Thread: Tasmanian Blackwood

It sounds like Merbu (sp) with the white flecking..if it is, dont get it wet or the tannins will leach out and stain everything black.

post a pic of it please

I don't know what causes or what the white fleck is but all the Blackwood whether Victorian or Tasmanian Blackwood I have or had has it.

edit: Brain Fade on timber species please see post 9 for explanation.

Brickie. I had to look up Merbu. That is how green I am. It is the same as kwila which I have a little more knowledge of.

When i got it, the first thing I thought of was kwila but it had a darker colour to it. All the kwila I had see has a slightly reddish tinge through it, although it does have a flecked appearance the fleck in kwila has an off white colour this fleck is mor white then the kwila fleck.

I was going to go along with you on this until Springwater just posted and said that all the blackwood he has seen has this white fleck through it.

To Echinda, I wish I could post a picture, but I really have to up date my computer skills as I have no idea how to do it.

However, " I have a lifeline and I may call a friend' he is an ex Tasmanian, a woodie, and his dad owned three sawmills in Tassie. Surely, his two brains would be better then my single Queensland one.

"GOOD" Tas blackwood does not have the white fleck.
Even down here in Tassie it is getting harder to find really dark stuff, since the government locked up the Styx and Florentine Valleys to logging a lot of the small mills are battling to source good mill logs and the big mills arn't interested in minor species.
Post a photo and I am sure you will soon get your timber ID.

Catchya
Andrew

Some photos for reference,
the first is an unfinished Blackwood scroll board,
the second a blackwood box finished with polly.

I really can't recall ever seeing a white fleck in blackwood (there is white sapwood on the outside but thats all white and not flecked)

sorry for the confusion, it's my brain. I have checked the Blackwood I have and it hasn't got any white fleck. Its the mahogany I've got that has the white fleck, but I'm not sure what mahogany variety it is.

Looks like the odds have just shortened again on it not being Blackwood. I will do a search on Mahogany but at this stage I guess the favourite is Merbau / Kwila.

I don't think blackwood would be darker than Kwila. See ravlord13's pics for a colour guide. If it's in the same ball park but has larger 'pores' then another possibility is New Guinea rosewood.

OK I bit the bullet, after chewing the fat, I made a decision,because I do not know what it is, and merbau / kwila is a distinct possibility I have decided to use it for legs on the mobile work station I am building.

I guess this is the price of the learning curve I have to go through, although this time, it is not a cost out of my pocket, but I hate the thought of not using good quality timber where it can be appreciated.