Thread: Remember when camphor laurel was a weed?

Originally Posted by NeilS

I grew up in Alstonville where this feral invasive tree had a devastating impact on the landscape where the magnificent 'Big Scrub' once stood.]

Neil
Clearing the 'Big Scrub' is what devastated the environment.
At least the Camphor Laurel has in some instances stabilised the creek/river banks from erosion as well as offering much needed shade and shelter for the wildlife.
If we hadn't gone ballistic on clearing the sub-tropical rainforest in the first instance,this species wouldn't be so problematic.
Make good use of the resource I say...particularly now that many endemic species are no longer commercially available.
A lot of folk love Camphor Laurel and rightfully so!

Log Dog

Originally Posted by mic-d

Only an opinion folks... I never understood why people say this when they offer an opinion and then others offer a different opinion. It's almost like stating mine is an opinion and the other is something else...


How do you think those antiques would have looked when made? Certainly not as muted as they are now. You only have to search for images of antique kusunoki cabinetry to find examples of beautiful antique Japanese cabinetry made with camphor wood. Beautiful muted cabinetry.

I find both of those chests are beautiful.

YKMMV

Yup, bad choice of words LOL. Reading some of the posts it came across as some took my saying it's ugly wood personally. Saying it's only an opinion was an attempt to say there is little to no value in my personal taste, so don't get upset about it.

I suspect I'd have not liked the figured tallboy even more; the colours would have been much more vibrant and contrasting. Whereas the mahogany would have been brighter but still very uniform.

Tried to look up kusunoki and only found one example. If it was camphor it's a different species. The colour was very uniform, with little to no contrast.

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

...so don't get upset about it.

I don't see anyone getting upset. Just a lot of people who think you're wrong.

How many timbers can claim to be full of oils that make it Anti-Bacterial and therefore great for food prep.

I find it easy to work with and great for making picnic tables

Set up 1.jpg

I think for members wanting to get into woodwork, it's an Australian timber which is easy to work with when using hand tools, however I do feel prices are going through the roof, luckily my Woodworking Club mill their own which keeps the prices down to a third of what others are charging.

Originally Posted by Camelot

....it's an Australian timber

I would never call it an Australian timber when I describe a piece that I have made from it.

Yes, it is a wood that has become more readily available here than elsewhere, but it is an exotic weed that is colonising where we should be regenerating a long list of wonderful Australian sub-tropical tree species that were cleared by my great-great-grandparent's generation, many of them taking centuries to reach maturity.

Below is a photo of my grandfather next to a timber jinker of red cedar logs, the last to be removed from the family property. The child standing next to him is my 86yr old brother, so that was still happening in his lifetime. Our family 'cleared' the Big Scrub for farming two generations earlier and I saw the infestation of Camphor Laurel spreading out rapidly from our school yard and other public amenities in the district during my lifetime to replace all those many wonderful Australian sub-tropical tree species that stood there before them. Such short sightedness!

Cedar logs.JPG

Originally Posted by Camelot

... it's an Australian timber ...

'Tisn't, the tree in question (Cinnamomum camphorum) was introduced from Asia since European settlement. We actually have a very similar 'native' species, C. laubatii, which introduced itself from somewhere in Asia way back in geological time. It occurs in rainforest from around Cooktown to west of Mackay. It has been a commercial species (according to Morris Lake), but I've never come across it. Has anyone here had experience of it?

As with most things in this world, C. camphorum is neither all good nor all bad. It's certainly an 'invasive weed' but as someone else pointed out, its fast-growing & rapid spreading has stabilised a lot of over-cleared soil & creek banks. The utter trashing of so much of our limited areas of rainforest is the real villian!

As a timber species I quite like it, but it can get a bit overpowering after a few hours of planing & sawing it, I agree. It's stable once dry & quite nice to work with hand tools, takes a good finish (one of those woods that seems to be made for oil finishes), & is moderately durable (indoors). You don't have to use the highly figured stuff if it offends you, some of it is quite plain. I used plain stuff for most of this bookcase, but chose more showy pieces for the front:
Bkse camphor r.jpg

I heartily agree that it's all too easy to overdo highly figured & coloured woods in furniture, but a a blingy bit in a couple of rooms in the house is ok by me. I've been in love with just about every period style of furniture in my lifetime, from mediaeval oak to 'Danish modern, but have decided I like it all in moderation. There was a time (quite a long time) when I thought Georgian period stuff was the pinnacle of furniture design & construction & could not fathom why you'd want anything else, but I got tired of that too, eventually. We humans are a fickle lot, we have varied tastes & styles & like to change them on a regular basis. And thank goodness for that..

Cheers,

Originally Posted by NeilS

I would never call it an Australian timber when I describe a piece that I have made from it.

Yes, it is a wood that has become more readily available here than elsewhere, but it is an exotic weed that is colonising where we should be regenerating a long list of wonderful Australian sub-tropical tree species that were cleared by my great-great-grandparent's generation, many of them taking centuries to reach maturity.

Below is a photo of my grandfather next to a timber jinker of red cedar logs, the last to be removed from the family property. The child standing next to him is my 86yr old brother, so that was still happening in his lifetime. Our family 'cleared' the Big Scrub for farming two generations earlier and I saw the infestation of Camphor Laurel spreading out rapidly from our school yard and other public amenities in the district during my lifetime to replace all those many wonderful Australian sub-tropical tree species that stood there before them. Such short sightedness!

Cedar logs.JPG

The native trees that were taken down to clear land grow in an environment that they had established over thousands of years to form in most parts a tropical rain forest, in that type of environment new growth happens when a hole in the canopy appears due to a fallen tree (fallen due to age) and the surrounding older trees protect the sapling until it grows up and refills the hole in the canopy. So planting native trees which are slow growing can't be done in one mans life time, it would take a few generations of people who care enough to plant an area that become self sustainable.

While Camphor Laurel isn't native to Australia it seems to have been introduced has the tree of choice planted around schools and public buildings because it grows quickly and gives lots of natural shade, the officials/town councils at the time could have planted native trees but choose not to.

Camphor Laurel has been growing in Australia now for over 200 years and thrives in this climate, so much so it is considered invasive, but some may consider that a good thing because every tree absorbs carbon and releases oxygen, thus being much quicker at doing this than native trees.

So my reference to Australian timber, is that it's not imported like American Walnut or Central American Mahogany, it grows locally and for people wanting to get into woodwork, it's easy to work with.

There seems to be 13 species of Cinnamomum (native and non native) in Australia : Cinnamomum | Search | Atlas of Living Australia

Three native ones are listed here with their common names that some will recognise:

https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https.../2899563#names

https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https.../2914805#names

https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https.../2918163#names


Cinnamomum camphora or Camphor laurel is the only species referred to as Kusunoki in Japan.

The official name for Cinnamomum camphora or Camphor laurel currently seems to be Camphora officinarum

Not sure that helped me much, Michael - so many common names applied to each & it looks like at least one of them is a recent 'convert' from a different genus! I certainly recognised a few of the common names but I think they are also applied to several other species as well, so now I'm thoroughly confused.

The pictures of the wood of C. laubatii in Lake's book look remarkably like camphor laurel, and is of similar density so presumably is similar to work. It's also known as "Brown beech" along with two of the ones you linked to. Now I'm curious about the others, they could well be 'useful' woods too. So many of our woods never got a chance, if they weren't one of the recognised 'desirable' species like red cedar etc., they were just torched after felling when the land was cleared.

Folks were still clearing 'scrub' on the Atherton tableland when I was a tenager & even good millable logs often got turned into charcoal instead of furniture - too much bother to try & find buyers for logs, especially if the site wasn't easily accessible. My old pot used to help one of our neighbors clear his 'scrub block', & was saddened by what went up in flames - if only we'd had the sort of bandsaw mills available now, back in the fifties, eh?

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Not sure that helped me much, Michael - so many common names applied to each & it looks like at least one of them is a recent 'convert' from a different genus! I certainly recognised a few of the common names but I think they are also applied to several other species as well, so now I'm thoroughly confused.

The pictures of the wood of C. laubatii in Lake's book look remarkably like camphor laurel, and is of similar density so presumably is similar to work. It's also known as "Brown beech" along with two of the ones you linked to. Now I'm curious about the others, they could well be 'useful' woods too. So many of our woods never got a chance, if they weren't one of the recognised 'desirable' species like red cedar etc., they were just torched after felling when the land was cleared.

Folks were still clearing 'scrub' on the Atherton tableland when I was a tenager & even good millable logs often got turned into charcoal instead of furniture - too much bother to try & find buyers for logs, especially if the site wasn't easily accessible. My old pot used to help one of our neighbors clear his 'scrub block', & was saddened by what went up in flames - if only we'd had the sort of bandsaw mills available now, back in the fifties, eh?

Cheers,

Now it's my turn to be confused, the last link I posted was to C. laubatii, with reference to Brown Beech. However the other two don't have that common name listed for them.
I recognised Bollywood but now I think I may have recognised the Indian movie genre, and I was really thinking of bollygum. We can be confused together. Coincidentally Rose Butternut is another great timber Blepharocarya involucrigera is also called North Queensland Bollygum, but a different Bollygum to the more well known Bollygums, I think, just to add a confusing tangent. Rose Butternut is the one I mentioned was often flogged off as Queensland Maple.

I can remember as a kid of about 10 or so, my parents had a wardrobe in their bed room that was veneered with camphor laurel, in far north Queensland. I used to break tiny bits off just for the smell. At that age I didn't know the species or even understood the significance of "veneer or it's use. The smell and stunning "book leaf" patterns made one hell of an impression on me. It wasn't until much later that I began to understand. I have no idea where the wardrobe was built, but guessing in Australia about mid 40's.

Yes I was a bit of a terror.

Jim

Jim, a lot of veneered/ply furniture was made in Oz from the 20s to the 50s. I don't recall ever seeing Camphor used other than in the solid for (imported) blanket chests, but it's highly likely to have attracted some attention for its spectacular figure.

A thought that just occurred to me is how come Camphor laurels never took off on the Atherton tableland the way they have here in southern Qld/northern NSW? I haven't poked about up there much in the last 30 years or so, but at least up to then I never saw creek banks overgrown with the stuff like down here. There were isolated CLs scattered about & plenty of fruit-eating birds to eat & poop the seeds all over the place, but it doesn't seem to have 'naturalised' up there - I wonder why?

We had the 'regulation' Camphor-laurel in our schoolyard, which we kids called "sarsparilla", though I'm not sure why, camphor & aniseed are a bit different! It was a miserable specimen, struggling to grow in about 2 inches of gravel over bedrock, and long since removed to make way for one of the many extensions the school had after my time.

The only thing that out-competes Camphor laurels along the creek where I am now (outer western part of Brisbane) is Celtis, which has all of the 'bad' features of CL, without being much use for anything other than light-duty handles, if you can find a bit that grew for long enough in the same direction!

In summary, I think Camphor laurel is still a weed, just a useful weed (to some of us). All we need do to eliminate it is to over-exploit it the way we did with so many other more desirable woods....

Cheers,
Ian

There is a company/bloke in NSW making Camphor laurel plywood. I don't have any details but Ken from Korora specialty timbers at Mt Crosby is selling it. Seems like another good use for it.

While on furniture made from our sub-tropical rainforest species, Evan Williams, the saw miller in my hometown of Alstonville, wisely put aside many of the best species for that purpose from there and from the saw mill he later established in Kyogle. Fortunately his stash was then used extensively for the furniture when they fitting out the new parliament house in Canberra.

The first part of the following article covers that story...

The House with Annabel Crabb: The secret side of Parliament House hidden from the public - ABC News

I played with his children in and around the mill on weekends when the mill wasn't in operation and got to see his growing collection of sample pieces of wood displayed on a board in the mill office. Not that I fully appreciated what I was looking at, but it began my fascination of what was hidden inside the many mysterious trees that remained in the few remanent stands of sub-tropical rainforest that we frequented in the district.

I'm familiar with the new growth pattern in a mature canopy where isolated trees succumb to age or a cyclone. I've also seen how an empty cow paddock can be replanted with a wide variety of local sub-tropical rainforest species and begin together the slow process of re-establishing itself as a mature forest eco-system, a process that will take many centuries to get to the point where the strangler figs are back doing there thing.

Of course, those new rainforests will never be exactly the same as the original ones that took millions of years to evolve on the red soil volcanic plateaus, but worth doing none the less, IMO.