Species data
Imbuia
Ocotea porosa - a hardwood from southern Brazil. Also sold as imbuya, embuya, brazilian walnut.
Properties at a glance
| Janka hardness | 970 lbf |
| Stiffness (MOE) | 1,394,000 psi |
| Specific gravity | 0.66 |
| Density | 41.2 lb/ft3 (660 kg/m3) |
| Weight per board foot | 3.43 lb |
| Shrinkage, green to oven-dry | 6.4% tangential / 3% radial |
| Indicative price | $12.00 per board foot (estimated) |
Values are at about 12% moisture content. Density is specific gravity times 62.4; a board foot is one twelfth of a cubic foot, so weight per board foot is that density divided by twelve. Anything marked estimated is our own figure, not a measured one.
How Imbuia compares
Measured against the 113 solid woods in this database: it is harder than 49% of them, heavier than 55%, and stiffer than 27%.
What that means in the shop
A 4/4 board 8 inches wide and 8 feet long is 5.33 board feet, so in Imbuia it weighs about 18.3 lb. A stack of ten is 183 lb - worth knowing before you load a rack or a car.
Against red oak, the trade's usual yardstick at 1,220 lbf, Imbuia is about 80% as hard and 94% as heavy.
Its shrinkage is 6.4% tangential against 3% radial, a ratio of 2.1 to 1. The wider that ratio, the more unevenly a flatsawn board moves across its width as humidity changes, and the more it wants to cup; anything near or above 2 to 1 is worth quartersawing or restraining for panels and wide tops. This one sits in that range.
Woods of similar hardness
Closest to Imbuia on hardness in this database: Anigre (990 lbf), Black Cherry (950 lbf), Red Maple (950 lbf), Black Walnut (1,010 lbf). Similar hardness does not mean similar behaviour - check density and movement before substituting one for another.
Working with it
Workability. Responds well to both hand and machine work, though wild grain complicates surfacing
Durability. Durable with moderate insect resistance and pleasing performance when exposed to the weather
Typical uses. furniture, cabinetry, flooring, veneer, boatbuilding, gunstocks, turned objects.
Related calculators
Sources
MOE, SG (12% MC), Janka and shrinkage from The Wood Database (citing USDA FPL and related sources). This imported species is not listed in the FPL/Hoadley dimensional change coefficient table, so CT/CR and movement source are omitted. Uses, region, durability and workability summarized from The Wood Database. Price indicative.
These calculators are for planning and estimation. Engineering results (shelf sag, wood movement) use published average material properties; real boards vary by grade, grain, moisture and defects. Verify load-bearing designs with a professional.