Blush walnut

• 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.

• Occurs in coastal scrubs from the Clarence River area of New South Wales to the Cairns district.

Colour

• Heartwood is yellowish-brown to blush pink.
• Sapwood is paler.

Grain

• Usually straight with fine grain.

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.

• 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.

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.

• 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.