Thread: What are the black spots ?

It might just be the picture quality Jack but it doesn't look like Jarrah to me. :confused: Jarrah will get the occaisional black spot near a defect and sometimes black streaks near the heartwood.

The timber looks much more like Swan Blackbutt (E Patens) which has this type of colouration and figure.

Just my HO

Cheers

The black spots are believed to be iron. They show up in the medalary rays of the timber. Different shape and size of the spot depends on whether the wood has been quarter cut or not. The black is usually in the base of the tree. Usually in the first 2 or 3 metres of the trunk, after that it appears to fade. Trees that grow on ironstone country west of Albany seem to be the most likely to have it. If you are a wakeup to it in a piece of wood you can use the dots to give your project an individual look.
Alf

Mr JackG,
Thats lovely timbre and looks like European Beech. Wow where did you get it! I like it even if its not characteristically typical of that species.

Maybe others can ellaborate on it. I hope it isnt detrimental characteristic of that timber!

Looks like it would make a great substitute for expensive European Beech. Are you sure its "jarrah"?

Here is a pic of some Jarrah with black figure running through it for comparison:

No that aint it I think! It has to be Beech sold to an unsuspecting buyer! I want a TON of it at JARRAH prices!


Love IT!

Don't know what causes it, but I found one jarrah fence picket out of about 20 that had a similar pattern. Just enough for a small box.

hi all,

for what its worth I had several boards exactly like than in a pack of jarrah I got from Brittons timber.

cheers
peter

I'm with Squizzy on this one, although I'm a bit out my depth here (Jarrah is usually not found in the bush around here )it doesn't ressemble any Jarrah I've had my paws on. But as I said I am bit away from its' natural habitat.

I belive the timber is Jarrah, it think where it comes from is just west of Albany. I purchased the timber from a member of the forum and I only got Jarrah and Marri, I never used Marri before but it is distinct so it must be Jarrah.

I must say that I am very pleased with the effect of the "spots" as well as with the timber itself, it is very nice I had to search for another piece with the same effect to complement.

Perhaps Stan can confirm the source of the timber etc.. the whole lot of timber is fairly pale for Jarrah but very nice.

Unfortunately my camera has flat batteries and I cant post more pics, where we see the other end of the piece of timber that is much darker, perhaps in an hour or so.

So it looks like it should be Iron particules that the timber reacted to ?

Here are more pics, the first set was under fluorescent light so the colours were more distorded, this is under a halogen light, still fairly poor pics but it gives a better idea.

a2.jpg are 3 pieces of the same plank, the outside ones are a lot darker than in the pic.

a1.jpg are off cuts of the same plank with a bit of oil (still wet)

a3.jpg are 2 other different planks without the dots

note that the timber is not sanded, it is off the thicknesser.

Jack they look better not as pale, the larger quarter sawn piece in the 3rd shot has what we call "brown stain" or "Blackheart" a form of primary rot that usually doesn't affect the integrity too much and is often seen in our New England species, but is not restricted to them. So I guess the black spots maybe an extension of this.

Jack, thanks, those pics are better and I can see how it could be Jarrah. Quilted, Curly, call it what you like (even Birdseye) its great stuff when you can get your hands on it...However, my humble eyeballs lead me to believe that its the WA Redgum (Marri). Its great stuff anyways. My method for telling these types of timber apart when they appear like this (which they often do) is to test by smell. I have a finely tuned snozz for WA Hardwoods but it rarely lets me down . Try sniffing a freshly dressed piece piece against some known Jarrah and Marri.

Jarrah logged from low lying areas near watercourses will appear very different to that which is from elevated ground even though they trees may only be a few hundred yards apart. The reasons for the figure are many and varied as stated. There does not seem to be a particular/reliable trend in identifying trees that carry this figure other than they occur more in some areas than others.

Here is some well dried 100 year old jarrah I recovered awhile back.

Cheers

Wow the first photos looked to me as beech due to its "pinkish" tone. The grain pattern was also looking to be just that. I have some pieces of beech and it looked identical to what I had just sliced earlier in the day!

The subsequent photos do change its overall look. None the less it looks fabulous timbre. Very nice in deed. I hope its a natural characteristic and "birdseye" WOW. Im in love with that timbre! lol

violincrafter