Tropical wood · Tropical America
Imbuia wood
Imbuia (Phoebe porosa, family Lauraceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 950 lbf (4,226 N), and air-dry it weighs about 40 lb/ft³ (641 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 229–230.
Other names, by country: Canella imbuia, Embuia, Embuya (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 950 lbf (4,226 N)
- Green: 880 lbf (3,914 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 880 lb for green material and 950 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 40 lb/ft³ (641 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.53 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.53; air-dry density 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.0% tangential
- Radial 2.7%, volumetric 9.0%
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 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 | 11,100 psi (77 MPa) | 1.12 million psi (7.7 GPa) | 4,620 psi (32 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 13,250 psi (91 MPa) | — | 6,400 psi (44 MPa) |
| Green | 7,700 psi (53 MPa) | 1.08 million psi (7.4 GPa) | 3,380 psi (23 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,100 psi (83 MPa) | 1.41 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 6,650 psi (46 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood yellowish or olive to chocolate-brown, either plain or beautifully variegated and figured; sapwood is gray and usually distinct. Texture rather fine; grain is straight to curly and wavy; luster medium to rather high; spicy resinous scent and taste but losing most of it in drying. Dust arising in working may cause dermatitis.
- Working properties
- Saws and machines satisfactorily and finishes smoothly. Fine dust generated in working may cause dermatitis.
- Durability
- Heartwood is reported to be resistant to attack by decay fungi.
- Uses
- Fine furniture and cabinet work, paneling, flooring, gunstocks, decorative veneer, and joinery.
- Where it grows
- Grows mostly in the moist Araucaria forests of Paraná and Santa Catharina in southern Brazil, mostly at altitudes of 2,500 to 1,000 ft; forming rather rich stands.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 229–230, 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 imbuia against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.