Pucté – Bullet Wood

Names and distribution: Botanically, Pucté(Bucida buceras) belongs to the Combretaceae, a family that is widespread mainly in Africa. Because of its extreme hardness, the wood is also known as cacho de toro, which means bull’s horns or even bullet wood (Belize, loosely translated as ‘bullet wood’). Pucté is only found in parts of Guatemala, Belize and Mexico. The availability there is good.

Wood appearance: sapwood: light brown, heartwood: gray-brown to dark olive-brown. The grain is simple and not very inconspicuous. The pores are fine to medium-fine, the fibers are predominantly intertwined and alternately twisted; visually unattractive, plain.

Properties: The spec. Weight is specified at 12% wood moisture with approx. 0.93 – 1.04 ^t/m3. Swelling and shrinkage values are 7.3% in the tangential direction and 3.2% in the radial direction. Cracking along the wooden beams is common. The very hard wood is technically almost impossible to dry, which is also unusual given the lack of indoor applications. Pucté is difficult to machine, even with carbide-tipped tools. Planing is difficult, sanding is recommended to create attractive surfaces. The bending stiffness is high, as are the hardness and shear strength. Pucté is practically impossible to split! The weather resistance is classified as very high (20-25 years in contact with the ground, durability class 1).

Use: Heavy construction timber for outdoor use, railroad sleepers (the British railroads use Pucté unimpregnated for turnout sleepers), for hydraulic work, locks and bridge construction

Replaces: Bongossi, Greenheart, Ipé, etc.