Thread: spotted gum with potential

Won't be long before Bushmiller is into this thread. We're both big fans of Spotty!

Looking forward to the results.

FenceFurniture has been second guessing me all day so I suppose there is no reason to stop now !

That growth pattern is certainly unusual. Trees that grow with a lean put on extra timber to compensate. You can sometimes pick it because the heart is way off centre. It does also tend to create growth stress, which in Spotted Gum can be significant, but not so obvious in shorter lengths.

I am not sure from your description whether the tree was on the ground or off the ground at the point it was growing horizontally.

SG at it's best has a beautiful subtle figure. Time will tell how yours goes.

Regards
Paul

Thanks for the replies guys, I've been doing a little research, and I'm not so sure its spotty, this tree retains its bark by the looks, and i don't have a sample of leaves or flowers unfortunately, I'll be sure to post some more pics when its a little cooler. The color & density resembles spotted gum. It grew horizontal just touching the ground in parts

well here it is, had a chance to do a log today, interesting the way this grew you may be able to see(pic 1) the parts that were touching the ground the sapwood had completely rotted away to the heartwood by not affected any of good wood. some parts look a little punky but are still solid, pic 4 shows what was under the bark, sure is dense timber even wet it sanded up smooth for the picture, another two sections and 2 crutches to go
SAM_0525.jpgSAM_0526.jpgSAM_0527.jpgSAM_0528.jpgSAM_0530.jpgSAM_0531.jpgSAM_0532.jpg

Damn nice shedbound, but I gotta say pic1 looks more like firewood
Cheers, Ian

Looking good Sheddy. Could be some very nice figure in there.

Reckon you might need a new tape soon.

spectacular piece of timber

What the others have said, but it doesn't look liked spotted gum to me from those pix unless the bark is very different on the other side. The bark should look like this:

spottedgum.jpg

Nice grain in your timber.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

What the others have said, but it doesn't look liked spotted gum to me from those pix unless the bark is very different on the other side. The bark should look like this:

spottedgum.jpg

Nice grain in your timber.

Regards
Paul

Yes Paul, I agree mate - not the kind of spotty I slice up on this side of the big dry... but very interesting

Lovely piece of wood.

That tree goes with the old sayings …..don't judge a book by it's cover, and it is what is on the inside that counts!

Thanks for posting photos, nice timber.
Might be time to shout yourself a new tape measure.

Thank-you for your replies, and yes this tape measure has seen better days

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

What the others have said, but it doesn't look liked spotted gum to me from those pix unless the bark is very different on the other side. The bark should look like this: l

Paul, I don't know about elsewhere in the country but my experience is the the bark changes quite a bit after it has been down for a while.

This is like when its cut down


But over time it changes to this.

At this point the bark usually starts to fall off. Interestingly I was told by an old timber faller that this is the nest time to mill it is as it is less prone to cracking but not too hard to mill.

If the tree has a lot of stress/insect attacks and it releases a lot of gum at the surface it starts out pretty scungy look and turns an even darker red/brown and the bark can look as bad as the picture shown by the OP.

I'm still unsure of this one I thought maybe some kind of box eucalypt, I jumped to the conclusion it was spotty when I cut a sample piece and seen the timber.
This tree was still growing the uncut log on the mill shows the underside where it was growing horizontal along the ground. The void where the bark was trying to regrow has no sapwood at all I assume it had rotted but not affected the good wood (strange tree)
(I like your mill setup Bob)