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Sweetia panamensis
Chichipate
A dense, richly colored hardwood with a gold-flecked sapwood and a sharp, bitter bite — built for veneer, railroad ties, and heavy construction.
View Selected InventoryAbout Chichipate
Chichipate grows tall — trees reach 12 to 40 m — and has a heartwood in brown or olive-green tones, set off by a sapwood with a distinctive yellowish-cream, gold-like shimmer. The grain runs straight, and the wood is genuinely dense: hard enough to resist insects and fungi on its own, but that same density makes it a moderately demanding wood to work by hand or machine. It's not one you'd want to taste-test twice, either — it carries a strong, unpleasant scent and a notably bitter flavor. That toughness is exactly what's made it a reliable choice for plywood veneer, both core and visible face layers, along with parquet, wainscot, staves, and high-quality railroad ties — plus posts and rural construction locally.
At a glance
- Chaktu00e9 (Mexico)
- Bu00e1lsamo Amarillo
- Bu00e1lsamo Oloroso
- Cencerro
- Chile
- Corteza de Honduras
- Guayacu00e1n
- Huesillo
- Huesito
At a glance
- Origin
- Belize, Guatemala, Central Mexico, Southeast Mexico, Southwest Mexico
- Category
- Indoor Furniture · Flooring
- Best for
- Furniture, flooring
- Working properties
- A highly dense wood — moderately difficult to work by hand or machine, though its hardness pays off in strong natural resistance to insects and fungi.
Spec sheet
Physical-mechanical properties
Physical-mechanical values for Chichipate from the approved Final Content document.
Density
800 kg/mu00b3
MOE Flex u2014 Elastic Modulus
182580 kg/cmu00b2
RLE Flex u2014 Elastic Resistance Limit
839 kg/cmu00b2
RR Flex u2014 Rupture Resistance
1541 kg/cmu00b2
PMOE Com for u2014 Elastic Modulus, Compression Parallel
162160 kg/cmu00b2
PRLE Com for u2014 Elastic Resistance Limit, Compression Parallel
346 kg/cmu00b2
RR Com for u2014 Rupture Resistance
698 kg/cmu00b2
RLE Com for u2014 Elastic Resistance Limit, Perpendicular Compression
697 kg/cmu00b2
RR Shear for u2014 Rupture Resistance, Parallel Shear
697 kg/cmu00b2
JK Lateral u2014 Lateral Face Hardness
1067 kg
JK Lateral u2014 Transverse Face Hardness
1165 kg
Where it's used
Built for the demanding jobs
01 — Furniture
Indoor & outdoor furniture
02 — Flooring
Premium hardwood flooring
03 — Musical Instruments
Tonewood & musical instruments
04 — Marine
Marine decking & boat building
Application Gallery
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