Timber Species

All timber species information listed is courtesy of Forestry Tasmania and their information bulletins.

Blackwood

This is one of the best known of the wattles. It is a striking & valuable timber which is used extensively for its decorative effect. It has been recognised since the early nineteenth century as a high-quality ornamental timber used in wood turning, cabinet & furniture making and as panelling.

The wood is hard, close grained, strong strikingly similar to American walnut, with broken grain and satiny lustre.

The habitat extends from south east Queensland to Tasmania, but is most predominant here in Tasmania. It's leaves are actually flattened leaf stalks showing two distinct veins & it's flowers are whitish to pale yellow. They are the largest & most important of the wattle trees, attain heights of up to 50 metres.

We have a lovely specimen growing in our garden at Glen Clyde House.

Blackheart Sassafras

athersperma moschatum

Perhaps the most spectacular of our fine native timbers. The wood is light & strong, rather soft & easily worked. It is regarded as an intermediate between softwoods & hardwoods. The timber is well suited for furniture and household articles, polishing up with stunning results. It is highly prized for turning bowls.

Sassafras is named because of its fragrance, its aromatic bark, sap and associated oils have a smell similar to Cinnamon, whilst its leaves have a strong sarsaparilla scent.. The characteristic blackheart colouring is found in only a small proportion of trees. They are commonly older specimens, where part of the crown dies back or storm damage occurs allowing rainwater to seep down into the centre and an unusual fungus is carried into the heartwood, changing the colour with striking black flashes.

Hence no two pieces of blackheart timber are identical! It grows as an understorey species in lower altitude wet forests throughout Tasmania. Can attain a height of up to 45 metres and is often partially covered in lichen.

Huon Pine

logorastrobus franklinii

Found only in Tasmania it grows along rivers, lakes and flood plains of our rugged West Coast & some small pockets in the South West Wilderness. Huon Pine is still today the most famous & prized rainforest timber. Trees dated as 10,000 years old have been discovered still growing, placing the species among the longest lived organisms on earth!

Today it is almost exclusively used by craft workers as it is easily carved & worked. It is a mellow, extremely fine textured wood with characteristic, pleasant fragrance. Its unique "eugenol" oil makes it almost immune to decay, it seasons readily, has low shrinkage, is soft and easily worked; light in weight and with its great stability & resistance to rot and marine organisms, it earned high regard as a ship building material.

The timber is not commercially logged - all material is controlled by Forestry Tasmania & only two mills have the rights to "salvaged timber" from valleys since flooded for hydro-electricity generation. Huon only increases its girth approx 12cm in 100 years!

Myrtle

nothofagus cunninghamii

Myrtle is the predominant species of our cool temperate rainforests. It has a regeneration cycle which can lead to a forest containing trees from one to 500 years old. It belongs to the same family as the beeches of Europe.

Prized for its colourful timber it is widely used for furniture, panelling, joinery, flooring and the craft industry. The reddish wood is very strong, wears well and keeps a beautiful lustre, its grain features make a piece of lasting pleasure.

Trees reach a height of some 30 to 40 metres a diameter of 1 to 2 metres with a leafy dark green fine textured crown.

Celery Top Pine

phyllocladus aspleniifolius

A native conifer, it is common in the west of the state & it is named for its distinct celery type foliage. It does not resemble a pine & is in fact related to the yew trees.

The timber is creamy white, darkening to a mellow gold with age & exposure to light. It has distinct annual rings & being slow grown gives it a hardness, strength and density not expected with pines. Thus its suitability to furniture, boat building, spindle work & craft work.

It forms an understorey component of wet forest or is dominant on wet soils with poor fertility. The diameter of mature trees ranges from 40 to 45 cm and can reach 40 metres in height and live for up to 900 years; ages of less than 350 years are common.

Horizontal Scrub

anodopetalum biglandulosum

Well known as "bushwalkers curse or nightmare" this tree makes tangled thickets that present almost impenetrable barriers to both the early settlers and the modern-day hikers. Found only in Tasmania, mainly on the west & north west coast, it prefers wet eucalypt regions, rainforests & shaded dark gullies.

The tough springy wood dries to a rich honey colour with obvious growth rings, exhibits fine even grain & planes, turns & cuts easily. Long used for axe & broom handles, today with the bark left on it lends itself to heavy wear and is ideal for small craft kitchen utensils & rustic furniture.

The tree tolerates dark conditions & when natural decay/storm causes a gap in the foliage, the plant responds with vigorous growth. New vertical growth happens when the old branches fall over & it is this vegetation reproduction technique that makes the notorious thickets. Strangely is usually grows very slowly (only .1 to .3 cm) per year & is easily destroyed by fire.

King William Pine

also called King Billy

athrotaxis selaginoides

Although related to the famous redwoods of California, it is only a medium sized tree, usually between 25 & 30 metres high with a diameter of 60 to 90 cm. It is one of the endemic Tasmanian softwoods along with Huon & Celery Top pine.

It is a very soft , fine textured timber with a straight grain, works easily and seasons with little shrinkage. Extremely light weight, its oils offer preservative factors and boat detailing is a prime use. Craft work is limited due to its soft nature & extreme lightness.

Found in the more mountainous wetter regions of Tasmania, the trees are slow growing & can live for up to 1000 years, although they are highly susceptible to bush fire destruction.

Leatherwood

eucryphia lucida

The tree usually grows in rainforests underneath myrtle & celery top pine. The young leaves and buds are covered with a clear orange (leather colour, hence the name) or brownish gum.

The heartwood is pink to brown with straight grain and a fine uniform texture. It seasons well without distortion. The wood glues, nails, bends and polishes well and is used extensively in furniture making. From one craftsman I stock a range of bowls offering the unique colouring, as can be seen in the sample shown.

The tree grows from between 10 to 15 metres in height, usually a straight trunk with a deep compact crown. They are endemic to Tasmania & beekeepers prize the nectar from the flowers as this is what produces the famous leatherwood Honey.

Radiata Pine

pinus radiata

Native to a small area of hilly ground near the sea in Monterey County, California (USA). First brought to Australia by 1800's miners arriving on our goldfields. Today it is a plantation timber with large stands on predominately the east coast.

It is a softwood with long fibres and needles rather than leaves. Highly suited to the pulpwood industry, paper making, fibreboard, veneer and decorative saw timber. Our gallery stocks a lovely range of small toys made from this economically priced timber.

Radiata has a very strong apical dominance; the desire to send one shoot up to the sun. Hence it can achieve up to 2 metres in height, and up to 35 cubic m per ha per annum in wood volume in ideal conditions.

Swamp Gum

eucalyptus regnans

This is the tallest flowering plant in the world, growing to 100 metres high! (it is only exceeded by the Redwoods of California. Easily identified by its trunk which is straight & usually about two-thirds of the tree height.
(two pics from my trip to Dip Falls - a tree base - a tree trunk)

The timber is excellent for building/construction due to its straight grain and nail holding ability. Not commonly used in the craft industry, I have one artisan who regularly makes superb platters & bowls for our gallery. Extremely dense, they usually weigh significantly when compared to other timbers also exhibiting unusual grain displays.

The leaves of adults are typical of gum trees - green with a wavy edge and the tree is named due to its predominance in wetter areas. It is also commonly referred to as Tasmanian Oak and used extensively for house construction & for furniture making.

Tasmanian Oak

eucalyptus delegatensis, regnans & obliqua

Tasmanian Oak is a collective name for timber of the species eucalyptus delegatensis, regnans & obliqua. all members of the group of eucalypts known as the "Ash group". The species of this group occur in all areas of Tasmania, except on the west coast and are also found in parts of Victoria & southern NSW & ACT.

The Ash group of eucalypts are among the tallest hardwoods in the world, mature trees typically 60 metres & 2 m in dia. (Swamp gum being the tallest at 100m!!) It is readily worked to a smooth, flat , resilient surface. It can be stained to almost any shade and is regarded as one of the best and most versatile finishing timbers available.

Not commonly used in the craft industry, I have one craftsman who makes a beautiful "Lazy Susanne" utilising this timber & some small trays just for our gallery. These are extremely hard waring products that can take a lot of use without damage.

There are four major varieties being:	Minor species that are utilised on a selective basis are:
Blackwood Blackheart Sassafras Huon Pine Myrtle	Celery Top Pine Horizontal Scrub King William Pine Leatherwood Radiata Pine Swamp Gum Tasmanian Oak