Tropical wood · Tropical America
Pochote wood
Pochote (Bombacopsis quinata, family Bombacaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 720 lbf (3,203 N), and air-dry it weighs about 34 lb/ft³ (545 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 43–44.
Other names, by country: Cedro espino (Honduras, Nicaragua), Saquisaqui (Venezuela), Ceiba tolua (Colombia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 720 lbf (3,203 N)
- Green: 650 lbf (2,891 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 650 lb for green material and 720 lb for dry.”
- Air-dry density
- 34 lb/ft³ (545 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.45 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) averages 0.45. Air-dry density about 34 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.2% tangential
- Radial 3.4%, volumetric 10.0%
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 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 7,560 psi (52 MPa) | 1.26 million psi (8.7 GPa) | 3,440 psi (24 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 10,490 psi (72 MPa) | 1.4 million psi (9.7 GPa) | 5,660 psi (39 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 12,110 psi (83 MPa) | — | 6,480 psi (45 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood is uniform pale pinkish or pinkish-brown when freshly cut, becoming light to dark reddish-brown on exposure; sharply demarcated from yellowish sapwood. Grain straight to slightly interlocked; texture medium; luster rather low. Heartwood without distinctive odor but sometimes with a slightly astringent taste.
- Working properties
- The wood has been reported as easy to work, finishing smoothly; also easy to nail.
- Durability
- The heartwood is rated as durable in its resistance to white-rot fungi, very durable in resistance to brown rots. Susceptible to attack by both dry wood and subterranean termites. Good resistance to marine borers reported in Panama waters.
- Uses
- Used locally for general construction, interior finish, millwork, furniture stock, veneer and plywood, particleboard, and pulp and paper products.
- Where it grows
- Common in the more open forests of western Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Also on the Atlantic side of Panama and in Colombia and Venezuela. Abundant throughout its range, mostly on well-drained, often gravelly soils on the upper slopes of low hills and ridges.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 43–44, 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 pochote against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.