Canary wood / Yellow Tarrara

The heartwood is bright yellow and orange and can have a reddish brown grain color when exposed to air and light. The grain is usually straight but can have swirls and cathedral patterns as well. Typically it is odorless when cut. Canarywood can be sanded raw to a luster finish.

Properties:

Canary wood glues and machines well with sharp cutting tools. When planning its grain can lift slightly leaving a fuzzy surface but can be easily sanded to a smooth finish. Canary wood seems to be fairly stable, more so than Red Oak and Maple in reference.

Seasoning:

It dries quickly with few problems with checking or warping. It’s shrinkage from drying is less than 5%

Durability:

The wood has a density of 41 to 47 pounds per cubic foot, similar to many of the North American Hardwoods like white oak. Canary wood is fairly strong and stiff. The bending strength (MOR) is 18,600 psi, the stiffness (MOE) is 2.13 million psi and the hardness is 1,030 pounds. For comparison, red oak MOR averages 14,000 psi, MOE 1.8 million psi and hardness 1,300 pounds.

Typical Uses:

Furniture, cabinetmaking, musical instruments

Centrolobium

Also called:

porcupine wood, arariba and putumuju

Grows:

Panama to southern Brazil

Weight per Board Foot: 3.4