Chakte Kok - Red Heart

manually unloaded wood  - lying on Katalox

Names and distribution: Botanically Chakte Kok (Sickingia salvadoriensis) belongs to the legumes. The species is also known as Red Heart or Manglitto. It is found in humid forests of Yucatan (Mexico) and there is readily available.

Appearance: Heartwood: fresh cut fiery red, then pink and darkening to honey yellow. Sapwood pale beige, stands out clearly from the heartwood. The striking red color of the heartwood can be stabilized using UV blockers during surface treatment (provider: Clou, VOLVOX, Biofa). The wood is fine-pored, straight grained with occasional wavy to irregular grain. This results in considerable variations in the wood appearance (texture). Very decorative.

Properties: The specific weight at 12% moisture content is 0.70 to 0.75 t / m³. Chakte Kok is of medium hardness. There is a risk of cracking when drying. Chakte Kok contains no ingredients that might harm tools and is therefore good to plane, cut and polish. Smooth surfaces will result. Screw connections may need to be pre-drilled. The dimensional stability is average, the E-modulus is 12000-16000 N/mm², shear strength is high. Chakte Kok is weather resistant. However, due to the low availability it is usually only processed in high end interior.

Use: Furniture, fine wood products, turnery, musical instruments

Replaces: Bubinga, Padouk, Rosewood, Satiné