Tropical wood · Tropical America
Pinus patula (plantation) wood
Pinus patula (plantation) (Pinus patula (plantation), family Pinaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America.. The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 237–238.
Other names, by country: Pino (generally in Latin America), Ocote (Mexico).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- Not printed
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.40–0.50 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.40 to 0.50; air-dry density 30 to 88 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.9% tangential
- Radial 4.1%, volumetric 12.6%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Tropical Timbers of the World (Chudnoff, 1979 edition), the only published source read for this wood
The air-dry density is printed as "30 to 88 pcf", which cannot be right for a basic specific gravity of 0.40 to 0.50, so it is left out.
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 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12% MC | 14,200 psi (98 MPa) | — | 5,900 psi (41 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,000 psi (97 MPa) | 1.21 million psi (8.3 GPa) | 5,500 psi (38 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,000 psi (83 MPa) | 1.86 million psi (12.8 GPa) | 7,300 psi (50 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood in plantation-grown material is not easily distinguishable from sapwood; one of the whitest of pines; growth rings distinct; comparatively nonresinous with little odor.
- Working properties
- Saws easily and dresses with only a slight tearing of grain around knots; does not bore, mortise, or turn smoothly. Takes and holds nails well and makes an excellent glue joint.
- Durability
- The wood is not resistant to fungus, insect, or termite attack; prone to blue stain.
- Uses
- Particleboard, excelsior-cement panels, pulp and paper products, food containers, paneling; if juvenile cores are excluded, can be used for light construction, shingles (treated).
- Where it grows
- Restricted to eastern Mexico from Tamaulipas to Oaxaca; a favored plantation species in Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and elsewhere in Africa. Planted as well in New Zealand, Australia, India, Brazil, and Argentina.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 237–238, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for cabinets and trim with the species picker
Weigh pinus patula (plantation) against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.