Hardwood & Clear Grade Softwood Timber Suppliers

SPECIES



Smee Timber Ltd is established as one of Britain's leading and most comprehensive hardwood importing and manufacturing companies, offering an enormous choice of timber to manufacturers and users.

 

 

 

Products

 

Hardwoods:

Clear Grade Softwoods:

Machined Timber Profiles:

Flooring:

 

 

 

 

Purpleheart

CONSTRUCTIONAL TIMBERS

 Purpleheart Timber

Family:

 Leguminosae

Latin Name:

 Peltogyne pubescens

Distribution:

 Central America and tropical South America.

Uses:

 Although expensive, it is used for heavy outdoor construction work, bridge building, fresh water piling, dock work, cladding, house construction and vats. Excellent for flooring, and suitable for gymnasium equipment, shafts, tool handles, boat building, turnery, furniture and billiard tables. Also as decorative veneers for inlaying and marquetry work, etc. Best colour from sawcut, as steaming affects the soluable phonicoin content.

General Description:
The heartwood is a deep purple-violet when freshly cut, maturing to a dark brown; the original colour is restored when re-cut. Straight grained, but often irregular, wavy, and sometimes interlocked, producing a pleasing striped figure on quartered surfaces. Texture moderate to fine. Weight varies from 800-1,000 kg/m3 (50-63 lb/ft3) averaging 860 kg/m3 (54 lb/ft3); specific gravity .86.  

Mechanical Properties:
High strength in bending, stiffness and crushing categories and medium resistance to shock loads, with a moderate steam bending classification.  

Seasoning:
Dries fairly rapidly with little degrade, but care is needed to dry out the centre of thick pieces. Air drying is slow, with some end and surface checking or case hardening. There is small movement in service.  

Durability:
Very durable. Sapwood liable to attack by powder post beetle. Extremely resistant to preservative treatment but the sapwood is permeable.  

Other Names:

Amaranth, violetwood (USA); koroboreli, saka, sakavalli (Guyana); purperhart (Surinam); pau roxo, nazareno, morado (Venezuela); tananeo (Columbia).