Thread: Timber Sample Collection

I grow trees here on my farm which was originally a rainforest site and so I am always coming across unusual rainforest trees that can be sawn up on my sawmill. I can saw very small logs. I'd like to sell some of these unusual timbers but so far, I have not been successful in finding frankly anyone who is interested. I admit that some of the woods are a bit ordinary but there are some that are most fascinating. All wood to me is interesting though. I will mention four of particular interest to me. One is the local ebony with true ebony wood in it, another is what I call, a red silky oak not the pale coloured southern silky oak, the dark and heavy KinKin penda, and native olive, another very dense wood. I'd give their botanical names but I can't find my rainforest book at the moment. When they used to log the rainforests of north Qld and to a lesser extent southern Qld and northern NSW, they used to commercially utilise something like several hundred species so the subject is fairly well known. If anyone is interested, they are welcome to contact me. Bob

Thanks for all the replies. Yes i will definitely be sorting out the botanical names sooner rather than later! Always on the lookout for new timber so definitely interested in trades.

So i have attempted to assign all my samples with their correct botanical names. Have done pretty well using TTIT's website as well as a few others, along with a book i have called Trees & Shrubs.

At the end i have 3 samples for which i can only find vague bits of information on: Papua New Guinea Red Oak, Papua New Guinea White Oak and Papua New Guinea Oak. Does anyone have any idea how to go about finding these correct botanical names? The images of the samples can be seen in my earlier posts.

Also have another 4 samples to add to the collection from my weekends work.

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Hoop Pine
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European Beech
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American Black Walnut
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Damar Minyak

Originally Posted by Sambo1111

................At the end i have 3 samples for which i can only find vague bits of information on: Papua New Guinea Red Oak, Papua New Guinea White Oak and Papua New Guinea Oak. Does anyone have any idea how to go about finding these correct botanical names? .........

Very difficult when you get a sample that has been given a common name by somebody who really has no idea where it came from . I have a few samples here that might never make it to the egg collection simply because the names they were tagged with have no positive link to a specific species. I even tend to knock back offers of timber I can't identify so that that box doesn't get any bigger
I have a list of PNG trees but it doesn't include common names at all and neither does this online listing - http://www.pngplants.org/PNGtrees/TreeDescriptions/#XQ so that's not much help to you. Might have to start a "To Be Identified" box

Have been a bit quite over the past month or so but have been kicked into gear after a purchase from Tim Creeper of 17 new samples. Stay tuned in the next couple days. 2 new ones before then.

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Merbau (Instia bijuga)

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Mulga (Acacia aneura)

I was also lucky enough to drive past a tree that had been recently felled in my area and grabbed a piece of what turned out to be Myall (Acacia pendula). Have cut it into slabs and am currently looking at a second hand microwave to experiment with microwave seasoning.

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Latest Samples

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Norfolk Island Pine
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Native Hop Bush
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Black Poplar
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Black Poplar
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Peppercorn
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Protea (Silver Tree)
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Protea (Silver Tree)
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Corking Elm
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Stringybark

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Willow Myrtle
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Mulberry
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Peppertree Wattle
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Peppertree Wattle
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Black Wattle
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Australian Walnut

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Chinese Elm
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Peppermint Gum
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Calantas
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Queensland Maple

You must have a reasonable number of species by now Sambo. Good to see!!

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Golden Cypress
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Myall

We had a bloke on a job at one time who was quite a card. There was a rowdy discussion about the species and name of a piece of timber we had come across. During the heated "debate" this bloke kept interjecting with "Pussy Willow"..."It's Pussy Willow"...."Pussy Willow". He was howled down but it was funny at the time

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Silky Oak
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White Cedar

Originally Posted by artme

You must have a reasonable number of species by now Sambo. Good to see!!

Yeah, up to 60 odd now artme.

Another few to add to the collection.

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Western Red Cedar (quartersawn)
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Western Red Cedar (backsawn)
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Tasmanian Oak