- GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: heartwood reddish brown with dark stripes, distinct from the grayish sapwood. Slightly distinct growth rings, grain straight of slightly interlocked and texture medium. Fresh wood has characteristic odor, which disappears after drying.
- DENSITY: medium density wood, with density at 12 % moisture content from 500 to 750 kg/m3 and green density around 1,100 kg/m3.
- DRYING: air-dries at a moderate slow rate, with no serious defects. Kiln-drying of C. duckei and C. reticulata is fast with moderate checking, cupping and twisting, when submitted to the drying schedule 1.
- WORKABILITY: it can be easily worked with hand and machine tools, generating a smooth and uniform surface. (16) Good nail-and-screw-holding properties. (16)
- DURABILITY: laboratory tests showed that C. langsdorfii and C. reticulata are very durable in resistance to wood-degraders organisms. (24) However, other species are reported to be vulnerable to white-and-brown-rot fungi, insects and dry-wood termites. (6)
- PRESERVATION: sapwood of C. duckei and C. reticulata is easily preserved while the heartwood is difficult to be preserved, eve with pressure-vaccum systems.
- USES: interior trim, ceilings, furniture tool handles, sliced venners, plywood, packaging, truck bodies and others.
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