Tropical wood · Tropical America
Louro wood
Louro (Aniba spp., family Lauraceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,470 lbf (6,539 N), and air-dry it weighs about 40–50 lb/ft³ (641–801 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 25–26.
Other names, by country: Many species of the Lauraceae may be grouped here, but most are poorly defined botanically. Comino real (Colombia), Silverballi (Guayana), Moena amarilla (Peru), Coto (Bolivia), Louro rosa, Pau rosa (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,470 lbf (6,539 N)
- Green: 1,160 lbf (5,160 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,160 lb green and 1,470 lb dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 40–50 lb/ft³ (641–801 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.55–0.65 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Woods range from rather light to moderately heavy. Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) often between 0.55 and 0.65. Air-dry density 40 to 50 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.0% tangential
- Radial 4.7%, volumetric 12.1%
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 2 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 | 13,250 psi (91 MPa) | 2.17 million psi (15 GPa) | 6,560 psi (45 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 19,030 psi (131 MPa) | 2.57 million psi (17.7 GPa) | 10,010 psi (69 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- The woods are typically yellowish with a greenish hue when fresh, becoming brown or olive on exposure. Narrow sapwood light yellowish. Luster medium to high; grain straight to interlocked; texture fine to medium; spicy odor, taste may or may not be distinctive.
- Working properties
- Easy to work with hand and machine tools and dresses to a smooth surface to give a satiny sheen.
- Durability
- The timber has an excellent reputation for resistance to decay. Laboratory tests also indicate heartwood very durable to both white-rot and brown-rot fungi.
- Uses
- Esteemed for high grade furniture, turnery, inlay work. Also favored for boat building, durable construction, and millwork. The wood of Aniba rosaeodora is distilled for its fragrant oil used in the perfume industry.
- Where it grows
- Found throughout the Guianas and the Amazon region but also in the Pacific coastal areas of Colombia.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 25–26, 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 louro against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.