Thread: Timber ID experts!

Originally Posted by sailor

Glen,

Will post a closeup of the slabs tomorrow

Mutilated the tree 13 years ago? Please Explain!


Steve

Yes with a good photo it is easy to pick Silky Oak very commonly planted in melbourne. Leaves would have been a help to.
Well the centre is not normal heart wood ie most of the trunk isn't sapwood. About 13 years ago someone has cut the top off or something similar. This was when the tree was the size of the red centre. After the tree recovered from this mutilation it has grown like a normal Grev. If you look to see where this red centre stops you will see where it was chopped off, but the cut surface has probably rotted away. This may not be the whole story as you only showed one cross section of the trunk.

Glen,

Thanks very much for the explanation.
From what you say the heartwood is not the normal colour of silky oak, is that right?
You obviously know your trees, guess that is a science in itself.

Steve

Glen,

Took two shots of exactly what you suspected.
The timber above this has started to grow normally.
Guess ive got something different than the normal silky then.

Steve

Steve I have milled Silky Oak that has been very red, in fact I posted some photos on this site.
On the outside you have bark then the sapwood that is the outside 4 or 5 years growth. Then normal heartwood this colour is normal; then you have this red centre piece that has extra chemicals added by the tree to protect it when the top was removed. Around the outside of this existing wood at the time of injury you have a line of wood usually very dark that is a chemical barrier put down by the tree to protect the new growth from fungal attack. Your sapwood should be near white but it has gone grey this is probably fungal.
Basically yes you have silky oak with extra colours added. The things to be careful of with silky oak are many people get rashes from touching it (under arms and groin and point of contact, eyes can be bad). Other problem is Lucid borers love eating the sapwood but they will not touch the heartwood.
Dendrochronology has been a hobby of mine for ~35 years. Back in the 70's and 80's if you cut a dead tree down in Melb you could pick when it died by the small growth ring caused by the 67 drought and count out. Now it's very hard as things aren't constant like they were in the 50's and 60's.
You can find out a lot from trees, when buildings were built nearby, when large storms hit, when house owners changed that watered differently, when pruned excessivly etc. I was paid for doing this once.

Glen,

Thanks so much for telling this story , im sure it will be interesting to others beside myself.
Thet are real time capsules and have a story to tell. It must have been a very interesting job as im sure you came up against some very strange requests.
Thanks once again to all that helped in my Quest!

Steve

I would have laid money on a bet, based on the photo of the right log in the trailer - that it was Desert ash, having cut more of these down than I care to remember for my work, removing them from creeks and river banks.

The milled timber however, does look like silky oak. Are you sure that the log on the right was the one you milled and posted here?

quercus,
Absolutely sure that the log is the one in the picture. Ill take your money though..... how much was it again! heheheh.

Steve

Better late than never. It looks like a cassuarina to me. Medullary rays are too fine for silky oak. Is it hard and heavy ? Then its a cassuarina.