Tropical wood · Tropical America
Sangre wood
Sangre (Pterocarpus spp., family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 275–1,380 lbf (1,223–6,139 N). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 259–260.
Other names, by country: Sangre de drago (generally in Latin America), Palo de pollo (Puerto Rico), Sangrillo (Costa Rica), Huevos de gato (Panama), Yaya sangre (Colombia), Lagunero (Venezuela), Bébé (Surinam), Angú, Mututi, Pau sangua (Brazil), Nogal falso (Bolivia).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 275–1,380 lbf (1,223–6,139 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness at 12% moisture content varies with species from 275 lb to 1,380 lb.”
- Air-dry density
- Not printed
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.28–0.60 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varies considerably with species from 0.28 to 0.60; airdry density 22 to 44 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 6.8% tangential
- Radial 3.9%, volumetric 10.8%
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 4 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 | 9,580 psi (66 MPa) | 1.58 million psi (10.9 GPa) | 4,140 psi (29 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 16,020 psi (110 MPa) | 2 million psi (13.8 GPa) | 7,390 psi (51 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 7,100 psi (49 MPa) | 1.09 million psi (7.5 GPa) | — |
| 12% MC | 10,450 psi (72 MPa) | 1.43 million psi (9.9 GPa) | 5,420 psi (37 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Wood yellowish or whitish; sapwood indistinct; traumatic heartwood dark brown or purplish. Texture medium to coarse; luster medium; grain straight to irregular; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Easy to work and finishes smoothly in all operations. P. vernalis reported to cut well into veneers for plywood. The same species has excellent steam-bending characteristics.
- Durability
- Generally reported to be very susceptible to attack by decay fungi. In laboratory evaluations the decay resistance of P. vernalis is reported to be very variable.
- Uses
- Rough construction lumber, particleboard and fiberboard, general carpentry, plywood, and furniture components.
- Where it grows
- Throughout tropical America from the West Indies and southern Mexico to northern Argentina. Some species in swamplands, others in uplands, and still others common on abandoned farmlands and on cutover forest lands.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 259–260, 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 sangre against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.