Tropical wood · Tropical America
Sapucaia wood
Sapucaia (Lecythis spp., family Lecythidaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 3,100 lbf (13,789 N), and air-dry it weighs about 46–69 lb/ft³ (737–1,105 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 181–182.
Other names, by country: Coco (Panama), Coco mono, Coco cristal (Colombia), Coco de mono, Olla de mono (Venezuela), Monkey Pot (Guyana), Kwattapatoe (Surinam), Castanha sapucaia, Sapucaia vermelha (Brazil), Machin-mango (Peru).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 3,100 lbf (13,789 N)
- Green: 2,430 lbf (10,809 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness for denser species 2,430 lb for green material and 3,100 lb at 12% moisture content.”
- Air-dry density
- 46–69 lb/ft³ (737–1,105 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.61–0.93 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) varying with species from 0.61 to 0.93; air-dry density 46 to 69 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.6% tangential
- Radial 6.0%, 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 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 | 18,340 psi (126 MPa) | 2.89 million psi (19.9 GPa) | 8,880 psi (61 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 27,540 psi (190 MPa) | 3.38 million psi (23.3 GPa) | 13,280 psi (92 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 14,100 psi (97 MPa) | 1.84 million psi (12.7 GPa) | — |
| 12% MC | 27,000 psi (186 MPa) | 3.24 million psi (22.3 GPa) | 13,500 psi (93 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood light to dark salmon; sapwood creamy-yellow. Texture medium fine and uniform; luster mostly low but high in some species; grain fairly straight or slightly interlocked; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The wood is moderately difficult to work because of its high density; however, surfaces obtained in planing, boring, sawing, and shaping were smooth and rated as good to excellent. Silica content varies with species and dulling of cutters is also variable.
- Durability
- the wood is reported to be very durable upon exposure to both a white-rot and a brown-rot fungus confirming its reputation for high resistance to decay. Heartwood is also highly resistant to dry-wood termites. Reported to be moderately resistant to marine borer attack.
- Uses
- Heavy construction, ship keels and beams, railroad crossties, industrial flooring, uses requiring high impact resistance (wagon wheels, tool handles), turnery. L. paraensis produces a highly favored edible nut.
- Where it grows
- Widely distributed from southeastern Brazil through northern South America to Costa Rica. Common in the Amazon lowlands and coastal mountain forests of Brazil.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 181–182, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for flooring with the species picker
Weigh sapucaia against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.