Carpinus betulus
Hornbeam
Pale, ruthlessly dense, and famously hard. The wood old joiners reached for when they needed plane bodies, mallet heads, and water-mill cogs that would not give up.
- Cultivé et récolté en Europe.
- Groupe botanique. Les résineux sont des conifères, les feuillus sont des arbres à feuilles larges.
- Famille botanique à laquelle appartient l’essence.
Être informé du prochain arrivageEssence de référence. Aucun plateau en stock pour le moment.
Convient-il à votre projet ?
Idéal pour
- Plane bodies and mallet heads
- Tool handles and chisel handles
- Turned work, bowls, finials, pepper mills, fine spindles
- Joinery accents, wedges, splines, drawbore pins, dovetail keys
- High-wear surfaces, chopping boards, butcher blocks, jig faces
- Gear teeth, cogs, and replacement parts in restored mills
Aucun plateau en Hornbeam dans la sélection actuelle
Essences similaires en stock
Aucun plateau en Hornbeam pour le moment. Ces essences conviennent aux mêmes projets et sont disponibles.
Soyez informé des arrivages en Hornbeam
Nous vous envoyons un e-mail lorsque de nouveaux plateaux en Hornbeam arrivent chez KORENA. Chaque plateau est unique, mieux vaut donc être prévenu rapidement.
Aspect du bois
Son aspect
Creamy white to pale straw, sometimes drifting to light grey-brown with age. Grain is irregular and often interlocked; texture is fine and even. Almost no figure, no drama, its character is in the surface itself, which polishes to a hard, near-ceramic feel that softer pale woods cannot match.
- Creamy white to pale straw when fresh
- Drifts to light grey-brown with age and UV
- Occasional grey streaking on slower-grown stock
- Almost figureless, reads as a clean, even pale ground
- Polishes to a hard, near-ceramic surface sheen
- Irregular grain, fine even texture.
Travail du bois
Son travail en atelier
A specialist wood. Density and interlocked grain blunt edges fast. Expect to sharpen often and feed slowly. Planing tears out unless irons are keen and the cut is light; a scraper or sander often finishes better than a plane. Drilling and routing demand sharp carbide. The reward is on the lathe, where it turns to a fine, crisp surface and holds detail other woods crush. Glues and screws well once pre-bored. Steam-bends reasonably for such a dense species.
Finition
Sands to a glassy surface if you stay patient and step through the grits. Takes hard waxes, oils, and lacquers cleanly. Stains can blotch on the interlocked patches. Test first. Burnishes beautifully on the lathe; many turners leave it bare or oil-only.
Séchage
Dries slowly and moves a lot, tangential shrinkage of 11 to 13 percent puts it among the most mobile European hardwoods. Prone to distortion, surface checks, and case-hardening if rushed. Air-dry under weight, then finish in a kiln on a gentle schedule. Acclimatise in the workshop for several weeks before machining, and design for movement in any wider piece.
De combien va-t-il bouger ?
Le bois gonfle et se rétracte en largeur selon que l’air devient plus humide ou plus sec. Estimez le mouvement saisonnier d’un plateau en Hornbeam avant de concevoir les fixations.
Mouvement saisonnier attendu
environ 13,7 mm
Important. Utilisez des taquets ou des équerres à trous oblongs, laissez du jeu aux extrémités des alèses et laissez le plateau s’acclimater avant l’assemblage.
Modèle de retrait linéaire : largeur × (retrait ÷ 28 % de point de saturation des fibres) × variation saisonnière d’humidité. Utilise un retrait tangentiel de 12 % pour le Hornbeam. Il s’agit d’une estimation de conception, pas d’une garantie.
Son prix
Sécurité et origine
- Cultivé et récolté en Europe.
- Statut sur la Liste rouge de l’UICN : évaluation mondiale de la conservation de cette essence.
Food-contact safe once finished, which is why it has a long history in kitchen tools and chopping blocks. The dust is a known skin irritant and can sensitise on repeated exposure. Wear long sleeves, run good extraction, and mask up when sanding.
Lire le guide completNotes détaillées sur la figure, l’évolution de la couleur, le travail et la stabilité.
What Hornbeam actually is#
Carpinus betulus is the wear wood. At 735 kg per cubic metre and 7,260 N Janka it is the second hardest measured species in this catalogue, behind only robinia, and it has a fine even texture with no strong grain direction.
That combination, hardness without a pronounced grain to split along, is what made it the traditional wood for things that get hit, rubbed and worn: plane soles, mallet heads, gear teeth in windmill and watermill machinery, butchers blocks, and cogs.
It is not a decorative wood and it was never used as one.
Reading a hornbeam slab#
Colour is pale, near white to light cream, sometimes with grey streaking. Figure is minimal. The texture is fine and even and the surface has a slight natural lustre.
The characteristic feature of the tree is fluting: the trunk grows with pronounced longitudinal ridges rather than round, which is why hornbeam logs look twisted and why converting them to wide clean boards is awkward. Expect irregular widths and a good deal of waste.
Grain is frequently interlocked, following the fluting.
The movement problem#
Questions des acheteurs
Questions fréquentes des acheteurs
Why is Hornbeam used for tool parts and machinery?
It is exceptionally hard at 7,260 N, second only to robinia among measured species here, with a fine even texture and no pronounced grain direction. That combination resists wear without splitting, which is why it was the traditional wood for plane soles, mallet heads, gear teeth in mill machinery, and butchers blocks.
How much does it move?
A great deal. Volumetric shrinkage of 17.0 percent ties with beech for the highest in this catalogue, and tangential shrinkage of 11.0 percent against 5.5 percent radial is a very wide differential. Hornbeam is not a wood for wide solid tops in a variable environment. It is a wood for small dense components.
Is it hard to work?
Yes. The density and interlocked grain blunt tooling quickly and cause tear-out, and it is heavy going by hand. The fine texture that makes it wear so well is the same thing that makes it resist cutting. Sharp carbide tooling and light cuts are the practical answer.
Can it be used outdoors?
No. Despite its hardness it is rated decay class 5, perishable, and it will rot readily if exposed. Hardness and durability are unrelated properties. For exterior work use robinia, oak or sweet chestnut.
Propriétés mécaniques
Données techniques
Valeurs de référence publiées. Lorsque les sources divergent, la plage est indiquée et la valeur courante sert aux échelles ci-dessus.
| Densité (kg/m³)Masse par mètre cube à environ 12 % d’humidité. Un bois plus lourd est généralement plus dur et plus résistant. | 700–820 kg/m³valeur courante 735 kg/m³ |
|---|---|
| Dureté Janka (N)Force nécessaire pour enfoncer à moitié une bille d’acier dans le bois. Mesure standard de la résistance à l’enfoncement. | 6,900–7,700 Nvaleur courante 7 260 N |
| MOR : module de rupture (MPa)Résistance à la flexion : charge à laquelle une poutre casse. | 110–130 MPa |
| MOE : module d’élasticité (GPa)Rigidité en flexion : fléchissement d’une étagère ou d’un plateau sous une charge. | 12.0–14.0 GPa |
| Retrait radialRetrait perpendiculaire aux cernes, du bois vert au bois anhydre. Les planches sur quartier travaillent dans ce sens. | 5.5–7.0 % |
