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Bursera simaruba
Chacaj Colorado
Known across its range as the "tourist tree" for its sunburned, peeling red bark — a lightweight, fast-growing hardwood valued for carving, veneer, and living fence posts.
View Selected InventoryAbout Chacaj Colorado
Chacaj Colorado — widely known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, almácigo, or chaca — is instantly recognizable long before it reaches the mill. Its thin, coppery-red bark peels away in papery sheets, a trait that's earned it the nickname "the tourist tree" for its resemblance to sunburned skin. Native across the Neotropics, from South Florida through Mexico and the Caribbean to Brazil, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, it's a prominent presence in the Petenes mangrove ecoregion of the Yucatán, growing alongside the mangroves as a subdominant species. The wood itself is light to moderately dense, with a fine-to-medium texture and grain that runs fairly straight to irregular. Beyond the timber, this tree has a genuinely distinctive practical role in the region: cut branches root easily when simply planted in the ground, making it a traditional choice for living fence posts across Central America.
- Gumbo-Limbo
- Copperwood
- Almácigo
- Chaca
- West Indian Birch
- Naked Indian
- Turpentine Tree
At a glance
- Origin
- South Florida, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela
- Category
- Musical Instruments
- Best for
- Musical instruments, Light carving
- Working properties
- Lightweight and relatively easy to work given its lower density; fine-to-medium texture takes carving and shaping well.
Spec sheet
Physical-mechanical properties
Physical-mechanical values for Chacaj Colorado from the approved Final Content document.
Basic Density
410–450 kg/m³
Specific Gravity
≈ 0.41–0.45
Radial Shrinkage (green → oven dry)
~3.0–3.2%
Tangential Shrinkage
~5.9–6.0%
Volumetric Shrinkage
~7–10%
Texture
Fine to medium
Grain
Fairly straight to irregular
MOE — Bending
73,400 kg/cm² (7.20 GPa)
Elastic Limit — Bending
220 kg/cm² (21.6 MPa)
MOR — Bending
410 kg/cm² (40.2 MPa)
MOE — Compression Parallel
79,900 kg/cm² (7.84 GPa)
Compression Parallel — Elastic Limit
160 kg/cm² (15.7 MPa)
Compression Parallel — Rupture
180 kg/cm² (17.6 MPa)
Compression Perpendicular — Elastic Limit
190 kg/cm² (18.6 MPa)
Shear Parallel — Rupture
180 kg/cm² (17.6 MPa)
Janka Hardness — Lateral
215 kg (≈ 2.11 kN)
Janka Hardness — End Grain
240 kg (≈ 2.35 kN)
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
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