Canarywood

Overview

Canarywood (Centrolobium spp.) is a pale yellow-orange to reddish brown with darker streaks that can look almost rainbow-coloured. It is easy to work, stable and very durable. Pick it for furniture and cabinets where a warm, colourful tropical wood is wanted without difficulty.

Pros

• Easy to work with hand and machine tools; good dimensional stability.
• Turns, glues and finishes well.
• Janka 1,520 lbf, about 830 kg/m3.
• Very durable, and resists termites and marine borers.
• Wood Database says it is sometimes used for speaker cabinets for its acoustic properties.

Cons

• Tear-out in wild or irregular grain.
• Colour varies board to board and homogenises with age.
• Sharply demarcated pale sapwood.
• Moderately high price.
• Species-level data are thin.

Variants and subspecies

• Centrolobium spp.: sold as canarywood, canary or yellow tarara (Bell's name).
• Look-alike: Yellowheart is a purer yellow; Leopardwood has a similar red-brown but with fleck.

Working and finishing

Works readily and glues well. Take light cuts where grain is wild. Finishes nicely with clear oil or lacquer.

Staining and finishing colour

Seldom stained; colour tends to darken and homogenise with age (Wood Database). Light exposure changes the shade, so protect from strong sun if you want to keep the colour.

Sustainability and handling

CITES and IUCN: not listed (Wood Database; APHIS CITES Timber Manual, checked 2026-09-30); unassessed. FSC availability is not verified here. The US Lacey Act makes it unlawful to trade wood taken or exported in breach of the source country's laws (fws.gov/law/lacey-act), so buy from dealers who can name the country and species. If a piece will be exported to or sold in the EU, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (the EUDR) requires due-diligence evidence that wood products are deforestation-free and legally produced; check its current application date with your buyer.

Ethical call: a reasonable choice. Health: no health reactions reported beyond ordinary wood-dust risks. The US National Cancer Institute reports strong, consistent associations between wood-dust exposure and cancers of the nasal cavity and sinuses, so use extraction and a respirator when sanding.

Popular projects

Furniture and cabinetry, flooring, speaker enclosures, boat parts, turned items and veneers.

Buying notes

Two retailers list 4/4 at $16.00 and $18.99 per board foot (September 2026). Available in good lumber sizes and occasionally turning blanks.