Tropical wood · Tropical America
Pau Marfim wood
Pau Marfim (Balfourodendron riedelianum, family Rutaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Air-dry, it weighs about 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 39–40.
Other names, by country: Marfim, Pau liso (Brazil), Guatambú Guatambú blanco (Argentina).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 50 lb/ft³ (801 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.65–0.73 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) averages 0.73 for wood grown in Brazil and 0.65 for Argentinian material. Air-dry density averages about 50 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.8% tangential
- Radial 4.6%, volumetric 13.4%
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 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 | 15,170 psi (105 MPa) | 1.67 million psi (11.5 GPa) | 6,320 psi (44 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 19,870 psi (137 MPa) | — | 8,535 psi (59 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- A nearly white or pale yellowish brown wood without apparent contrast between sapwood and heartwood. Luster medium; grain generally straight; texture fine and uniform; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Limited information suggests that the wood can be sawn and worked without undue difficulty. It is nonsiliceous and nonresinous and unlikely to have a marked blunting effect on tools; easy to finish and is reported to glue satisfactorily.
- Durability
- Heartwood is rated as nondurable.
- Uses
- Furniture, cabinetwork, tool handles, flooring turnery. Suggested as a substitute for birch and hard maple.
- Where it grows
- State of São Paulo, Brazil; northern and central Paraguay; and the Selva Misionera, Argentina.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 39–40, 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 pau Marfim against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.