Furniture

American Walnut
Botanical Name: Juglans Nigra.

Description: A medium to large hardwood limited to the eastern USA and south-eastern Canada. Generally straight grain but curly and wavy grain may be present. Texture is coarse.

Usage: Gunstocks have been a favoured use due to its shock resistance. High quality furniture, cabinetmaking, interior joinery, turnery, carving and decorative veneers.

American White Oak
Botanical Name: Quercus spp.

Description: Medium hardwood growing in Eastern USA and South Eastern Canada. Straight grained with a medium to coarse texture.

Usage: Furniture, staircase and cabinet making. Joinery, construction, plywood and decorative veneers.

American Maple
Botanical Name: Acer saccharum.

Description: Large hardwoods located throughout Canada and Eastern USA.

Usage: Useful in any situation of high abrasion – flooring, carving and butchers blocks or moving parts where timber can be used. Also used for furniture, paneling, turnery and veneers.

Blue Gum
Botanical Name: Eucalyptus saligna.

Description: Blue Gum grows from the southern coast of New South Wales through to Southern Queensland. It is a tall hardwood and one of the predominant species in commercial use. The grain generally straight but interlocked and the texture is moderately coarse and even.

Usage: Flooring, furniture, moulding, decking and turnery. It is available as a veneer.

Brushbox
Botanical Name: Tristania conferta.

Description: Indigenous to the fringes of rainforests from Central New South Wales to Northern Queensland. Other members of the Tristania genus are found growing throughout Indo-Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. In Malaysia the trade names are Pelawan, Melaban and Selunsur. The grain is usually interlocked to varying degrees. Texture is fine and even. There may be some evidence of silica in the timber.

Usage: The timber is principally used as flooring, staircase and cladding timber. It has been used in dry areas as a decking and walkway timber.

Cypress
Botanical Name: Chamaecyparis nootatensis.

Description: Medium sized softwood distributed along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Oregon, USA. The heartwood is a pale yellow. Sapwood is similar to the heartwood. Straight grained with a fine, even texture. Growth rings are not prominent and they are very close together.

Usage: High class joinery, furniture, cabinet work, applications where its acid resistant properties are important – vats,etc. and decorative veneers.

European Beech
Botanical Name: Fagus sylvatica.

Description: Mainly the European mainland but also in the U.K. and parts of West Asia. European beech is straight grained with a fine, even texture.

Usage: Cabinetwork, high class joinery, furniture, laminated boards. Chair making, tool handles, turnery, flooring, plywood and veneers.

French Oak
Botanical Name: Quercus petraea.

Description: Medium sized hardwoods distributed throughout the Central and Western Europe and into Russian Siberia. Grain is straight with a coarse and uneven texture. Silver grain figure appears on quartered surfaces due to broad rays. Sometimes Oak logs are recovered from bogs and the timber recovered is called “Bog Oak” Whilst retaining the properties of conventional Oak it has a rich, deep brown color much prized for cabinet work.

Usage: The principal timber for vats and barrels for beer, wine and brandy. European Oak is best for furniture and cabinet making. UK Oak is preferred for sea defence, wharfage, outdoor furniture and exterior joinery. Widely used in Europe for church furniture and carving. Flooring and turnery. Produces very attractive veneers.

Hoop Pine
Botanical Name: Araucaria cunninghamii.

Description: Hoop Pine is found in rainforests stretching from Northern New South Wales to Northern Queensland. It also occurs in mountain regions of Papua New Guinea.Fine and close grained with a straight grain. Growth rings are relatively inconspicuous. Fine knots may be present in some material and these do not machine as well as Pine species knots and care must be taken.

Usage: Cabinet work, furniture, turnery, linings, panelling and box making. Hoop Pine is available in veneer.

Iroko
Botanical Name: Chlorophora excelsa.

Description: A large hardwood of East and West Africa. Interlocked grain, texture coarse but even.

Usage: Furniture, cabinet work, carving, panelling and decorative veneers.

Jarrah
Botanical Name: Eucalyptus marginata.

Description: Indigenous to the South Western corner of Western Australia. A large hardwood produces a fairly well formed bole and relatively compact, yet open crown. The grain is straight and often slightly interlocked which can present a fiddleback appearance. Flat sawn surfaces may have boat shaped flecks which enhance its decorative appearance. Texture is coarse but even.

Usage: Highly prized as a furniture timber. It is used for flooring, panelling, joinery, decking, and marine work. Available as a veneer.

Karri
Botanical Name: Eucalyptus diversicolor.

Description: Limited to the South Western corner of Western Australia. One of the tallest of the Australian hardwoods it can attain 85m (280ft) with diameters up to 3.3m(11ft). The grain is often interlocked with some wavy feature and a somewhat coarse but even texture. A very strong and heavy timber.

Usage: Flooring, furniture, decking, marine construction, structural applications and panelling. It is available as a veneer.

Kwila
Botanical Name: Intsia bijuga.

Description: A large hardwood of wide distribution throughout Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. It is also found growing in north Queensland. The grain is sometimes interlocked and the texture is moderately coarse. Growth rings are fairly distinct. Kwila has a characteristic oily odour which persists even after drying.

Usage: Furniture, flooring, staircase, decking, turnery, construction, tool handles and decorative veneer.

N.G.Rosewood
Botanical Name: Pterocarpus indicus.

Description: Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South-East Asia. The grain is wavy, interlocked or crossed. The texture is moderately fine and uneven due to the ring-porous structure. The timber has a characteristic fragrant odour. Rosewood can be highly figured- fiddleback, curly and ripple are common as figure. It has a persistent fragrance.

Usage: Furniture, high class joinery, musical instruments, decorative veneer, panelling, staircase, carved and turned items and novelties.

Radiata Pine
Botanical Name: Pinus radiata.

Description: A large pine that is native to a very small region of the seabord of California, principally the Monterey Peninsula. It is now the most widely grown commercial pine with significant plantations in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. It grows well in cooler regions. Grain is normally straight but spiral grain can be found close to the pith- – usually within the first 10 growth rings. Texture is fine and even. The growth rings are prominent due to the difference between late and early wood.

Usage: Multiple – construction, turnery, fencing, poles, furniture, framing, trusses, crating, pulp production, veneers, plywood, cladding, panelling, staircase and decking.

Sapele
Botanical Name: Entandrophragma cylindricum.

Description: A very large hardwood found throughout Central, West and East Africa. Texture is fine and even. Grain is interlocked or wavy, which presents a ribbon figure on quarter cut surfaces. Fiddle back, mottle and roe figure can also be found. Sapele has a cedar like fragrance when cut.

Usage: Furniture and cabinet work, joinery, doors, flooring. Considerable quantities go to plywood and decorative veneer.

Spotted Gum
Botanical Name: Eucalyptus maculata.

Description: Very widely distributed – from Southern Victoria through New South Wales into Central Queensland on the coastal plains. The timber is usually interlocked with the marked wavy pattern which produces a fiddleback appearance. The sapwood is distinct – very much paler than the heartwood but there is an unclear zone between the heartwood and softwood which can complicate preservation treatment and grade classification.

Usage: Flooring, marine decking, furniture, staircase, decking, tool handles, construction and the timber is available as a veneer.

Tasmanian Blackwood
Botanical Name: Acacia melanoxylon.

Description: A medium sized hardwood mainly available from Tasmania but found through South Australia and up the Eastern coast to Queensland. The timber is of medium and even texture with a generally straight grain although wavy grain produces an attractive fiddleback appearance.

Usage: Principally used in high class furniture and cabinet work due to its excellent appearance.It is also used for panelling, turnery, flooring, carving and gun stocks. It is available as a veneer.