 2,280 lbf (10,142 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,280 lb for green material and 3,500 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 58–65 lb/ft³ (929–1,041 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.76–0.85 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.76 to 0.85; air-dry density 58 to 65 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.3% tangential
- Radial 6.2%, volumetric 16.8%
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 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 | 19,690 psi (136 MPa) | 2.39 million psi (16.5 GPa) | 7,670 psi (53 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 30,170 psi (208 MPa) | 2.91 million psi (20.1 GPa) | 12,540 psi (86 MPa) |
| Green | 15,100 psi (104 MPa) | 1.98 million psi (13.7 GPa) | 5,880 psi (41 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 23,600 psi (163 MPa) | — | 11,000 psi (76 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Fresh heartwood is light brown to blood-red in color, salmon-pink to brownish-red when dry; sapwood yellowish-cream, 2-1/2 in. wide. Texture uniformly fine; grain straight; luster low; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The wood is moderately difficult to work because of its high density but smooth surfaces are obtained in sawing, planing, and boring. No pronounced dulling of cutting edges was reported.
- Durability
- In laboratory tests the wood is rated very durable in resistance to brown-rot and white-rot fungi. Railroad ties are reported to last 10 to 12 years on well-drained soil in Brazil. The wood is low in resistance to marine borers.
- Uses
- Carpentry, railway crossties, heavy construction. Because of outstanding shock resistance should be suitable for handle stock and other applications requiring toughness.
- Where it grows
- On fertile soils in upland forests throughout the State of Pará in Brazil; particularly abundant along the lower Tapajos River.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 163–164, 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 holopyxidium jarana against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.