Thread: Beefwood info

Try your pics again Cameron, last couple of posts were blank.

image.jpg A little bit upside down but the best I can do at the moment!

A dryland Greviilia - Grevillia Striata.

Aboriginal people used the sap as a glue for spear heads and so on.

Interesting timber but it bleeds sap for years. It is hard and dense.

I find it dirty and dusty to turn. Have seen it used in furniture.

There are seats in the Federal parliament building made from slats of Beefwood.
They are very attractive to my eyes.

Originally Posted by Hamwallace

Hey all,
I know that beefwood is quite rare and you're not actually allowed to cut the trees down without some form of permission from council etc, but don't really know anything else about it.
cameron

Cam, don't know why you think that. Tonnes of it west of here, all gets pushed for regrowth clearing. I have used a bit, nothing special, but makes good tool handles, but stays sticky forever.
Rgds,
Crocy.

There is beefwood & there is beefwood! Some of it bleeds forever as others say, some finishes hate the stuff, it certainly is dusty to turn and it can have quite nasty effects upon people who have allergies to Grevilleas when they collect & process it. Is it valuable & rare? Not really. The piece in the photos has been down a very loooooong time.

Beefwood makes excellent survey pegs - second to none for durability! As a surveyor I have personally seen many many survey pegs placed on original surveys dating back to the earliest and even original surveys of western Queensland portions. Some are very reliably aged at over 150 yo in ground, or out of ground in black soil areas. Often a 150 yo peg will have a top that looks like a porcupine - lots of small spikes as the wind errosion has sand blasted out the softer material. Its inground durability is exceptional. Souvenier hunters & fires clean up more beefwood survey posts & pegs than rot & termites.

When surveying in the western downs country anywhere from Hughenden down through Boulia & Bedourie I have seen logs of beefwood lying on ground and have wondered "how many centuries have you been lying there supplying a home to lizards etc??"

Awesome, thanks for the info!
Croc - I should have said 'I have been told' not 'I know', but glad you cleared that up!
Artme- I haven't turned any of it yet, a while back I made a little serving board out of a piece, grain and colour looks quite good. But was pretty dusty going through the table saw.
Mobyturns- great info, this one came from the Quilpie area, no idea how long it has been down, was sitting in the council yard apparently.
We pulled some bearers and joists out of an old building in Cunnamulla a few years back that was rumoured to be 100+ which I used for the above mentioned cutting board and it didn't seem to have deteriorated much in that time.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

There is beefwood & there is beefwood! Some of it bleeds forever as others say, some finishes hate the stuff, it certainly is dusty to turn and it can have quite nasty effects upon people who have allergies to Grevilleas when they collect & process it. Is it valuable & rare? Not really. The piece in the photos has been down a very loooooong time.

Beefwood makes excellent survey pegs - second to none for durability! As a surveyor I have personally seen many many survey pegs placed on original surveys dating back to the earliest and even original surveys of western Queensland portions. Some are very reliably aged at over 150 yo in ground, or out of ground in black soil areas. Often a 150 yo peg will have a top that looks like a porcupine - lots of small spikes as the wind errosion has sand blasted out the softer material. Its inground durability is exceptional. Souvenier hunters & fires clean up more beefwood survey posts & pegs than rot & termites.

When surveying in the western downs country anywhere from Hughenden down through Boulia & Bedourie I have seen logs of beefwood lying on ground and have wondered "how many centuries have you been lying there supplying a home to lizards etc??"

I've milled some out in that upper desert country. Old yard posts so there was no blood left in them but they'd firmed up nicely!!! It lasts forever above ground but it rots off at ground level after about 40 years , probably the acid nature of the soil in a set of yards I guess.

Passed heaps on the Savannah Way near Normanton

The is a fair bit of small stuff, (up to 159mm diameter), growing on my block just outside Mareeba. There two varieties here that have been identified as beefwood, grevillea striata and g. glauca. The seed pods on striata are very similar to grevillea robusta, but the seed pods on g. glauca are quite hardand are often refered to as "bushman's pegs".

Jim