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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.

 

 

 

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Red Louro

TROPICAL HARDWOOD

 Red Louro Timber

Family:

 Lauraceae

Latin Name:

 Ocotea rubra Mez

Distribution:

 Red louro grows in Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, and the lower Amazon region of Brazil, and also in Trinidad.

Uses:

 In Guyana, Red Louro is used for furniture, greenhouse glazing bars, interior and exterior construction, boat planking, turnery, vehicle bodies, cabinet-making, drawing boards, dowel rods, etc. Its natural resistance to moisture should qualify its use for such purposes as tight cooperage, tanks and vats, and boat parts, and it has also been recommended for plywood and veneer. Although less resistant than greenheart in respect of marine borers, it is suitable for piling and construction in waters where Teredo is not the main hazard.

General Description:
The trees are evergreen, without buttresses but usually basally swollen, frequently 27.0m to 30.0m high and a diameter of 0.6m to 1.0m although much larger trees occasionally are found. It is possible to obtain timbers 12.0m long and squaring 0.75m of heartwood and spars up to 21.0m to 24.0m long and 350mm in diameter at the small end.  

Mechanical Properties:
Red Louro's heartwood of red louro is a deep salmon red when freshly cut, becoming a light reddish-brown with a golden sheen when dried. It also has a rather uniform colour with pink or yellow streaks occurring occasionally. The well defined sapwood is creamy, grey, or creamy-brown. The grain is either straight or roey, which occasionally shows as ribbon-like bands on radial surfaces, when quarter-sawn wood is attractively figured. The timber is unusually free of knots and other defects. It is moderately hard and heavy, and weighs about 640 kg/m3 when dried.  

Seasoning:
Red Louro is moderately difficult to dry, largely due to the slow diffusion rate of free moisture through the timber. Thick stock tends to remain moist in the centre for a considerable time, and any attempt to speed up the drying is likely to cause collapse.  

Durability:
Durable  

Other Names:

Determa (Guyana); wane, teteroma, bewana (Surinam); grignon rouge, grignon franc (French Guiana); louro vermelho (Brazil).