Bowdichia nitida Spruce – Leguminosae Papilionoidae
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Heartwood chocolate brown when freshly cut, becoming dark brown after drying. Light brown narrow stripes, giving a fibrous aspect to the wood. Sapwood narrow grayish or pinkish gray, clearly distinct from the heartwood. Grain slightly interlocked, texture medium to coarse, luster moderate, not distinctive odor and taste.
DENSITY
Heavy wood, with density at 12% moisture content of 1010 kg/m^3 and green density of 1220 kg/m^3.
DRYING
Very difficult air-drying, with tendency for slight end checking and warping. Kiln-dries rapidly, with a moderate tendency for medium checking and twisting, when submitted to the drying schedule 3.
WORKABILITY
Moderately difficult to work. Good to saw, but difficult to plane due to interlocked grain. Easy to turn, with excellent finishing, and with good screw-holding properties. Finishes well with varnish or polishing since wood pores are filled properly.
DURABILITY
Durable and resistant to dry-wood fungi and termites. Low resistance to marine borers.
PRESERVATION
Sapwood easy to be preserved and heartwood not treatable with creosote or CCA-A, even with pressure-vacuum systems.
USES
Furniture, sliced veneers, framing, wainscoting, flooring, beams, shingles, shakes, crosspieces, railroad crossties, bridges and others.
