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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Cairns
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    Default Please help me identify tree from pics

    Hi guys, first I'd like to say how useful and enjoyable it is to have a forum like this based in Oz. Thanks to all the generous people who have bothered to help others with their queries and put up pics of their projects, tools and such... I've learned a lot here without even having to ask questions.

    Anyway, some friends had a tree fall over in their back yard and ask me if I wanted to collect for timber. I have picked up a couple of logs and would love to know what it is.

    Here are the pics:











    Celery Top was suggested but the leaves don't look right to me. I saw a pic of black heart sassafras and thought it may be that but again the leaves don't look right. It's a straight tree growing in rainforest climate of Kuranda, FNQ, smallish crown if that helps, other nearby trees look like tall straight specimens of their species tho, so it may just be the area. Wasn't much to the root structure, I think it has grown quick. It was creamy white when first cut (apart from the greenish brown coffee splash in the centre which is absent higher up the trunk) and also it immediately started to split from the centre. These pics are two days after cutting, it has darkened considerably.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Nerang Queensland
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    66
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    10,766

    Default

    Some sort of Ash or Hickery maybe. The black is spalting as the tree is rotting, so no good for furniture or structural, but Ok for turning
    Neil
    ____________________________________________
    Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new

  4. #3
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    Nov 2004
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    Cairns
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    Default

    Ok, thanks for the reply Dai Sensei, is it feasible that the rotting process will stop with drying or will it continue to spread into the outer wood?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  5. #4
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    Nov 2004
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    Cairns
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    Default

    Oh I should mention that there are two different logs in the pic, the front one is the one I'm trying to identify, the back one is a silky oak

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Nerang Queensland
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by AdamAnt View Post
    Ok, thanks for the reply Dai Sensei, is it feasible that the rotting process will stop with drying or will it continue to spread into the outer wood?
    Once dry it will stop, but looking at the photos, there isn't much good stuff left. Ash's do break down fast, so you will need to cut it up and dry it fast, otherwise it will keep rotting in the log form. I had some Bonewood that also breaks down even faster, I cut it up to dry, but anything over 100x100 still rotted away and became spalted blanks.

    ps Wait for others to reply as I am no timber expert
    Neil
    ____________________________________________
    Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Tasmaniac
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    Default

    Definately wont be Celery top or Blackheart Sassafras as those 2 are cold climate rainforest timbers that could not cope with growing in Cairns.
    Sorry,can't help more than that. By geez I was impressed with how many nice timbers you do have up there on my last visit though.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Dundowran Beach
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    Post

    Agree with dai sensei.

    Do as he says and cut it up now.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Buderim qld
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    842

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    AdamAnt, did you crush the leaves or the small branches to see if they smelt like celery? I think that is how the species gets its common name. Celery Wood is naturally occuring on our block but I do not live in FNQ. Also had one blow over that did not have a big root system. The small purplish flowers in your photo are arranged like that of celery wood and in my book "Mangroves to Mountains" the leaves shown have undulating leaf margins like your photo.

    Also if I remember correctly the wood of the tree that blew over here was a whitish colour with a very high moisture content.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Cairns
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    Hey thanks very much everyone, hungry for knowledge here so I appreciate every little bit. Artme and Dai Sensei - will take your advice and cut it up as soon as possible, and probably in smallish boards as suggested. I'm not into turning really so maybe will cut up thin for my Dad to do his paintings on. Artful - thanks, I agree - I'm near Herberton so mostly the timber trees surrounding me are heavy and hard but quite attractive eg forest red gum, lemon scented, red (I think) iron bark, grey box, yellow and red stringy... Just about all impossible to nail or screw ;-) but anything I do make will likely last forever...

  11. #10
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    Nov 2004
    Location
    Cairns
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    Default

    Kidbee I am 90 % sure it's not celery top but if celery wood is different then could be, will check it out. Celery tops leaves have a shape similar to celery leaves and apparently are thick, this ones leaves are thin and not at all like the pics google shows for celery top. My father in law said maybe Satinash, will check that too and come back.

  12. #11
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    Nov 2004
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    Cairns
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    Ok Kidbee, looks like you got it, it's celery wood (not celery top) I'll have to eat some humble pie now, my wife was only telling me at dinner she thought the msg said celery wood not celery top... and sure enough, I saw what I wanted to see and went off half-cocked. Many thx tho. Have you used the wood for anything? Doesn't seem to be popular as timber, one site said something like "generally considered rather inferior species for timber production" but was unclear whether it's not worth using or not worth growing.

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
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    Nambour Qld
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    It does look liky Celery Wood (Polyscias elegans). It's a fast-growing pioneer species.
    I cut one of these a few years back but found the wood soft, open, and quite useless.
    Brian

  14. #13
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    Nov 2004
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    Cairns
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    Default

    Thanks Wizened, may I ask what you mean by open?

  15. #14
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    Dec 2011
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    Buderim qld
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wizened of Oz View Post
    It does look liky Celery Wood (Polyscias elegans). It's a fast-growing pioneer species.
    I cut one of these a few years back but found the wood soft, open, and quite useless.
    Got to agree. I don't think it would even make the grade as firewood.

  16. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by AdamAnt View Post
    Thanks Wizened, may I ask what you mean by open?
    Open-grained.
    As Kidbee said, not even firewood. It wasn't saved for the barbecue.
    Brian

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