Thread: Need Help Identifying Wood: Is This Gidgee?

I am not very familiar with Gidgee, although I do have a couple of bits in my shed.
But I don’t think anyone will be able to give an ID going off those pictures.
You will need to show a few pics of freshly cut and planed faces, one of the end grain as well.

Gidgee is very heavy, it also has a distinct aroma when cut, to my nose like prunes or fruit just starting to ferment.

Originally Posted by double.d

Gidgee is very heavy, it also has a distinct aroma when cut, to my nose like prunes or fruit just starting to ferment.

What he said [emoji3516], cut a small piece of an have whiff, ye it’s a kind of rotting sweet smell.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

What he said [emoji3516], cut a small piece of an have whiff, ye it’s a kind of rotting sweet smell.

Cheers Matt.

At least make a clean cut across the end grain to expose a fresh cut rather than one that is the accumulation of years of gunk.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

At least make a clean cut across the end grain to expose a fresh cut rather than one that is the accumulation of years of gunk.

Please make the finest surgery cut you can on the end piece of timber, using the most exquisite saw you order, an then present for all the fine scullers of this most prestigious establishment too cast there knowing eyes over,

Cheers Matt.

Thanks everyone for your feedback! double.d I did notice a prune smell when I cleaned up these few offcuts. Here's a photo of the timber sitting on a piece of Camphor Laurel

Pic189654.jpg

Originally Posted by Hilltop Woods

Thanks everyone for your feedback! double.d I did notice a prune smell when I cleaned up these few offcuts. Here's a photo of the timber sitting on a piece of Camphor Laurel

Pic189654.jpg

My 10c is, that’s Gidgee.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

My 10c is, that’s Gidgee.

Cheers Matt.

Thanks Matt. Great job on the bed BTW!

Originally Posted by Hilltop Woods

Thanks everyone for your feedback! double.d I did notice a prune smell when I cleaned up these few offcuts. Here's a photo of the timber sitting on a piece of Camphor Laurel

Pic189654.jpg

With photos like that and a bit of prep you have a decent chance of getting a reliable timber ID. +1 on the Gidgee ID.

That looks like Gidgie, I recon it smells like the stuff they put in LPG as a warning.

Agree, it's quite likely gidgee. But odour can be misleading, there are a few dry-country Acacias that have a pleasant smell when freshly cut & my nose can't reliably pick the difference (A. rhodoxylon and A. pendula are two examples, with the latter described as having a faint violet-like smell). The whiff you get as they're sawn is so brief, it's not long enough for my olfactory memory cells to wake up fully, so I just think, "Yep, that smells pleasant enough" as it goes through the saw.

The fresh-cut colur is also helpful, but not definitive. There are also two "gidgees", just to add to confusion, A. georginae, which smells more like cat's urine when cut, and A. cambagei, which is the pleasant-smelling one.

As I always say, id'ing wood from pics is a dicey game - I'd say, just accept the labelling that came with the wood but keep an open mind about about its true id. If it's a hard, dense wood that polishes beautifully (as gidgee should), then p'raps that's all ye need to know for certain....

Cheers,

As a kid I grew up in the Gidgee-Brigalow belt of Western NSW. When it rained, which wasn't often, you could smell the Gidgee for miles. Not so Brigalow. Same when they flowered. Old, dry dead Gidgee often doesnt have a smell when sawing but once sprayed with water the smell will return. Again, not so brigalow.
I like to make my carvers mallets from either. Visually, it is often impossible to tell the difference.

Originally Posted by IanW

There are also two "gidgees", just to add to confusion, A. georginae, which smells more like cat's urine when cut, and A. cambagei, which is the pleasant-smelling one.

If it's a hard, dense wood that polishes beautifully (as gidgee should), then p'raps that's all ye need to know for certain....

Cheers,

There's also "Acacia pruinocarpa" over here in WA. More common in the north of the state, but we do find it occasionally around this area (Kalgoorlie) as well. I still have a bit of it left in the shed from a tree I cut down in my son's front yard a while back (it was dropping branches on pedestrians / cars in the street).

IMG_2707.jpg

OK, so three gidgees, just to correct the record. Wasn't aware of "black gidgee" before, it's well out of my range, but at least I know it exists, now - thanks!

As Rusty says, it can be very hard to tell some of the acacias apart from the wood alone - if you know a particular species well you can make a decent educated guess, but I've got a few bits in my stash that I can't name. I knew what they were supposed to be when I acquired them years ago, but was foolish enough not to label them, thinking I'd remember.

Hah!
Cheers