Chico Zapote....

D

Dacks

Well-Known Member
.....the wood. Anyone know anything about this stuff?

I've had a nice block of this wood for some time now and just cut/cleaned it up a bit(I'd post a pic if I had batteries). Lovely red/brown color, a bit of figure, and likely the heaviest, hardest wood I've ever held. Absolutely incredible! I have lignum vitae and desert ironwood and ebony and blackwood, and a bunch of others.... but, this stuff is in a class of its own!!

It bogged down the chop saw and band saw, and the thickness sander labored through it on 60 grit. Then, even with dust collection on, it began to burn our nostrils(three of us in the shop)! Actually quite painful!

I'm well aware that some woods out there are pretty nasty, and I do normally wear a respirator/dust mask, but I've never had that reaction with any other wood.

Has anyone ever worked with Chico Zapote?
 
Jerry - I hadn't heard of it either and I've only found tid bits about it on the net.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/sapodilla.html
One of the most interesting and desirable of all tropical fruit trees, the sapodilla, a member of the family Sapotaceae, is now known botanically as Manilkara zapota van Royen...

Among numerous vernacular names, some of the most common are: .....chicle (Mexico); chico (Philippines, Guatemala, Mexico); chicozapote (Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela).......

Timber: Sapodilla wood is strong and durable and timbers which formed lintels and supporting beams in Mayan temples have been found intact in the ruins. It has also been used for railway cross ties, flooring, native carts, tool handles, shuttles and rulers. The red heartwood is valued for archer's bows, furniture, banisters, and cabinetwork but the sawdust irritates the nostrils. Felling of the tree is prohibited in Yucatan because of its value as a source of chicle(used in chewing gum)."

http://www.westpennhardwoods.com/shop/catalog/Chico_Zapote.html
"Chico Zapote (Pouteria sapota)

Chico Zapote is a hard, dense wood. It's color varies from a deep, solid reddish-brown to a light reddish-orange, and often a combination of both colors. Sapwood is cream in color, and makes for a nice contrast against all the red hues. The Zapote tree is used to make chewing gum!

Source Region: Central/South America"
 
I don't know anything about working with it, but it should be a little softer than Lignum Vitae. Zapote has a Janka hardness of 3570 while Lignum Vitae is 4500. Brazilian Ebony has a Janka hardness of 3690. Ceylon and Macassar Ebony are in the 3200 range. African Blackwood is 2940. Janka hardness numbers correlate closely with specific gravity in most cases, and Zapote has a specific gravity of between 0.86 and 0.98. Lignum Vitae is 1.14. It is definitely one of the hardest and heaviest woods in the world. Also, the dust from a lot of tropical trees can be extremely toxic, not only to breathe, but to touch as well.

It is grown commercially for the nuts in a lot of tropical and near tropical regions, including south Florida.
 
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