Big, heavy & fiddleback?

[Phily]

I met a local arborist today who showed me a large log he’s milling. He has no idea what it is, and neither do I!

1.6m diameter, the timber is very dense and interestingly has a fiddleback appearance throughout.

I put an offcut through the drum sander with 180 grit and added a bit of oil to see how it would come up. I reckon pretty good. The main sections with less shake should polish up nicely.

Origin is definitely NSW Southern Highlands though the log has been moved from its original location so its not known exactly where. It has the size of a local Brown Barrel however the timber is far denser.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Phil

[elanjacobs]

Looks like generic Eucalypt to me :?.

I've seen Redgum, Messmate and Tas Oak all with the same figured grain as in the first pic; obviously it's the wrong colour for Redgum, maybe it's Messmate?

[Pat]

I'll throw Spotted Gum into the ring. Looks a bit like some Fence Furniture had a few years ago.

[Phily]

Messmate would be the logical guess but this is really dense, I didnt think Messmate got that dense?

[Phily]

Both the arborist and I had the same thought. Its very brown though - no pink shading whatsoever.

[Acco]

Dense and heavy, colour is about right, even the wavy pattern but don’t know if it grows around your area.

Eucalyptus melliodora otherwise known Yellowbox.

[Phily]

Dense and heavy, colour is about right, even the wavy pattern but don’t know if it grows around your area.

Eucalyptus melliodora otherwise known Yellowbox.

Apparently the log was brought in by truck and left on a property that was then sold. So we have no idea how far it came. I can’t see any logic for trucking it up the escarpment so I doubt its a coastal timber. On the orher hand yellow and grey box are reasonably common not so far inland from here. I should give a few pieces a smack with a block splitter as all the box I’ve ever split (a fair bit) has been stringy gnarly stuff - quite different to gum. Ummm .......

[Euge]

Dense and heavy, colour is about right, even the wavy pattern but don’t know if it grows around your area.

Eucalyptus melliodora otherwise known Yellowbox.

That's my guess too.

[Euge]

... I doubt its a coastal timber. On the orher hand yellow and grey box are reasonably common not so far inland from here. I should give a few pieces a smack with a block splitter as all the box I’ve ever split (a fair bit) has been stringy gnarly stuff - quite different to gum. Ummm .......

Yep, boxes often have interlocked grain (making splitting hard) but adding an interesting figure like that shown.
Colour is about right for a yellow box too.

Euge

[Acco]

Here’s some pics that I took a few years ago.

449423

The two on the right.

449424

A closer shot

[Phily]

Here’s some pics that I took a few years ago.

449423

The two on the right.

449424

A closer shot

Thats Yellowbox? Wow, now I’m feeling guilty for all the logs I’ve put into the fireplace. Beautiful stuff.