Sapote

[SAISAY]

I have been given a slab of Sapote (Chocolate Pudding Tree) but I cannot find any information of the timber, apart from it belonging to the Persimmon family.
Does anybody know anything about it like: Hardwood/Softwood, Grain/Figure, Warping etc.
I would surely appreciate any information I can get. The person I got it from has quite a bit more but before I take it home I would like to know whether I can use it for anything :U
Thank you in advance.

[Enfield Guy]

Most fruit woods make great cabinet timbers. Pear, apple, Mango, etc have all been used by others.

My suggestion is to get a piece, plane it up and see. Can't hurt.

Let us know how it goes. I know I would like to see some.

Cheers
Bevan

[elanjacobs]

"The trees are seldom cut for timber, unless they bear poor quality fruit. There is very little sapwood. The heartwood is buff or brown when fresh, becoming reddish with age; sometimes resembles mahogany but is redder and more or less mottled with darker tones. It is fine-grained, compact, generally hard and fairly heavy, strong, easy to work and fairly durable. It is rated as suitable for cabinetwork and is made into furniture, but mostly serves for building carts, and for shelving and house frames."

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/sapote_ars.html#Other Uses

[Arron]

Actually the tree mentioned in that article is Pouteria sapota. The chocolate pudding tree is Diospyros nigra - not even closely related. The only reference I can find for timber for Diospryros nigra describes its usefulness as 'minor'.

Diospyrus does include some 'ebonies'.

cheers
Arron

[elanjacobs]

Actually the tree mentioned in that article is Pouteria sapota.
Ummm, I thought that's what he asked for...

I tend to ignore nicknames for things like this because they don't always show up in searches and aren't necessarily accurate.

[Arron]

yep, its hard to know what people are talking about when common names are used.

Diospyros nigra - black sapote or chocolate pudding tree (grown in tropical nth queensland)
Pouteria viridis - green sapote (the other common sapote in tnq)
Pouteria campechiana - yellow sapote (grows in tnq too, though less common)
Pouteria sapota : just plain sapote (not sure this grows much in Aus - can find no record of it growing in Qld on Google)

I think that at one time sapote just meant 'soft fruit' somewhere.

[Old-Biker-UK]

My 2 cents worth....

Diospyros nigra (J.F.Gmel.) Perrier (syn. Diospyros digyna Jacq.) [Ebenaceae]
Common Names: Black sapote, Chocolate Pudding Tree / Fruit, Chocolate Persimmon, Zapote Prieto, Sapote Negro, Matasano de mico

Pouteria sapota (Jacq.) H.E.Moore & Stearn [Sapotaceae]
This species has at least 25 published vernacular names including Sapota, Sapote, Zapote etc., etc.

Re: Ebony - my database of published common names lists over 100 'Ebony', mostly Diospyros sp. but including species of Brya (Fabaceae]; Krugiodendron [Rhamnaceae]; Albizia [Fabaceae]; Ebenopsis [Fabaceae]; Copaifera [Fabaceae]; Melanoxylon [Fabaceae] and several others.....

As they say 'What's in a name?'

Mark

[artme]

Another example of the confusion caused by common names.

I wonder what Runge would have to say on this.

[SAISAY]

yep, its hard to know what people are talking about when common names are used.

Diospyros nigra - black sapote or chocolate pudding tree (grown in tropical nth queensland)
Pouteria viridis - green sapote (the other common sapote in tnq)
Pouteria campechiana - yellow sapote (grows in tnq too, though less common)
Pouteria sapota : just plain sapote (not sure this grows much in Aus - can find no record of it growing in Qld on Google)

I think that at one time sapote just meant 'soft fruit' somewhere.

Yes, definitely grown in North Queensland, Gordonvale actually.
My friend has a complete tree, about 40 years old and felled about 6 months ago. He thinks it is about a metre in diameter.
Wish I knew a slabber:no:

[SAISAY]

I got a message today that there is a 5" slab waiting for me, I think he means an end cut. When I pick it up I will cut a piece of it and take a picture. That will give a reasonable isea of what the grain looks like.
Thank you all for your help. It is complicated when one only knows the common name and have never seen the timber.