Tropical wood · Tropical America
Ulmo wood
Ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia, family Eucryphiaceae) is a tropical timber from tropical America. Air-dry, it weighs about 38 lb/ft³ (609 kg/m³). The figures are from the USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 141–142.
Other names, by country: Gnulgu, muermo, Roble de Chile, Ulmo (Chile).
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, dry
- Not printed
- Air-dry density
- 38 lb/ft³ (609 kg/m³)
- Basic specific gravity
- 0.48 oven-dry weight, green volume
- As printed: “Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.48; air-dry density 38 pcf.”
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 8.2% tangential
- Radial 4.5%, volumetric 13.2%
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 | 7,000 psi (48 MPa) | 1.13 million psi (7.8 GPa) | 3,770 psi (26 MPa) |
| 12% MC | 11,000 psi (76 MPa) | 1.42 million psi (9.8 GPa) | 6,500 psi (45 MPa) |
A dash means the sheet prints no value; none is filled in.
What the data sheet says
- Color, grain and texture
- Heartwood reddishor grayish-brown, sometimes variegated; not sharply demarcated from the lighter colored sapwood. Luster rather high; texture fine and uniform; grain generally straight; without distinctive odor or taste.
- Working properties
- Reported to have good working properties.
- Durability
- Heartwood is nondurable.
- Uses
- Railroad crossties (treated), flooring, general construction, furniture, and joinery.
- Where it grows
- Occurs in Chile between 37° and 44° S. latitude, extending up the mountains to the edge of glaciers.
Quoted from Tropical Timbers of the World, pp. 141–142, 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 ulmo against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.