Thread: Gilliank- beefwood (Grevillea striata)

This hasn’t been posted for a while.

Hmm, that might not be quite the situation here, Bob!

My answer would be that yes, Beefwood is certainly valued by some woodworkers - turners are probably the main target, and many might buy a bit of wood if it's available. However, the market is limited, and not many amateurs have the gear or the knowhow to harvest wood from the bush. The last thing you'd want is a bunch of cowboys stomping round your property, causing damage to your trees or themselves. If the person wishing to buy a tree or two can convince you they know what they are doing and you can agree on a sensible royalty, no problems...

Another alternative would be to locate a mobile miller who knows what they are doing & see if they think what you've got is worth pursuing. But as the cartoon over-emphasises, overheads are high, drying & storing the wood before it's saleable is usually necessary, making returns slow. So don't be surprised if the royalties most are prepared to pay seem meagre.

Cheers,

Thank you IanW. I was confused by Bob’s cartoon, but I got his point.
I am a farmer and we have mature Beefwood trees that may soon be removed, pushed and burnt. It seems such a waste, but we have no time or machinery to cut them other than chainsaw. I hope to cut out the long trunk now (3 -5 metres before branches) and put them aside for collection ASAP.
Guess it would suit furniture makers rather than pen makers.
Hoping for a contribution to my ailing Super Fund
We aren’t on the coast (5 hrs inland) so don’t know mobile millers but will follow upon this.
Just opening up an alternative to prevent waste of these fine trees.
So many young ones coming on, but this paddock needs development.
Farming is a tough gig during this drought.
best wishes to all

Once the trees are down, I'd measure them up and take pictures. Then do a yellow pages search for mobile timber millers in the the Toowomba area and send them the details indulging photos. It may be they are doing a job out your way and can save travel costs/time that way.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a big return though as most of the value in milled timber is in the processing/storing/drying - the actually value of the log (Stumpage) is a minor component. Although I appreciate that every little bit on income. Good luck.

Thanks Bob will investigate further.

look up
Lucas Mill > Sawmilling Contractors

Originally Posted by Gilliank

Hi, I am not a woodworker, but would like to know if anyone uses beefwood (Grevillea striata) for woodwork. I have access to live trees. If these are useful to anyone I would be willing to sell them as is or whatever arrangement is appropriate. However I cannot saw or store sawn wood.
Apologies if I am making mistakes - this is my first post.

I wouldn't be expecting too many takers unfortunately - Beefwood has a pretty bad reputation around the south-east corner. A friend of mine selling slabs of timber at the Maleny wood show couldn't even get people to look at it as they all know it bleeds resin for years after it's finished. Very pretty timber but the user has to be prepared to sand it back again every year or so until the bleeding stops.

Originally Posted by TTIT

I wouldn't be expecting too many takers unfortunately - Beefwood has a pretty bad reputation around the south-east corner. A friend of mine selling slabs of timber at the Maleny wood show couldn't even get people to look at it as they all know it bleeds resin for years after it's finished. Very pretty timber but the user has to be prepared to sand it back again every year or so until the bleeding stops.

Vern is correct as his friend is also an acquaintance of mine (work), I witnessed some of those conversations at Maleny while viewing the wood and Vern's splendid boxes also on display with the same vendor. It is a pretty wood.

Historically "Beefwood" was the timber of choice for cadastral (boundary) survey pegs and survey posts and has a remarkable lifespan in the ground. That problematic resin for wood workers is the reason it is so durable in ground. I have witnessed hundreds of survey pegs & posts that are 120+ years old in the ground in western QLD in my surveying career. These days any "durable" wood is used, some of which barely last five years or so.

Perhaps an option is to contact Qld Survey Pegs they may be interested.

Thanks, I contacted the Qld survey pegs but they werenÂ’t interested. They have to paint the tops white, so they would have to be able to retain the colour.
No one got back to me to follow up. Think I will just give up on this project idea.
thanks for the helpful suggestions from all.
All the best for the silly season and beyond.

Unfortunately sort term pragmatism reigns over long term benefits.

Beefwood is a far superior timber for long term in ground life as a survey peg. Acrylic (water based) paints are used to paint survey pegs, mostly in a simple dip and dry process. Beefwood stains white paints, so multiple coats of paint are required, which means more production steps = time & money. The vast majority of survey pegs go into massive new residential subdivisions where the survey pegs really only require a life of 1 or 2 years before fences replace them. Save 40 or 50 cents perhaps $1 per peg on thousands of pegs & stakes. So "crappy" woods are often used that will barely see a decade in the ground at best, before termites & rot destroy them.

However in rural areas survey pegs may be required to last 40 or 50 years or more.