Brazilwood | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (original) (raw)

Brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata)

Common Name(s): Brazilwood, pernambuco

Scientific Name: Paubrasilia echinata (formerly listed in the genera Caesalpinia and Guilandina)

Distribution: Brazil

Tree Size: 30-50 ft (9-15 m) tall,

2-3 ft (.6-1 m) trunk diameter

Average Dried Weight: 65.6 lbs/ft3 (1,050 kg/m3)

Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): 0.88, 1.05

Janka Hardness: 2,820 lbf (12,540 N)

Modulus of Rupture: 25,530 lbf/in2 (176.1 MPa)

Elastic Modulus: 2,930,000 lbf/in2 (20.2 GPa)

Crushing Strength: 10,730 lbf/in2 (74.0 MPa)

Shrinkage: Radial: 4.7%, Tangential: 8.5%,

Volumetric: 14.2%, T/R Ratio: 1.8

Color/Appearance: Heartwood is yellowish orange, sometimes darker reddish brown. Whitish yellow sapwood is clearly demarcated from heartwood. Reported to hold its orange color better than African padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii).

Grain/Texture: Grain is straight or occasionally interlocked; fine, even texture with good natural luster.

Rot Resistance: Brazilwood is rated as very durable regarding decay resistance. Poor insect/borer resistance.

Workability: Despite its high density, brazilwood has good workability, though interlocked grain can result in tearout during surfacing operations. Turns, glues, and finishes well.

Odor: No characteristic odor.

Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, brazilwood has been reported to cause skin irritation, as well as a number of other effects, such as headache, nausea, swelling skin, and blisters. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.

Pricing/Availability: Unfortunately, brazilwood has been exploited in centuries past, and is now listed as an endangered species, with international trade being tightly restricted. Prices are likely to be very high, and from dubious sources.

Sustainability: This wood species is in CITES Appendix II, and is on the IUCN Red List. It is listed as endangered due to a population reduction of over 50% in the past three generations, caused by a decline in its natural range, and exploitation.

Common Uses: Stringed instrument bows (violin, viola, cello, etc.), veneers, inlay, carvings, and turned objects.

Comments: Perhaps the only wood that was so famous, it was responsible for the naming of an entire nation.[1]John Hemming, Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians, 1500–1760 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978), 8. When Portuguese ships discovered the trees on the coast of South America in the sixteenth century, they found that the wood yielded a water-soluble red dye which made for a very valuable and lucrative trading commodity. They named the tree pau brasil (the term pau meaning wood, and brasil meaning red or ember-like). Such a vigorous trade resulted from this wood that early sailors and merchants referred to the land itself as Terra do Brasil, or ‘Land of Brazil,’ and the name stuck.

Brazilwood is also known as pernambuco to bow-makers. Although the density and mechanical data listed above is average for the species, bowyers tend to favor the heaviest and strongest pieces for use in bows. One study evaluating the suitability of pernambuco staves for bow manufacture found that the highest grades [classes] of the wood had “a lower frequency of vessels and rays and a higher percentage of fibers when compared to the other classes. They also had higher values of density, speed of sound propagation, modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture.”[2]Alves, E. S., Longui, E. L., & Amano, E. (2008). Pernambuco wood (Caesalpinia echinata) used in the manufacture of bows for string instruments. Iawa Journal, 29(3), 323-335.

With trees already at historically depleted levels from the exploitation for its dye wood, today’s global demand for violin bows have continued to push the species to dangerously low levels. Efforts to preserve the trees were organized even before its official listing as an endangered species in 2007.[3]Rymer, R. (2004). Saving the music tree. Smithsonian, 35(1), 52-63. In a study of six other promising South American hardwoods,[4]Longui, E. L., Lima, I. L. D., Lombardi, D. R., Garcia, J. N., & Alves, E. S. (2014). Woods with physical, mechanical and acoustic properties similar to those of Caesalpinia echinata have high … Continue reading it was found that only ipe (Handroanthus spp.) produced bows of acceptable quality as a substitute.

Images: Drag the slider up/down to toggle between raw and finished wood. The first sample shows a vivid orange coloration, while the second is a flatsawn piece with slightly darker reddish brown heartwood.

Brazilwood and white oak (turned)

Porosity: diffuse porous

Arrangement: solitary and radial multiples

Vessels: medium to large, few to moderately numerous

Parenchyma: vasicentric, lozenge, confluent, and banded (marginal)

Rays: narrow width, normal spacing; sometimes storied

Lookalikes/Substitutes: Brazilwood looks very similar to chakte viga (Coulteria platyloba), and the two species were both formerly classified in the Caesalpinia genus. However, the two can be separated on the basis of water extract fluorescence. The water extract from brazilwood will fluoresce a bright yellow, while chakte viga’s water extract fluorescence will be very faint.[5]Richter, H.G., Gembruch, K., and Koch, G. 2014 onwards. CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, and Spanish. Version: 20th … Continue reading

Notes: heartwood sometimes fluoresces a faint yellow-orange under blacklight; reddish orange heartwood extractives readily leachable in water; rays sometimes storied, producing ripple marks on tangential facegrain surfaces

Paubrasilia contains only one species, P. echinata. Based on genetic studies published in 2016,[6]Gagnon, E., Bruneau, A., Hughes, C. E., de Queiroz, L. P., & Lewis, G. P. (2016). A new generic system for the pantropical Caesalpinia group (Leguminosae). PhytoKeys, (71), 1 many trees that were formerly placed in the Caesalpinia genus (including P. echinata) have been reassigned to different genera.

Closely related species found in the Caesalpinieae tribe include the following: