Category: 1
Wood density at 12% moisture content (kg): 1050
Also known as: Ipe, Brazilian Walnut, Lapacho
Botanical name: Handroanthus spp. (formerly placed in the Tabebuia genus)
Origin: Central and South America, Brazil, Argentina
Use: Ipe is suitable anywhere, where high hardness, strength and durability are required (e.g. gears), but it does not have self-lubricating properties due to its lower content of oily resins.
Used for:
- Water and port constructions, for shipbuilding, bridges
- Interior constructions (partitions, crossbeams, window crossbeams, etc.),
- Wooden structures, building constructions, sleepers, wood siding, wooden facade cladding
- Vehicles, wagons
- Intensely used parquets
- Lathe machine products, handles of various tools
- Fishing rods, bows and sports equipment
- Veneers and marquetry
Durability: Ipe wood is very durable. It handles weather fluctuations well. It is resistant to termites but cannot withstand the naval shipworm.
Wood description: Sapwood: rather narrow – 4 cm, yellow to reddish color, often also greyish. Heartwood: color of freshly cut wood is light green, later turns olive brown and greenish brown. Texture: often slightly striped due to lighter and darker stripes (even black stripes), medullary rays are very fine-grained, annual rings are quite noticeable, the surface tends to have an oily appearance.
Wood treatment:
Cutting: easier than its hardness would suggest; disruption by cutting – average
Drying: slow, slight risk of warping and anomalies
Workability: due to the irregularity of the course of grains – some difficulties, it is necessary to use tools made of hard metals
Bonding/gluing: demanding
Nailing/hammering: necessary to pre-drill holes
Clean workability, finishing: good; lapachol deposits can complicate the application of varnishes and coatings; we recommend grain filling, easy-to-polish
