Tropical wood · Tropical America
Samán wood
Samán (Pithecellobium saman, family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 850 lbf (3,781 N), and air-dry it weighs about 35 lb/ft³ (561 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 243–244.
Other names, by country: Dormilón (Puerto Rico), Algarrobo (Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala), Cenícero (El Salvador, Costa Rica), Samaguare (Colombia), Lara, Carabalí (Venezuela), Huacamayo-chico (Peru), Monkeypod (Hawaii).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 850 lbf (3,781 N)
- Green: 750 lbf (3,336 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 750 lb for green material and 850 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 35 lb/ft³ (561 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.48 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.48.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 3.4% tangential
- Radial 2.0%, volumetric 6.0%
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 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 | 8,100 psi (56 MPa) | 0.91 million psi (6.3 GPa) | 3,760 psi (26 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 8,860 psi (61 MPa) | 1.1 million psi (7.6 GPa) | 5,070 psi (35 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood dark walnut to dark chocolate-brown which turns a light to golden-brown with darker streaks when seasoned; sapwood is thin and yellowish and clearly differentiated from the heartwood. Texture medium to coarse; luster medium; either straight or cross grained; without distinctive odor or taste. Weight; Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.48; air-dry density 35 pcf.
- Working properties
- The wood saws and machines easily but may develop torn and fuzzy grain when working pieces with interlocked grain; takes an excellent finish.
- Durability
- The wood is rated durable to very durable in resistance to attack by a white-rot and brown-rot fungus and rated resistant to attack by dry-wood termites.
- Uses
- Fine furniture and cabinet work, millwork, decorative veneer, joinery. The tree is highly favored for its shade and nutritious pods eaten by cattle, hogs, and goats.
- Where it grows
- Native to southern Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula) and Guatemala southward to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. The tree is widely planted and naturalized throughout the Wes Indies, Mexico southward, and in other tropical regions of the world; makes its best growth on well-drained fertile soils.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 243–244, 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 samán against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.