Thread: Spotted Gum

depends on the quality

Weisyboy can you elaborate on what you would consider quality ??

I am making furniture out of it & dont mind borer holes & slight gum lines......not that i have had a good look at it yet

here are the things to lok for

Grain

straight grain is worth more than angled grain and curly grain is worth more still.

Coulor

the color of potty gum can vairy widely even within species. It can range from being a verry pale cream color to a very dark brown almost black.

Dencity

a tree that grew in a gully or near a creek will have a more open grain and wil be weak and splintery. were as a tree that grew on a stoney ridge will have a dence close grain and be very strong and will tolerate a higher finish.

Species

there are many species of spotty gum and some are better quality and some are realy poor.

Age

the timber from a yong tree will be of lesser quality and be more prone to movement and checking than timber from a older larger tree.


there for

top quality furniture timber will have a dark curly highly promonant grain and stand a hugh quality of finish and be from an old tree (90 years+) that grew on a stoney ridge.

where as pore quality timber will have come from a young tree that grew near a creek with open pale grain and will tear out when being worked.

And Bunta be aware... Spotted Gum is as hard as 'budgerie' and you will need sharp tools. It has a lovely finish on high quality boards.

Carry Pine

Cheers gents.
am having a look at it today & will grab a little bit clean it up & post some pics.
though the little bit that i did see looked like redgum .
turns out that a mate of a mate works at this place & can get me a better price ........the wood gods are smiling again

well i grabbed some & cleaned it up & it looks nice but not 100% sure that it is spotted gum ???
but i will still grab some more as its priced right.

Yep.
That is Spotted Gum.
Forget looking at the colour. look at the grain structure and the figure.

Spotted can vary from almost white to almost chocolate brown.

NSW versus QLD spotted has a huge colour variation.
I imagine northern NSW to Southern NSW spotted would have similar colour variation as well.

Geez, it does look alot like Red Gum.