Trade Names:  Sucupira, Supupira, Coeur Dehors

Origin:  South America

Range:  Primarily in Brazil but also in the northern parts of South America, Venezuela and Guyava.

Uses:  Sliced veneer, engineering and construction lumber for all interior and exterior applications, windows, doors, parquet flooring, furniture.

Properties:  The heartwood is red to brown-red with light yellow lines. It is most resistant to fungi, insect attack and the weather. The wood is hard, heavy, tough and dense.

Machining:  Sucupira is not easy to work due to its extreme hardness and its frequently irregular or interlocked grain. To be recommended are carbide-tipped tools. The wood splits down the edges at too high a feed speed.

Seasoning:  Sucupira must not be dried too quickly because it is very prone to checking and warping. Too high temperatures cause surface checking and even case hardening.