Thread: Mystery "timber"

Hi folks

While camping on the bank of a river draining out of the Great Dividing Range here in NSW recently, I found some strange pieces of what I can only describe as a "wood-like substance" half-buried in a sandbank in the riverbed. When I first picked it up I thought it was a stone, because that's exactly what it looks like. However, the wieght and feel immediately told me it was wood. Once it was dried out (with no splitting or shrinking, even though it was completely waterlogged) I gave it a cautious test cut with an old hand saw, and the strangeness continued. It has no discernible grain, no smell, cuts beautifully, produces a fine powdery sawdust even from a relatively coarse-toothed saw, and sand to a mirror-like finish.

Here's a picture of what it looks like, the lower piece has the cut edge.



What do you reckon it is? I've never seen a piece of "ancient" timber but perhaps this is the same sort of thing. Alternatively, it may be torrefied wood - wood that has been altered by heating (to about 200-300oC if I recall correctly).

So now I'm wondering what to make out of it. I occasionally make model ships, so perhaps it will be good for detail parts. It might be nice turned into drawer pulls. It looks like it would be great for bas-relief carving. The pieces are fairly small (the cut piece is about seven inches long) but it's much too interesting to discard.

Thoughts, please!