Tropical wood · Tropical America
Sucupira (Bowdichia) wood
Sucupira (Bowdichia) (Bowdichia spp., family Leguminosae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Air-dry, it weighs about 56 lb/ft³ (897 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 45–46.
Other names, by country: Alcornoque (Venezuela), Sapupira, Sucupira parda (Brazil).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 56 lb/ft³ (897 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.74 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) averages 0.74. Air-dry density about 56 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.8% tangential
- Radial 5.0%, 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 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 | 18,150 psi (125 MPa) | 2.27 million psi (15.7 GPa) | 10,140 psi (70 MPa) |
| 15% MC | 20,450 psi (141 MPa) | — | 11,560 psi (80 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood dull chocolate to reddish brown, with parenchyma striping; sharply demarcated from whitish sapwood. Luster low; texture coarse with harsh feel; grain irregular and interlocked; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Difficult to work on account of its high density and interlocked and irregular grain, but can be finished fairly smoothly. Glues well.
- Durability
- Heartwood reported to be very durable; railroad ties in the Netherlands showed no sign of decay after 17 years of service.
- Uses
- Suggested for heavy durable construction, railway ties, and other uses not requiring much fabrication.
- Where it grows
- B. nitida occurs in the forests of the Rio Negro and lower amazon region. B. virgilioides has a greater range from Venezuela and the Guianas to southeastern Brazil.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 45–46, a USDA Forest Products Laboratory work in the public domain.
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for ground contact with the species picker
Weigh sucupira (Bowdichia) against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.