Thread: Any specs on: Boree, Doolan, Red Bohemia??

Red Bauhinia is a native ( Lysiphyllum carronii - rated at 1390 kg/m3), hard as a whores heart !! also tends to be brittle , splinters are generally very fine and hurt ! However , does polish to a beautiful finish , shellawax is the go .R Bau , heartwood has a beautiful herringbone looking grain running through it .Will post a pic of some polished , if I can get the bizzo to upload .

Boree (Acacia tephrina- no rating ), also v hard and once again like most of our desert hardwoods polishes to an unbeleivable finish , go through all the grits up 2000 and use shellwax.
The red bauhinia is third from the left .
btw, the pic is of single reed duck calls all in Aussie timbers .

Have not had the chance to use or see any Doolan .

Veebull

Originally Posted by VEEBULL

Red Bauhinia is a native ( Lysiphyllum carronii - rated at 1390 kg/m3), hard as a whores heart !! also tends to be brittle , splinters [snip]
Boree (Acacia tephrina- no rating ), also v hard and once again like most of our desert hardwoods polishes to an unbeleivable finish , go through all the grits up 2000 and use shellwax.

Thank you! That's exactly the info I wanted. I suspected they'd be pretty hard; the grain being so fine and the wood so heavy.

Lovely pieces in the pic, BTW, they're something to be proud of. What woods are the other calls made from? At a guess, I'd say the 2nd left is a she-oak, the 2nd right a redgum and the rightmost jarrah?

Skew the other woods are from left to right : Tas Blackwood, Rose sheoak,Red Bauhinia,Budgeroo,Mulga,Red Lancewood (aka Dead Finish) and the last one is actually Cooktown Ironwood , which is a true ironwood , it sinks in water , turns & polishes beautifully though does not usually have much in the way of figured grain .I really like it , the pic does not really do it justice .It has also been used very effectively in musical instruments such as Irish flutes and the various other wind instruments.


veebull

Veebull,

Loved the picture of australian hardwoods. Dare I ask what the objects are?

I have not seen any Doolan either but just for the record it is Acacia salicina which comes from central Victoria and is around 900 k/m.

John Elliott.

John, Acacia salicina is a native from SA particulary the Port Broughton area aka Broughton Willow. It is visualy simular to mulga(the wood, not the tree) but its not as hard or heavy.

John the " objects" are single reed Arkansas style duck calls .Used to call ducks in over a raft of decoys.These calls are 'tuned' to sound like a hen mallard , there is a real art to blowing them , so much so that in the US , they have huge competitions . The inserts , which hold the reed are injection molded , I would like to do them from timber but I need a special jig to get the angles right .
I turn them for a bit of fun , I have a couple of mates in the US that are mad keen duck hunters so I keep them supplied in calls .Aussie hardwoods are very suitable as our timber is hard and dense and usually provide very nice raspy tones .

Harry , do you get mulga (acacia aneura ) down SA way ?
Mulga is great timber but a fair cow to season from green .I cut a swag out Milparinka way last year , sealed the end grain straight away and all the billets I cut have split .

veebull

Yeah there is mulga in SA, a freind has obtained some of a sheep station out woop woop some where.
Check out a thread I posted in the Pictures forum "Broughton Willow box" to see how close this is to mulga in colour and grain.
I reckon I maybe able to get my hands on some sandlewood(or is it sanderwood?) a freind has a bloody great pile of it for firewood, I'll slice it up on the Bsaw see what it comes up like.

Veebull,
Really like the duck calls but they are definitely "Aussie style" and not "Arkansas style." Love the idea....
Incidentally, next year there will be an international meeting of the Wood Collector's Society in Toowoomba, where you will be able to see samples of just about any Aussie timber you care to mention. Thought you might be interested.

Harry,
Thanks for the input about Broughton Willow, about which you are absolutely correct but remember the original question was about Doolan which is the local name for Acacia salicina in Victoria. I understand it also occurs in NSW.

John Elliott.