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< All Topics
Blush walnut
Updated22/10/2024
By
Scientific name
Beilschmiedia obtusifolia. Family: Lauraceae
Other names
hard bollygum; tormenta
Description
- Large hardwood tree.
- Grows to 50m high.
- Stem diameter of 1.0m.
- Trunk is sometimes flanged at the base.
- Bark is grey or brown, and scaly or marked by scattered indents.
Occurrence
- Occurs in coastal scrubs from the Clarence River area of New South Wales to the Cairns district.
Appearance
Colour
- Heartwood is yellowish-brown to blush pink.
- Sapwood is paler.
Grain
- Usually straight with fine grain.
Uses
Decorative
- Panelling.
- Turnery.
- Office fittings.
- Scotia and cornice moulds.
- Architraves.
- Plywood.
Others
- Internal flooring.
- Framing.
- Shelving.
- Roof battens.
- Fishing rod butts.
- Chisel handles.
- Cases.
- Crates.
- Staves for tallow casks.
Properties
- Density: 770kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; about 1.3m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
- Strength groups: S4 unseasoned, SD5 seasoned.
- Stress grades: F7, F8, F11, F14 (unseasoned); F8, F11, F14, F17 (seasoned), when visually stress-graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
- Joint groups: JD2 seasoned.
- Shrinkage to 12% MC: 6.1% (tangential), 2.7% (radial).
- Unit shrinkage: 0.36% (tangential), 0.19% (radial)—these values apply to timber reconditioned after seasoning.
- Durability above-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy 0—7 years).
- Durability in-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy 0—5 years).
- Lyctine susceptibility: untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctid borer attack.
- Termite resistance: not resistant.
- Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative.
- Seasoning: dry carefully to limit checking; air dry under cover before kiln seasoning; collapse is slight.
- Hardness: moderately hard (rated 3 on a 6-class scale) to indent work with hand tools.
- Machining: hard to work because it’s abrasive on cutting edges.
- Fixing: no difficulty using standard fittings and fastenings.
- Gluing: bonds are satisfactory using standard procedures.
- Finishing: readily accepts stain, polish and paint.
Identification features
General characteristics
- Sapwood: pale pink-brown.
- Heartwood: yellow-brown to pink-brown.
- Texture: medium to fine, grain straight.
Wood structure
- Growth rings: absent.
- Vessels: small, visible without lens; some solitary but most as short radial multiples; vessel lines distinct on longitudinal surfaces.
- Parenchyma (soft tissue): Abundant in irregularly spaced apotracheal bands, distinct without lens, also vasicentric tracheids are visible under lens.
- Rays: distinct without a lens.
Other features
- Burning splinter test: match-size splinter burns to a full white ash.
- Oil cells: detect in cross-section with the aid of a 10× lens.
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.