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Purpleheart
Botanical Name: Peltogyne
spp.
Family: Leguminosae
Other Common Names: Palo
morado (Mexico), Morado (Panama, Venezuela), Tananeo (Columbia),
Koroboreli (Guyana), Purperhart (Surinam), Amarante (French
Guiana), Pau roxo, Guarabu (Brazil), Violetwood (English
trade).
Uses: Turnery, marquetry,
cabinets, fine furniture, parquet flooring, tool handles,
heavy construction, shipbuilding, many specialty items
(billiard cue butts, chemical vats, carving).
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Distribution: Center
of distribution in the north-middle part of Brazilian Amazon
region; combined range of all the species from Mexico through
Central America and southward to southern Brazil.
General Characteristics: Trees
grow to heights of 170 ft with diameters of 4 ft, but usually
1.5 to 3 ft; boles are straight, cylindrical, and clear
60 to 90 ft above buttresses up to 12 ft high. Heartwood
brown when freshly cut becoming deep purple upon exposure,
eventually turning to a dark brown sharply demarcated from
the off-white sapwood. Texture medium to fine; luster medium
to high, variable; grain is usually straight, sometimes
wavy, ropey, or irregular; without distinct odor or taste.
Weight: Basic specific gravity
(ovendry weight/green volume) varies with species from
0.67 to 0.91; air-dry density 50 to 66 pcf.
Working Properties: Moderately
difficult to work with either hand or machine tool, dulls
cutters, exudes a gummy resin when heated by dull tools;
slow feed rates and specially hardened cutters are suggested.
Turns smoothly, easy to glue, and takes finishes well.
Durability: Heartwood is
rated as highly durable in resistance to attack by decay
fungi; very resistant to dry-wood termites; but little
resistance to marine borers.
Preservation: Heartwood
is reported to be extremely resistant to impregnation with
preservative oils; sapwood is permeable.
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Mechanical Properties:
(First set of data based on the 2-in.
standard; second on the 2-cm standard; third on the 1-in.
standard)
Bending Strength:
Green (75): 13,690 psi
12%: 19,220 psi
Green (30): 21,000 psi
12%: 26,700 psi
12% (24): 30,900 psi
Modules of Elasticity:
Green (75): 2,000 @ 1,000 psi
12%: 2,270 @ 1,000 psi
Green (30): 2,560 @ 1,000 psi
12%: N/A
12% (24): 3,460 @ 1,000 psi
Maximum Crushing Strength:
Green (75): 7,020 psi
12%: 10,320 psi
Green (30): 9,250 psi
12%: 12,200 psi
12% (24): 14,500 psi
Janka side hardness ranges from
1,860 to 3,920 lb at 12% moisture content. Forest Products
Laboratory toughness at
12% moisture content ranges from 157 to 398in.-lb (5/8-in.
specimen).
Drying and Shrinkage:
Reports vary, air-dries easily
to moderately difficult; dries slowly to fairly rapidly;
with almost no degrade to some warping and splitting. Kiln
Schedule T6-D2 is suggested for 4/4 stock and T3-D1 for
8/4. Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial 3.2%; tangential
6.1%; volumetric 9.9%. Stability after manufacture or movement
is rated as small.
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