Tropical wood · Tropical America
Serrette wood
Serrette (Byrsonima coriacea var. spicata, family Malpighiaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Dry, its Janka hardness is 1,530 lbf (6,806 N), and air-dry it weighs about 46 lb/ft³ (737 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 59–60.
Other names, by country: Golden spoon (British West Indies), Maricao (Puerto Rico), Changugo (Mexico), Chaparro (Colombia), Candelo (Venezuelo), Kanoaballi (Guyana), Chupi-cara (Peru), Murici (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- 1,530 lbf (6,806 N)
- Green: 1,140 lbf (5,071 N)
- As printed: “Janka side hardness 1,140 lb when green and 1,530 lb for air-dry wood.”
- Air-dry density
- 46 lb/ft³ (737 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.61 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.61; air-dry density 46 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.2% tangential
- Radial 4.0%, volumetric 12.2%
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 | 12,200 psi (84 MPa) | 1.57 million psi (10.8 GPa) | 5,800 psi (40 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 18,000 psi (124 MPa) | 1.95 million psi (13.4 GPa) | 9,750 psi (67 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood pale to dark reddish-brown with a purplish, cast, sometimes with a grayish tint. Gray to reddish-brown sapwood somewhat distinct from heartwood. Grain mostly straight or slightly interlocked; texture moderately fine; medium luster; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- The wood works fairly easily with both hand and power tools; good to excellent surfaces are produced in all operations. Proper size lead holes must be prebored before screws are driven or the wood splits rather badly.
- Durability
- The wood is very susceptible to dry-wood termites and other wood-destroying insects, only slightly resistant to decay fungi; no appreciable resistance to marine borers.
- Uses
- General carpentry, furniture and cabinet work, flooring, and turnery. It has been suggested for plywood and veneer.
- Where it grows
- Throughout West Indies, Central America, Colombia, the Guianas, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Common in secondary forests and frequently on lands degraded by farming.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 59–60, 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 serrette against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.