Yellowheart

Yellowheart (Euxylophora paraensis)

Common Name(s): Yellowheart, Pau Amarello

Scientific Name: Euxylophora paraensis

Distribution: Brazil

Tree Size: 100-130 ft (30-40 m) tall, 3-5 ft (1-1.5 m) trunk diameter

Average Dried Weight: 56 lbs/ft³ (900 kg/m³)

Basic Specific Gravity: .70

Hardness: 1,790 lb_f (7,960 N)

Rupture Strength: 16,590 lb_f/in² (114,410 kPa)

Elastic Strength: 2,209,000 lb_f/in² (15,230 MPa)

Crushing Strength: 9,050 lb_f/in² (62.4 MPa)

Shrinkage: Radial: 6.0%, Tangential: 6.7%, Volumetric: 12.8%, T/R Ratio: 1.1

Color/Appearance: Heartwood color ranges from pale to golden yellow, darkening slightly with age. Sapwood is a pale yellow/white.

Grain/Pore: Yellowheart has a fine texture and a naturally high luster. Its pores are very small: usually no grain filler is necessary to achieve a smooth and flat finish. The grain is usually straight, though some figured pieces may have wavy or interlocked grain.

Endgrain: Diffuse-porous; small pores in no specific arrangement; solitary and radial multiples of 2-3; heartwood deposits occasionally present; growth rings indistinct; rays visible without lens; parenchyma mostly indiscernible with lens.

Durability: Rated as moderately durable in decay resistance, with mixed reports on its resistance to insect attacks.

Workability: Yellowheart is normally easy to work with hand or machine tools, though it can be more difficult if interlocked or figured grain is present. Yellowheart also has a moderate blunting effect on cutters. Glues and finishes well.

Scent: Yellowheart has a mild, unpleasant smell when being worked.

Safety: Yellowheart has been reported to cause skin irritation in some people. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.

Price/Availability: Should be fairly inexpensive for an import, comparable to other economy imports such as Padauk or Purpleheart.

Comments: Though many other species of wood can be yellow colored, perhaps few are so consistent and vibrant as Yellowheart. Some boards are a very uniform, bright yellow.

Yellowheart has an unusually high amount of radial shrinkage when compared to its tangential shrinkage, giving it a remarkably low T/R ratio.

Yellowheart (i.e. Pau Amarello) is a commercially important timber in Brazil, where it is widely harvested and used for a variety of purposes. (Yellowheart is also sometimes sold as “Brazilian Satinwood.” Some common uses for Yellowheart include: flooring, furniture, boat-building, and turned objects.