Tropical wood · Tropical America
Oxandra lanceolata wood
Oxandra lanceolata (Oxandra lanceolata, family Annonaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 2,830 lbf (12,588 N), and air-dry it weighs about 62 lb/ft³ (993 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 219–220.
Other names, by country: Haya prieta (Puerto Rico), Yaya (Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic), Bois de lance (Haiti).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 2,830 lbf (12,588 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 2,830 lb at 12% moisture content (values are for Oxandra sp. grown in Panama and with a basic specific gravity of 0.75).”
- Air-dry density
- 62 lb/ft³ (993 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.81 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.81; air-dry density 62 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 9.6% tangential
- Radial 6.2%, volumetric 15.4%
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 one data set, each at the moisture content printed beside it, never restated as 12%.
| Moisture | Bending strength (MOR) | Stiffness (MOE) | Crushing strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 23,700 psi (163 MPa) | 2.9 million psi (20 GPa) | — |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Commercially desirable sapwood is pale yellow. Texture fine; straight-grained; luster medium; without distinctive odor or taste. WEST INDIAN LANCEWOOD
- Working properties
- The wood is moderately difficult to work because of its high density but finishes smoothly. Excellent turnery.
- Durability
- The woods are nondurable.
- Uses
- Fishing rods, billiard cues, archery bows, articles of turnery, textile machinery, and small tool handles.
- Where it grows
- Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. Other species mostly in the Amazon basin.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 219–220, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for turning with the species picker
Weigh oxandra lanceolata against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.