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Imported Timbers
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- Forest red gum Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
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- Miva mahogany Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
- Narrow-leaved red ironbark Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
- Northern cypress Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
- Northern silky oak Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
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- Red siris Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
- Rose gum Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
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< All Topics
Brush box Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
Updated
Bybombo
Scientific name
Lophostemon confertus. Family: Myrtaceae
Other names
Pink box; Scrub box
Description
- Medium-size tree grows 35–40m.
- Stem diameter of 1–2m.
- Trunk is usually straight with good form.
- Bark is about 10mm thick, light grey to brown
- Bark on lower trunk is rough and semi-fibrous.
- Bark on upper trunk and main branches is smooth, coppery brown to pink.
Occurrence
- Occurs as mature, residual trees in rainforest, and commonly extends to wet sclerophyll and moist open forests; from Newcastle, New South Wales to Maryborough, Queensland.
- Isolated stands occur on Blackdown Tableland (Rockhampton), Mt Dryanden (Proserpine), Paluma Range (Townsville), Mission Beach (Tully), Mt Garnet, Herbert Range (Atherton) and Windsor Tableland (Mossman).
Appearance
Colour
- Heartwood ranges from pink-brown to red-brown but is highly variable between trees.
- Sapwood is usually slightly paler in colour.
Grain
- Close and evenly textured.
- Often with curly interlocking grain.
Uses
Engineering
- Marine piles.
Construction
- General house framing.
- Flooring.
- Lining.
- Cladding.
- Laminated beams.
- Joinery.
Decorative
- Plywood.
- Turnery.
- Laminated bench tops (residential, industrial).
- Joinery.
- Parquetry.
Others
- Used in the past for mallet heads, croquet mallets, textile industry (bobbins and shuttles), butcher´s blocks, boat building (knees).
Properties
- Density: 880kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; about 1.1m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
- Strength groups: S3 unseasoned; SD3 seasoned.
- Stress grades: F8, F11, F14, F17 (unseasoned), F14, F17, F22, F27 (seasoned), when visually stress-graded according to AS 2082—2000, Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
- Joint groups: J2 unseasoned; JD2 seasoned.
- Shrinkage to 12% MC: 9.7% (tangential), 4.4% (radial).
- Unit shrinkage: 0.38% (tangential), 0.24% (radial)—these values apply to timber reconditioned after seasoning.
- Durability above-ground: Class 3 (life expectancy 7–15 years).
- Durability in-ground: Class 3 (life expectancy 5–15 years).
- Lyctine susceptibility: sapwood is not susceptible to lyctine borer attack.
- Termite resistance: resistant.
- Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative, unlike the heartwood, where penetration is negligible using available commercial processes.
- Seasoning: be careful when seasoning—minimise distortion when drying by closely stripping (maximum 300mm centres) the boards.
- Hardness: hard (rated 2 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
- Machining: abrasive to machine cutters and tools due to silica in the wood.
- Fixing: no difficulty using standard fittings and fastenings.
- Gluing: as with most high-density species, machine and prepare the surface immediately before gluing.
- Finishing: readily accepts stain, polish and paint.
Identification features
General characteristics
- Sapwood: pale greyish brown.
- Heartwood: pink-brown to red-brown, often varies.
- Texture: fine and uniform, grain often interlocked.
Wood structure
- Growth rings: absent.
- Vessels: small, visible with the aid of a lens, numerous, solitary and diffuse; tyloses are common.
- Parenchyma (soft tissue): not visible under a lens.
Other features
- Burning splinter test: produces a full ash, white to brown.
Research and resources
- Boland, DJ, Brooker, MIH, Chippendale, GM, Hall, N, Hyland, BPM, Johnston, RD, Kleinig, DA and Turner, JD 2006, Forest trees of Australia, 5th ed., CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
- Bootle, K 2005, Wood in Australia: Types, properties and uses, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
- Ilic, J 1991, CSIRO atlas of hardwoods, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, Australia.
- Queensland Government, DAF 2018, Construction timbers in Queensland: properties and specifications for satisfactory performance of construction timbers in Queensland. Class 1 and Class 10 buildings, Books 1 & 2, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane.
- Standards Australia, 2000, AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes, Standards Australia International, Strathfield, NSW.