In ships, the wood is used for everything from planking and gangways to engine bearers, stern posts, fenders, and sheathing.
Greenheart (Ocotea rodiaei) is also used in docks, piling, revetments, lock gates, handrails and jetties, wharf structures where vessels can stop to load and unload cargo.
Cities located on lakes, rivers, and oceans usually have at least one wharf, where ships can deliver and pick up passengers and load and unload various types of goods.
It is also used for mine work and decking of all kinds.
Albert Constantine Jr., in Know Your Woods, says greenheart rates a "close second to teak in resisting the white ant. Occasionally worms may attack the sapwood, relatively thin, youngest, outer part of the woody stem of a tree, the part that conducts water and dissolved materials. In the cross section of a tree, the sapwood is recognizable by its texture and color; it is softer and lighter than the inner heartwood. , but they do not penetrate into the heartwood."
A Popular Export
Greenheart is one of the most popular woods exported from Guyana. It also grows in Surinam, Venezuelan Guiana, French Guiana and northern Brazil.
The wood's exceptional density and strength, with high bending and crushing strengths, makes it ideal for heavy work. It is suitable for bridge work and commercial flooring.
Greenheart is also used for commercial flooring, filter press plates and turnery, and has very unique uses.
Varied Colors
Greenheart's heartwood varies in color. It ranges from yellowish green to light olive to dark green, and orange green to orange brown to dark brown. Sometimes it has black streaks.
The variation in color leads to a long list of names based on the hue of the heartwood, such as black greenheart, yellow greenheart, brown or white.
The sapwood is usually a pale, yellowish green. The color is not supposed to change the wood's properties.
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Drying Tips
Greenheart dries very slow. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Products Laboratory, recommends that lumber more than 1 in. thick be air-seasoned prior to kiln drying. They suggest kiln schedule T2-C2 for 4/4 stock and T2-C1 for 8/4 stock. Movement in service is rated medium.
Greenheart can be difficult to work and even dangerous, as poisonous splinters can fly from the wood when being worked. Interlocked, cross and end-grains pose the biggest risk. Machining is made more difficult by the presence of an interlocked grain.
The wood is rated moderately hard to work with both hand and machine tools, due in part to the density of the wood. It will dull cutting edges quicker than other woods, but it can be finished to a lustrous sheen.
