Hardwood Heavyweights and Lumber Lightweights

E ND USERS can be winners with b both hardwood heavyweights and featherweights. As long as they play to each wood's particular strengths and not its weaknesses.

Snakewood ( Piratinera guianensis) weighs in as the heaviest of hardwood, about 80% heavier than oak. Found in Central and tropical South America, it is also known as letterwood, amourette, bourra courea, letterhout, polo do oro, leopard wood and speckled wood. Its red-brown heartwood features black speckles or stripes, reminiscent of a snakeskin.

Along with their exceptional weight, timbers also boast high strength, toughness, hardness, durability and resistance to preservative treatment. Yet they are difficult to season, with a tendency to warp and degrade. Gum exudation also results in poor steam bending.

It is exported only in small quantities since only the figured heartwood is of commercial interest. It is shipped in small billets after the wide band of pale sapwood is cut off. Turned articles such as walking sticks, drum sticks, fishing rod butts, archery bows, violin bows, cutlery

Story at a Glance

Propefiies and uses for the heaviest and lightest hardwoods tropical Americas' snake wood and balsa top the charts.

handles, umbrella handles and brushbacks are then produced.

Similarly, lignum vitae (Guaiacum fficinale) is incredibly heavy, hard, dense, strong and durable, earning it the name "ironwood" in the U.S. The West Indies and tropi- cal American tree has a dark greenish-brown heartwood. with a characteristic oily feel due to its high content of guaiac resin.

Although problems arise in drying, working and gluing, the wood's self-lubricating properties are ideal for ship propellers, brushes and bearings, marine equipment, thrust bearings, pulley sheaves, wheels, guides, rollers and blocks, die cutting and turning, and other uses where lubrication is impractical or unreliable.

Brazilwood (Caesalpinia ec hinata)