question about exotics

[tod evans]

had a local flooring contractor call and asked about stair treads made out of "brazailian cherry" anybody heard of such a critter? i try not to work in exotics `cause some of them have strange to me behavior like alergic reactions and sand in the wood but if this guy has the bucks i`ll give her a go if i can find out what what brazialian cherry is?
thanks, tod

[Doug Shepard]

Brazilian Cherry a.k.a. Jatoba

[tod evans]

thanks doug! that`s a name the wholesalers will recognize..tod

[John Miliunas]

Yeah, and at least around here, Brazilian Cherry really isn't all that expensive, to boot. Personally, I like the look of our good old US Cherry better but, whatever blows their skirt up, right? :D :cool:

[tod evans]

is this one of those can`t glue it, gums up the sanders belts makes you wheeze woods?

[jerry cousins]

have made several furniture pieces from jatoba - i really like it. more dense than cherry - finishes beautifully - but i have never seen it used as flooring so don't know how it stands up to that kind of use. it is a bit more brutal on tools than cherry. and in me splinters do fester but had no reaction to dust.

jerry

[Corvin Alstot]

Courbaril (Jatoba)<O:p</O:p
The genus Hymenaea consists of about 25 species that occur in the West Indies and from southern South America</ST1:p.
The best-known and most important species is H. courbaril, which occurs throughout the range of the genus.
Courbaril is often called jatoba in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com /><st1:country-region w:st=Mexico</st1:country-region> through Central America into the Amazon <ST1 /><st1:PlaceType w:st=basin</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st=" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1:pBrazil</ST1:p</st1:country-region>. Sapwood of courbaril is gray–white and usually quite wide.<O:p</O:p
The heartwood, which is sharply differentiated from the sapwood, is salmon red to orange–brown when freshly
cut and becomes russet or reddish brown when dried. The heartwood is often marked with dark streaks. The texture is
medium to rather coarse, and the grain is mostly interlocked. The wood is hard and heavy (about 800 kg/m3 (50 lb/ft3)
at 12% moisture content). The strength properties of courbaril are quite high and very similar to those of shagbark hickory
(Carya ovata), a species of lower specific gravity. Courbaril is rated as moderately to very resistant to
attack by decay fungi and dry-wood termites. The heartwood is not treatable, but the sapwood is treatable with preservatives.
Courbaril is moderately difficult to saw and machine because of its high density, but it can be machined to a smooth surface.
Turning, gluing, and finishing properties are satisfactory. Planing, however, is somewhat difficult because of the interlocked grain.
Courbaril compares favorably with white oak (Quercus alba) in steam bending behavior. Courbaril is used for tool handles
and other applications that require good shock resistance. It is also used for steam-bent parts, flooring, turnery, furniture
and cabinetwork, veneer and plywood, railroad crossties, and other specialty items.<O:p</O:p

[Cecil Arnold]

Tod, check some of the internet flooring places, they all sell "Brazilian Cherry" floors and you can get a look at some samples.

[Bob Rufener]

My brother in law did a dining room floor in Brazilian Cherry and it was beautiful.

[Lopaka Garcia]

Jatoba. Very hard, very heavy and very nice.

[Alan Turner]

Tod,
Nice wood, reddish brown with black steaks, inexpensive (for what it is), and popular for flooring these days. Tough on hand tools; typical tropical. the generic "Jatoba" has two pronunciations. Ja-to'-ba here in the US; Ja'-to-ba in South America.

Very durable.

[Jim King]

Here in Peru we call Jatoba "Brazilian Cherry" " the international name" Azucar Huayo "Sweet Wood" It is a fairly hard wood that can range from dark yellow to red. Nothing special about any of them , but it is abundant and cheap.

[Mike Henderson]

Does anyone know how Jatoba would hold up outdoors? That is, would it be a good choice for outdoor furniture?

Corvin mentioned that it is sometimes used for railroad crossties so I thought it might be rot resistant.

Mike

[Jim Tobias]

I have it in one room of my house and am about to add it to 3 other rooms. It is very, very hard. I believe it is around 2300 on the hardness scale compared to around 1300 for oak. It is tough on sharp edge tools. I had it installed professionally and am having the new area installed. The last guy that installed the original part (3/4"- 7 -9"wide) had to predrill in some places because he could not get his nail gun to shoot the nails deep enough (could have been a weak nail gun, I don;t know for sure). I will say that it holds up extremely well and has a beautiful , deep, mainly reddish color.

Jim

[Todd Burch]

As Jim states quite nicely, Brazillian Cherry is an excellent wood. I would have it for flooring or stair treads any day of the week. It darkens with age, quite fast I might add, like antique cherry.

Todd

[Mark Singer]

I have used it for years and really like it....very dense , very stable...glues well..
Here is a link:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=5668&highlight=jatoba

[Vaughn McMillan]

I also like working with jatoba, for the reasons others have mentioned. I also like the grain pattern, which seems more "wavy" than many non-curly woods. In my limited experience, I've found it prone to blowing up if you don't pay attention to the grain direction when using a template and bearing bit in a router table to shaped curved edges like these:

39168

On the other hand, me teaching Tod anything about cutting curved edges is like me telling Hank Aaron how to hit a baseball. ;)

- Vaughn