Blackwood
Acacia melanoxylon |
Blackwoods, largest and most important of
the wattle trees, attain heights of up to 50 metres with a
breast-height diameter of 60 to 90 cm. They have short
trunks and are highly branched spreading crowns when grown
in open conditions. The hard, rough furrowed bark of the
trunk is characteristic of the species. Its 'leaves' are
actually flattened leaf stalks showing two distinct veins.
Its flowers are whitish to pale yellow.
Blackwood is tolerant of a wide variety
of conditions from sub-tropical coastal to cold inland
areas. Its habitat extends from south east Queensland to
Tasmania. The Blackwood swamp forests of north west
Tasmania support tall dense Blackwood, often grown on slow
draining, flat lowland riverside flood banks.
Blackwood has been recognised since the
early nineteenth century as a classic high-quality
ornamental timber used in wood turning, cabinet and
furniture making and as panelling. It has been the mainstay
of Tasmania's furniture industry for more than a century.
The wood is hard, close-grained, strong, easily worked,
stable and strikingly similar to American walnut with a
shiny natural lustre and occasional wavy grain producing a
fiddle back pattern.
Blackwood can demonstrate a variety of
tones from a golden brown through deep brown occasionally
featuring tints and streaks of red or black. It takes pride
of place for furniture, panelling and other cabinet work and
is also used for organs, pianos, veneers and smaller
articles.
Source: "Tassie's Trees", Forestry
Tasmania
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Tas Oak
Eucalyptus delegatensis |
Tasmanian Oak or "Tas Oak" is a dense and
resilient hardwood that is the timber of choice for a wide
range of applications. Tas Oak produces an excellent finish
and is a good timber to work with. It can be used in all
forms of construction, provides a hard wearing timber for
flooring, and is commonly used for furniture.
Tas Oak is light in colour, varying from straw to
reddish brown with intermediate shades of cream to pink.
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Myrtle
Nothofagus cunninghamii |
Myrtle is a beautiful timber showing a
range of colour from rich red through to almost pink shades
and textures and may possess wavy and fiddleback variations
in the grain to produce striking results.
Myrtle is a close grained timber, easy to
work, makes an excellent timber for architecture, furniture
and flooring, and makes an excellent veneer.
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