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- Grey gum Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
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< All Topics
Grey box Timber: Uses, Properties & Specifications
Updated
Bybombo
Scientific name
Eucalyptus moluccana, E. woolsiana ssp. Microcarpa. Family: Myrtaceae
Other names
Gum-topped box
Description
- Medium-sized tree growing to 20–30m high.
- Stem grows to 1m diameter.
- Trunk is generally straight and of good form.
- Bark is finely tessellated, grey box-type.
- Bark is persistent to the base of the branches, where it changes to a smooth light grey bark which is often shed in ribbons.
Occurrence
- Eucalyptus moluccana occurs throughout the central and northern coastal areas of New South Wales and Eastern Queensland, from Jervis Bay in the south to Atherton Tableland in the north.
- Eucalyptus woolsiana ssp. microcarpa is common in the wheatbelts of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. It also has a limited occurrence in the Flinders and Mt Lofty Ranges of South Australia.
Appearance
Colour
- Heartwood is usually pale brown but sometimes yellowish.
- Sapwood usually distinct and lighter in colour.
Grain
- Fine, uniform, even textured, usually interlocked.
Uses
- Engineering: as sawn and round timber used to construct wharves and bridges, railway sleepers, poles, piles, mining timbers.
- Construction: as unseasoned timber in general house framing, and as seasoned dressed timber in cladding, internal and external flooring, lining and joinery. Also in fencing, landscaping and retaining walls.
- Decorative: outdoor furniture, turnery, joinery.
- Others: boat building (keel and framing components, planking), carriage building, mallet heads, mauls, sporting goods, croquet mallets, paving blocks, fuelwood.
Properties
- Density: 1105kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; about 1.0m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
- Strength groups: E. moluccana—S2 unseasoned, SD2 seasoned; E. woolsiana ssp. macrocarpa—(S2) unseasoned, (SD2) seasoned.
- Stress grades: F11, F14, F17, F22 (unseasoned); F17, F22, F27, F34 (seasoned) when visually stress graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
- Joint groups: J1 unseasoned, JD1 seasoned.
- Shrinkage to 12% MC: 7.4% (tangential), 0.23% (radial)—these values are for E. moluccana only.
- Unit shrinkage: 0.43% (tangential), 0.23% (radial)—these values apply to timber of E. moluccana reconditioned after seasoning.
- Durability above-ground: Class 1 (life expectancy over 40 years).
- Durability in-ground: Class 1 (life expectancy over 25 years).
- Lyctine susceptibility: sapwood is susceptible to lyctid borer attack.
- Termite resistance: resistant.
- Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative.
- Seasoning: satisfactorily dries using conventional air and kiln seasoning.
- Hardness: very hard (rated 1 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
- Machining: machines and dresses well.
- Fixing: no difficulty using standard fittings and fastenings.
- Gluing: as with most high-density species, machine and prepare surface immediately before gluing.
- Finishing: readily accepts paint, stain and polish.
Identification features
General characteristics
- Sapwood: pale grey-brown.
- Heartwood: light brown to yellow-brown.
- Texture: uniform and fine; grain generally interlocked.
Wood structure
- Vessels: small, numerous, mostly solitary; heavily tylosed.
- Parenchyma (soft tissue): not visible with hand lens.
- Rays: very fine.
Other features
- Burning splinter test: match-size splinter burns to buff ash.
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.