Empress Splendor

The beautiful, versatile, lightweight eco-timber

The aluminum of lumber

Empress Splendor lumber

Empress Splendor Lumber is a light, strong hardwood that is known as the “aluminum of lumber”. Its high growth rate, carbon sequestration and soil enhancing properties make it an ideal eco-timber, appealing to green consumers looking for environmentally friendly alternatives.

The Empress Splendor trees produce a blond timber with a long straight grain, which air dries quickly with low shrinkage and does not easily warp, crack or deform.  Wood density is very low, making it one of the lightest timbers available on the market. Its commercial importance is due to high strength to weight ratio, excellent insulating properties, and resistance to rot and warping. 

In addition to architectural applications, this combination of attributes makes it ideal for the boating, surfboard, and paddle board industries.

Empress Splendor wood is also used in the production of musical instruments, furniture, windows, doors, venetian blinds, and crown molding.

It can be peeled as veneer to a 1/32 of an inch thickness.

Environmentally friendly

Sustainable timber

The average North American consumes the equivalent of a 100-foot tree every year and the United Nations predicts that demand for wood will increase by 40% by 2030 and double by 2050.

Timber has increased in value at a rate 3% higher than inflation for the past 90 years. Since most timber investments are private holdings, they are not as susceptible to the whims of the stock market. In fact, timber has out-performed the stock market for the last 100 years.*

In the future, industrial wood is likely to come from plantation-based timber as governments introduce environmental policies restricting the amount of old growth forests that can be used for wood production.

Meeting the demand

A high-value product

The demand for timber is anticipated to double over the next 30 years. World Tree’s Eco-timber is a unique lumber that serves many applications.

Empress Splendor Lumber has been highly prized in Asia for many years and, at this point, the North American market is underdeveloped. The demand is there, but the supply is mostly located overseas resulting in high import costs. Our sustainably grown timber appeals to green consumers.

Empress Splendor Timber could replace Balsa for aerospace and turbine applications and be used wherever you would generally use Oak. Empress Splendor tree lumber is competitive with bamboo ($60 billion industry) as a sustainable plywood product.

Lumber Properties
  • Very light, yet strong hardwood –  the highest strength to weight ratios of any wood 
  • Weighs an average of 14 to 19 lbs. per cubic foot. It is 1/3 the weight of oak (44 lbs. p/cubic ft.) and 1/2 the weight of pine (30 lbs. p/cubic ft.)
  • One of the highest strength to weight ratios of any wood
  • Extremely buoyant and does not absorb water
  • It can be peeled for veneer in 1/16 – 1/32-inch thicknesses
  • Intricate patterns can easily  be cut with a jig saw or band saw without splitting easily 
  • Furniture, doors and windows can be made with close tolerances
  • All normal finishing materials can be applied and it bonds well with glue
  • Air-drying takes as little as 30 days
  • Boards can be kiln dried at high temperatures in as little as a few hours to 10% moisture content with no warping
  • Shrinkage from green to kiln-dry is only 2.2% radial and 4.0% tangential. Remains stable during changes in humidity and experiences little shrinkage or expansion compared to most other woods
  • It is highly durable and resists decay under non-ground contact conditions
  • Good insulator: Empress Splendor log homes have twice the R factor as pine or oak
Technical Specification

Density
Density @10% moisture content: 14.37 – 18.75 lbs/cuft
Density @10% moisture content: 18.17 lbs/cuft
Density @ oven dried: 17.11 lbs/cuft 

Bending & Compression Properties
Modulus of rupture (mor): 5420-5740 psi
Modulus of elasticity (moe) x 10 to 6th: 0.735-0.758 psi
Compression parallel to grain: 2800-3560 psi
Compression perpendicular to grain: 300-440 psi
Shear parallel to grain: 800-1150 psi
BTU (British thermal unit) 7600-8400 per pound 

Hardness
Janka Hardness Scale: 260-290
Shrinkage Coefficient (%)
Specific gravity: 0.251 – 0.274 (23 to 30% of the density of water)
Specific gravity @ 10% MC: 0.265
Radial: 1.1 – 2.7
Tangential: 2.1 – 4.9
Green to Oven Dry: 5.9

Moisture Absorption
(92% Relative Humidity @ 20 degrees C)
1-day; 2-day; maximum 12%; 15%; 19%