Tropical wood · Tropical America
Oiticica Amarela wood
Oiticica Amarela (Clarisia racemosa, family Moraceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,400 lbf (6,228 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. 91–92.
Other names, by country: Caraco, Aji, Arracacho (Colombia), Matapalo (Ecuador), Chichillica (Peru), Guariuba, Oity (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,400 lbf (6,228 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness averages about 1,400 lb for dry material.”
- 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) averages about 0.53; air-dry density 40 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.1% tangential
- Radial 2.9%, 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 | 10,400 psi (72 MPa) | 1.15 million psi (7.9 GPa) | 5,350 psi (37 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 11,600 psi (80 MPa) | — | — |
| 12% MC | 16,700 psi (115 MPa) | 2.34 million psi (16.1 GPa) | 9,620 psi (66 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 18,000 psi (124 MPa) | 2.36 million psi (16.3 GPa) | 9,070 psi (63 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood bright yellow, becoming brown or russet, but retaining a golden luster upon exposure; sharply defined from the thin white sapwood. Texture medium to coarse; grain variable, often decidedly roey with attractive figure; dry specimens without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Easy to work and is rated fair to good in all machining operations. Cross-grained material requires sharp tools to produce a smooth surface; fresh wood saws wooly.
- Durability
- Tentative field trials in Venezuela indicate heartwood to be durable and resistant to termite attack. Elsewhere the wood is rated not very durable in ground contact.
- Uses
- General construction, flooring, and furniture components.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed in Brazil and extends into northeastern Peru, the Serrania de San Lucus region of Colombia, and the Venezuelan Guiana; grows scattered or in small clumps.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 91–92, 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 oiticica Amarela against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.