Carbeen

Scientific name

Corymbia tessellaris. Family: Myrtaceae

Other names

Moreton Bay ash; Carbeen bloodwood

Description

  • Medium to large tree.
  • Grows 15–30m high and to 1.0m diameter.
  • Long narrow pendulous leaves (distinguishing feature).
  • Basal stocking of grey tessellated bark to 1–4m high, which then changes to smooth greyish or white bark.

Occurrence

  • Carbeen occurs from far northern New South Wales throughout most of eastern Queensland, extending to the northern-most tip of Cape York Peninsula.

Appearance

Colour

  • Heartwood brown to dark chocolate brown.
  • Sapwood distinctively paler light brown, or pinkish yellow.

Grain

  • Texture is moderately coarse and variable.
  • Wavy grain can produce an attractive fiddleback figure (pattern).

Uses

Engineering

  • Wharf and bridge construction.
  • Mining timber.
  • Railway sleepers.
  • Piles.
  • Cross-arms.

Construction

  • Unseasoned timber:
    • General house framing
  • Seasoned dressed timber:
    • Cladding.
    • Internal and external flooring.
    • Lining and joinery.
    • Fencing.
    • Landscaping.
    • Retaining walls.

Decorative

  • Outdoor furniture.
  • Turnery.
  • Joinery.

Others

  • Coach, vehicle and carriage building.
  • Agricultural machinery.
  • Mallet heads,
  • Mauls.

Properties

  • Density: 1040kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; about 1.0m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
  • Strength groups: (S1) unseasoned, (SD1) seasoned.
  • Stress grades: F14, F17, F22, F27 (unseasoned); 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: 3.4% (tangential), 3.0% (radial).
  • Unit shrinkage: not available.
  • Durability above-ground: Class 1 (life expectancy more than 40 years).
  • Durability in-ground: Class 1 (life expectancy more than 25 years).
  • Lyctine susceptibility: untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctine borer attack.
  • Termite resistance: resistant.
  • Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative.
  • Seasoning: satisfactorily dries using conventional air and kiln seasoning.
  • Hardness: very hard (class 1 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
  • Machining: machines and dresses well due to its natural greasiness.
  • 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 paint, stains and polish.

Identification features

General characteristics

  • Sapwood: light brown and distinct from heartwood.
  • Heartwood: brown to dark brown.
  • Texture: open, often with interlocked grain; slightly greasy to touch.

Wood structure

  • Vessels: medium to small, solitary and radial chains common; vessel lines conspicuous on dressed surfaces: abundant tyloses.
  • Parenchyma (soft tissue): very abundant, tend to form zonate bands.
  • Rays: medium, just visible to the naked eye.

Other features

  • Burning splinter test: match-sized splinter will burn to a complete ash, white to buff in colour.

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.