Cumaru

Overview

Cumaru (Dipteryx odorata), often sold as Brazilian teak, is a medium to dark brown wood, sometimes tinged red or purple with yellow-green streaks, almost as hard and durable as Ipe and a little easier to handle. It smells faintly of vanilla or cinnamon when worked. It is chosen for decking, outdoor furniture and flooring.

Pros

• Very hard (Janka 3,330 lbf, about 1,085 kg/m3) and rated very durable, with excellent weathering, per Wood Database.
• Handsome medium-to-dark brown with warm tints.
• The faint vanilla-cinnamon scent is pleasant while it is being cut.
• Wood Database reports no health effects beyond ordinary wood-dust risks.

Cons

• Difficult to work: dense, interlocked and containing silica, so cutters dull moderately.
• Hard to glue because of the density and oil, and pre-boring is needed for screws and nails.
• Heavy, and shrinks about 5.3% radially and 7.7% tangentially.
• CITES Appendix II, effective 25 November 2024, so supply and paperwork are tightening.
• Looks much like ipe, which makes mislabelling possible.

Variants and subspecies

• Dipteryx odorata: the usual commercial species, also sold as 'Brazilian teak' in the flooring trade. That name is not related to true teak (Teak).
• Other Dipteryx species are in the same CITES listing; D. panamensis had been in Appendix III since 2003.
• Tonka bean: the same tree's scented seed.
• Look-alike: Ipe, which is harder still.

Working and finishing

Treat as for ipe, with slightly less abuse: carbide blades, light cuts, pilot holes. It planes smoothly where grain is not interlocked. Wipe oily surfaces with solvent before gluing and test the glue on scraps. Exterior oils bring out the colour.

Staining and finishing colour

Oil finishes are the usual choice; stains and film finishes grip poorly on dense, oily surfaces. Colour mellows toward silver-grey outdoors unless a UV oil is reapplied.

Sustainability and handling

CITES: Dipteryx spp. are in Appendix II with annotation #17 (logs, sawn wood, veneer, plywood, transformed wood), effective 25 November 2024 (FWS CoP19 timber letter; APHIS CITES Timber Manual; checked 2026-09-30). IUCN: D. odorata is reported as Data Deficient, meaning the risk is unassessed rather than low. 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: reasonable with documentation, but the new listing is recent and supply chains are still adapting, so confirm origin. Alternatives for outdoor use: White oak or Thermally modified wood. 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

Decking, garden furniture and benches, flooring, handrails, boat and dock parts, and tool handles.

Buying notes

Sold as decking, flooring and 4/4 to 8/4 lumber. One retailer lists 4/4 at $16.99 a board foot (September 2026). Confirm the species rather than trusting 'Brazilian teak', and keep any CITES paperwork supplied.