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Manilkara zapota
Chicozapote
A near-impermeable hardwood tough enough to survive intact in Mayan temple ruins for centuries — now built for marine work, tool handles, and fine furniture.
View Selected InventoryAbout Chicozapote
Chicozapote has already proven itself over centuries — beams cut from this wood have been found intact among the ruins of Mayan temples, a testament to its excellent durability and insect resistance. Color runs from pink or red to a deeper reddish-brown, with pale yellowish sapwood gradually giving way to heartwood as the tree matures. The grain is straight to wavy with a fine-to-medium, even texture. It's dense enough that it's sometimes sold dry rather than green, and it can be demanding to cut, but tungsten carbide or stellite-tipped tooling handles it well, and it turns and finishes cleanly once you're through the rough part. It also dries slowly but virtually free of stress or defects, making it a practically impermeable, long-term performer both indoors and out. Beyond the timber itself, the tree's bark resin has a long history as the source of natural chewing gum and candy production.
At a glance
- Arbol del Chicle
- Chapote
- Peruu00e9tano
- Xicotzu00e1potl
- Nu00edspero (Costa Rica
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- El Salvador)
- Sapodilla (Belize)
At a glance
- Origin
- Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Florida, Gulf of Mexico islands, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Antilles
- Category
- · Outdoor Furniture
- Best for
- Marine construction, tool handles, furniture, parquet, cabinets
- Working properties
- Dense and moderately demanding to machine, with a noticeable dulling effect on cutters but turns and finishes to a clean result, especially with carbide or stellite-tipped tools.
Spec sheet
Physical-mechanical properties
Physical-mechanical values for Chicozapote from the approved Final Content document.
Density
900 kg/mu00b3
MOE Flex u2014 Elastic Modulus
163200 kg/cmu00b2
RLE Flex u2014 Elastic Resistance Limit
732 kg/cmu00b2
RR Flex u2014 Rupture Resistance
1317 kg/cmu00b2
PMOE Com for u2014 Elastic Modulus, Compression Parallel
185460 kg/cmu00b2
PRLE Com for u2014 Elastic Resistance Limit, Compression Parallel
402 kg/cmu00b2
RR Com for u2014 Rupture Resistance
667 kg/cmu00b2
RLE Com for u2014 Elastic Resistance Limit, Perpendicular Compression
667 kg/cmu00b2
RR Shear for u2014 Rupture Resistance, Parallel Shear
667 kg/cmu00b2
JK Lateral u2014 Lateral Face Hardness
923 kg
JK Lateral u2014 Transverse Face Hardness
887 kg
Where it's used
Built for the demanding jobs
01 — Furniture
Indoor & outdoor furniture
02 — Flooring
Premium hardwood flooring
03 — Musical Instruments
Tonewood & musical instruments
04 — Marine
Marine decking & boat building
Application Gallery
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