USDA Forest Service
Forest Products Laboratory
One Gifford Pinchot Drive
Madison, WI 53705-2398
(608) 231-9200

Wood Technical Fact Sheet

 Enterolobium schomburgkii

Timbauba

Family: Leguminosae

Other Common Names: Harino (Panama), Menudito (Venezuela), Bougou bati batra, Acacia franc (French Guiana), Timbauba (Brazil), Jebio, Hevio (Bolivia).

Distribution: Central America and southward to the Guianas and northern Brazil, Peru and Bolivia; preferring non-inundated sandy soil.

The Tree: Grows to a height of 120 ft with trunk diameters sometimes reaching 6 ft.

The Wood:

General Characteristics: Seasoned heartwood is light yellowish brown sometimes with darker streaks; narrow sapwood is deep cream in color. Grain is usually straight, sometimes interlocked; texture medium; luster low to medium; without odor or taste.

Weight: Basic specific gravity (ovendry weight/green volume) 0.82; air-dry density 62 pcf.

Mechanical Properties: (First two sets of data based on 2-in. standard; the third on the 1-in. standard.)

Moisture content Bending strength Modulus of elasticity Maximum crushing strength

(%) (Psi) (1,000 psi) (Psi)

Green (73) 16,490 2,820 7,430

12% 23,540 3,180 11,520

12% (44) 18,200 2,720 NA

12% (24) 21,900 3,120 13,100

Janka side hardness 2,000 lb for green material and 2,330 lb at 12% moisture content. Forest Products Laboratory toughness average for green and dry material is 285 in.-lb. (5/8-in. specimen).

Drying and Shrinkage: The wood is rated difficult to air-season; moderate crook and surface checking developed in wood dried at a fast to moderate rate. No dry kiln data available. Shrinkage from green to ovendry: radial 3.8%; tangential 8.8%; volumetric 13.9%.

Working Properties: The wood is rated as easy to moderately difficult to work, generating only a small amount of fuzzy grain in planing, otherwise finishing smoothly. Workmen occasionally allergic to the dust.

Durability: The wood is rated as very durable in resistance to attack by both white rot and brown-rot fungi.

Preservation: The heartwood is very difficult to treat and the sapwood is only slightly less so.

Uses: Furniture and cabinet work, heavy construction, railroad crossties, flooring, and tool handles.

Additional Reading: (24), (44), (73)