Ipe

Tabebuia spp. · Hardwood · South America

Ipe (Tabebuia spp.) wood and tree photograph — Photo: Philipp Zinger · CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)

Janka 3,680 lbf≈57 lb/ft³ dried (est.)Very durable

Properties

Janka hardness	3,680 lbf (16,369 N)
Average dried weight (est.)	57 lb/ft³ (920 kg/m³)
Specific gravity	0.92
Modulus of rupture	25,400 psi (175.1 MPa)
Modulus of elasticity	3.14 million psi (21.65 GPa)
Crushing strength	13,010 psi (89.7 MPa)
Shrinkage — radial	6.6%
Shrinkage — tangential	8.0%
Shrinkage — volumetric	13.2%
Shrinkage T/R ratio	1.2

Values at 12% moisture content, clear-wood averages. Source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook FPL-GTR-282 (2021), Table 5-5b p. 5-23; shrinkage Table 4-4 p. 4-9.

Ipe is the extremely dense, durable lapacho-group hardwood of Latin America (specific gravity 0.92, Janka hardness 3,680 lbf) — so heavy that thoroughly air-dried heartwood generally sinks in water. The genera behind ipe (Handroanthus, Tabebuia, and Roseodendron) entered CITES Appendix II effective November 25, 2024, and the principal traded species, Handroanthus serratifolius, is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Appearance & grain

The sapwood is relatively wide, yellowish gray or gray-brown, and sharply differentiated from the heartwood, which runs from light to dark olive brown. The texture is fine to medium, and the grain is straight to very irregular and often narrowly interlocked.

Durability

The Handbook rates ipe as highly resistant to decay and to insects, including both subterranean and dry-wood termites — though it is susceptible to marine borer attack — and the heartwood is impermeable to preservative treatment.

Workability

The Handbook notes that ipe's high density and hardness — two to three times that of white oak — make it moderately difficult to machine, though glassy smooth surfaces can be produced. In the air-dried condition its strength is comparable with greenheart.