Thread: what timber is this?

it LOOKS like a hardwood species from the capillary appearance, but your observations re the resin quantity lead me to ask...is it a conifer (ie. does the resin smell aromatic like a pine?, is it really tacky, or more like eucalypt sap)
Also, is the grey coloration in pic 3 weathering, or the colour of the wood?
Bill

possibly mango, crows ash, conkaberry something along those lines but i'm just a guessin

Looks like slash pine to me.Could also be Radiata with a high resin content..

To narrow it some, it's not Mango or Crows Ash, it does look like some sort of Pine. Does it have a smell when milled?
Could be some sort of 'Black Pine' (local name) a derivative of Cypress Pine, especially if it was from SE QLD.

Thanks to all for the thoughts.

The resin is very sticky, and the surface of the boards is still sticky 1 week after milling. The smell of the resin really does smell like pine. The tree is from Bundaberg.
The colour of the board with the grey is not from weathering. It could be sapwood, but also these pieces have some spalting damage to them. Some boards just cut out with this colour, but some boards with natural tree outer edge did not have the grey colour as a sapwood layer
My gut feeling was crapiata, but I have never seen it before with this much resin.

Thanks again
Dan

Looks and sounds very much like pinus caribaea. Many of the farmers in this area were encouraged by the forestry department, to plant this species around their farms for a superannuation fund. None of the mills around here would touch it because of the resin problem mentioned. A few of the smaller mills did attempt to mill it and found the most successful way was to run water on the saw continuously. IMHO it is not suitable for furniture, again because of the resin content. On a more positive note, in turned pieces, the parts impregnated with the resin, become translucent, even up to 12mm thick. On a property near here, Ergon had to cut down about 50 odd trees, some up to 500mm through, no-one bothered to recover any of it.
Jim

Thanks Powderpost, with your description of the resin, I am sure you are right.

Now, how can I put any sort of finish on this?

Dan

Have a look through the Finishing forum. Off the top of my head I can't remember what solution is recommended to use on oily timber.... think it was one of the Huon threads...... Metho, that was it I think............


Here it is. Look for the third post by UBeaut, owner of this Forum.


This might give you a good place to start.


Cheers
Wendy

ye sit does look like slash pine, what you say of the smell and texture would give it away

It's looking a bit like slash to me (i'm no expert) but if its "heavier", generaly harder and a bit on the splintery side, slash is a better possibility than radiata.

cheers