Thread: More timber finds for I.D.ing

Have put a piece through the thicknesser now and have some better photos which might help with I.D.ing the species. Any idea why these pieces are getting splits? I seem to be having a lot of problems with timber splitting - am only new to this so don't know what I am doing wrong (some would probably just say that I don't know what I am doingW6.jpg

First thought would be blackbutt

Blackbutt looks likely
The other possibility is spotted gum.
Usually SG is a bit blonder but I have seen some older or bigger trees that approach walnut brown and heaps of tones in between.

The wood has very prominent gum veins, which can certainly cause splitting/delaminating. End-splits most likely occurred during drying & are not likely due to anything you're doing unless the wood was a bit wet & you allowed the ends to dry very quickly.

To me those pictures could be of any of dozens of species of Eucalyptus or Corymbia. Gum veins are common enough in all Eucalyptus species, but seem to be exceptionally common in some of the Corymbias, like Spotted gum. Spotted gum round here can come in every shade from very pale to a very dark brown. As I keep sayin', with a few notable exceptions, colour is about the least useful characteristic in identifying these species.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

First thought would be blackbutt

+1. Saw that exact colour gradient in the endgrain of recycled Blackbutt all the time at my old work.

Originally Posted by IanW

The wood has very prominent gum veins, which can certainly cause splitting/delaminating. End-splits most likely occurred during drying & are not likely due to anything you're doing unless the wood was a bit wet & you allowed the ends to dry very quickly.

To me those pictures could be of any of dozens of species of Eucalyptus or Corymbia. Gum veins are common enough in all Eucalyptus species, but seem to be exceptionally common in some of the Corymbias, like Spotted gum. Spotted gum round here can come in every shade from very pale to a very dark brown. As I keep sayin', with a few notable exceptions, colour is about the least useful characteristic in identifying these species.

Cheers,

Agree with this.

Jim

My best guess without gong into detail is that its a Corymbia, the most common commercial species of which is Spotted Gum. The pattern of parenchyma in the end grain are not found in Eucalyptus sp, but characteristic of Corymbia.

Eugene