Flame Tree

[pjt]

Driving past a place the other week and I spy a stump near a fence line, mmm I say to myself, used to be a tree there, look over into the padock and see a couple of logs and branches, best I go and ask, and here's the result, bloke's calling it fleam tree, think he might mean flame tree :?
First log has a close fork and a bit of a pipe from where it was felled, also a few splits, second log is better with only a punky area where a branch has been cut previously



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Pete

[shedbound]

nice grain:2tsup:

[two40]

Gorgeous. I have a flame tree. Just showed the swmbo your grain and she said it was very pretty. Asked her if we could cut ours down and she gave me a death stare.

[wheelinround]

Flame or Neem tree which ever very nice

[dai sensei]

:tongueroll: :2tsup:

[artme]

What he:aro-u: did!!! gorgeous grain.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Doubt it's a flame tree. Brachychitons tend to be very fibrous.

[Bushmiller]

Gorgeous. I have a flame tree. Just showed the swmbo your grain and she said it was very pretty. Asked her if we could cut ours down and she gave me a death stare.

George

I am close to bi-lingual in body language. That was a no! :D

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

[QUOTE=pjt;1584131] bloke's calling it fleam tree, think he might mean flame tree :?

Pete

Fleam? Not a Kiwi? :)

Could it be an Illawarra Flame tree? If so it is a member of the Kurrajong family. The timber should be very light weight and probably coarse grained. Probably not highly regarded normally, although your log shows nice grain.

Regards
Paul

[Wizened of Oz]

Gorgeous. I have a flame tree. Just showed the swmbo your grain and she said it was very pretty. Asked her if we could cut ours down and she gave me a death stare.

George, you would be disappointed if you did cut down your Flame Tree, because this is not it and Flame Tree timber is not very desirable.
This one looks like Flea Tree (Albizia lebbeck).
Now Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifolius), which should have a brilliant display right now, yields a lightweight, pale, featureless timber. I've read that it is a good carving timber, but when we cut down some largish ones here they oozed copious amounts of thick jelly from under the bark and that was not going anywhere near my bandsaw.

Edit: Bushmiller agrees. Not Flame Tree. He posted while I was composing this.

[pjt]

The flowers are about 1" round fuzzy shape, yellow, leaves are typical legume, I'll grab some pics and see if we can come up with a definate ID:)


Pete

[dai sensei]

Timber looks like Raintree, but flowers and leaves will help identify it.

[Uncle Al]

Good job you guys said it wasn't a flame tree.
I have a fair sized Illawarra Flame tree in the backyard, and a chainsaw. The two nearly got together.
Looks like I would have been quite disappointed!

Lovely looking log, whatever you produce from it will be spectacular.

Alan.

[Christos]

Gorgeous. I have a flame tree. Just showed the swmbo your grain and she said it was very pretty. Asked her if we could cut ours down and she gave me a death stare.

I am not sure what provoked you to suggest such a thing. Cutting a tree down just to get at the grain, what an insane thing to suggest.


You should have said our tree looks a bit sick, might need to cut it back a little. :U

[Wizened of Oz]

Some pictures off the internet.

[artme]

I think you've got it Wizened!

[Bushmiller]

Pete

Red Siris and Yellow Siris are from the same Albizia family and are good furniture timbers so your log may be good too. I couldn't find specific information on timber properties for A.lebbek in my books.

It did state that the sawdust from Yellow Siris could be an irritant and that both species needed careful drying, which probably means slowly with normal precautions.

Regards
Paul

[pjt]

The collective power of the forum:2tsup: thanks to everyone for input, (including the joking) it does look like wizened is on the money, I didn't go out there today so no pics but soon.


Pete

[MAPLEMAN]

Raintree for mine....definately not Flame tree...:2tsup:

[Mobyturns]

Being Rocky theres a fair chance its raintree Albizia saman. Timber & bark certainly looks like it. Pretty common in Townsville & hard to give away here. sapwood can be very irritating when sanding.

[Wizened of Oz]

Here's a photo of Raintree (Albizia saman) bark.
To me that is not the bark in pjt's photos.

[MAPLEMAN]

I still think it's Raintree.......:2tsup:

[rustynail]

Raintree has a course bark with large plates. Fleatree has a much finer bark with very small plates. The limited amount of bark showing in the photos looks quite small in the plates, which would suggest Flea tree.

[Mobyturns]

Here's a photo of Raintree (Albizia saman) bark.
To me that is not the bark in pjt's photos.

Yes thats the photo from Wikipedia purporting to be the bark of Albizia saman. The Raintrees we have here in Townsville do have much different bark to that photo and have been reliably identified as Albizia saman. It will be interesting to see photos of the leaves, pods & flowers of this tree if they become available.

[pjt]

I can certainly see Y MM says its raintree, my avatar is raintree, well, what I belive to be anyways, I still haven't been out there but soon, I have a chunk of it here at home, had a look at the bark and it does seem to be smaller plates.

I wonder if the area where the bark comes from has an impact on description, say trunk as apposed to branch?



Pete

[MAPLEMAN]

Have milled a far bit of it in my time (Raintree)..really does look like it,either way,beautifull timber ,though be aware the borers absolutely love the sapwood and will chew into it like there is no tomorrow...and you need to preserve it for the contrast(surface spray does the trick)...lovely stuff:2tsup:

[Mobyturns]

Have milled a far bit of it in my time (Raintree)..really does look like it,either way,beautifull timber ,though be aware the borers absolutely love the sapwood and will chew into it like there is no tomorrow...and you need to preserve it for the contrast(surface spray does the trick)...lovely stuff

Yes, and the timber particularly the sapwood when dry sanded is not that great for humans either. Probably the most problematic timber we have here in North Queensland, rates right up there with Mackay Cedar. We have three beautiful big raintrees right across the road from home, not even 30m away. Albizia canescens - Townsville siris, and Albizia procera - Forest siris and Albizia lebbeck - Indian sirus are all present in Townsville as well.

[MAPLEMAN]

Yes, and the timber particularly the sapwood when dry sanded is not that great for humans either. Probably the most problematic timber we have here in North Queensland, rates right up there with Mackay Cedar. We have three beautiful big raintrees right across the road from home, not even 30m away. Albizia canescens - Townsville siris, and Albizia procera - Forest siris and Albizia lebbeck - Indian sirus are all present in Townsville as well.Only a problem if you don't wear a mask...it has got to be one of the most stunning timbers around...let me say,Blackwood dust isn't great for humans either...in fact,not many timbers are "safe' as such...:2tsup:

[mungomunn]

Looks like an albizia to me at first glance by the bark, broad sapwood and dark walnut type heartwood. There are plenty of them up here in the parks in ipswich which are cut down from time to time. After flowering they have a heap of small thin seed pods that rattle in the wind and are very distinctive. I have always thought that they may make fine gun stock timber. Would look great i know that! The slabs for blanks would have to be a bit thicket though 2.5 to 3" thick. Be very careful of the sapwood as the pinhole borers love it to death!

Great find!!

Mungomunn

[Mobyturns]

Looks like an albizia to me at first glance by the bark, broad sapwood and dark walnut type heartwood. There are plenty of them up here in the parks in ipswich which are cut down from time to time. After flowering they have a heap of small thin seed pods that rattle in the wind and are very distinctive. I have always thought that they may make fine gun stock timber. Would look great i know that! The slabs for blanks would have to be a bit thicket though 2.5 to 3" thick. Be very careful of the sapwood as the pinhole borers love it to death!

Great find!!

Mungomunn

Yours in Ipswich are most probably Albizia lebbeck (small thin seed pods that rattle in the wind and are very distinctive).

[comgreserv]

So does the Illawarra Flame tree have any uses does anyone know other that making the bonfire pile bigger? I have a few logs and won't fire up the mill if I'm wasting my time... Don't have spare time lol

[artme]

Chip it for mulch!

[Bushmiller]

So does the Illawarra Flame tree have any uses does anyone know other that making the bonfire pile bigger? I have a few logs and won't fire up the mill if I'm wasting my time... Don't have spare time lol

I'm afraid Artme is probably right. The Illawarra's claim to fame is it's flower.

Regards
Paul

[comgreserv]

Cheers lads. Logs in question are too big for my 22 inch chipper. Logs are over 1mt in diameter. Bonfire is easiest method...

[dai sensei]

Before you burn all of it, save a decent chunk of trunk and store it end grain down (in the direction it was growing) on some mouldy concrete if you have any, if not some moist lawn somewhere. Hopefully the bugs will have a ball and spalting will occur. You could end up with some fantastic pen blanks, they will need stabilizing, but that will help with the timber finishing. Check it out after a year.