Eungella satinash—red and white
Scientific name
Acmena resa (red), Syzygium wesa (white). Family: Myrtaceae
Other names
Red eungella gum; white eungella gum; watergum (both)
Description
- Grows large in North Queensland.
- Trunk moderately buttressed.
- Bark is flaky on both species.
Occurrence
- Occurs in highland areas from Proserpine to Cooktown, including the Eungella Range.
Appearance
Colour
- Red eungella satinash (RES) heartwood is pink to red-brown.
- White eungella satinash (WES) heartwood is pale grey to yellow-brown.
- Sapwood is greyish yellow.
Grain
- Generally straight, short and open.
- Often moderately wavy.
Uses
- Construction: structural building framing, flooring, plywood.
- Decorative: flooring, panelling.
- Others: turnery.
Properties
- Density: red eungella satinash is 785kg/m3 and white eungella satinash is 755kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; about 1.3m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
- Strength groups: red—(S4) unseasoned, (SD5) seasoned; white—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: red—JD2 seasoned; white—J3 unseasoned, JD2 seasoned.
- Shrinkage to 12% MC: not available.
- Unit shrinkage: not available.
- Durability above-ground: Class 3 (life expectancy 7—15 years).
- Durability in-ground: Class 3 (life expectancy 5—15 years).
- Lyctine susceptibility: untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctid borer attack.
- Termite resistance: not resistant.
- Preservation: sapwood readily impregnates with preservative.
- Seasoning: slow to dry, be careful seasoning to avoid checking.
- Hardness: moderately hard (rated 3 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
- Machining: hard to work.
- Fixing: no difficulties using standard fittings and fastenings.
- Gluing: glues well.
- Finishing: readily accepts paint, stain and polish.
Identification features
General characteristics
- Sapwood: greyish yellow.
- Heartwood: red-brown (RES) and yellow-brown (WES).
- Texture: fine to medium and uniform; grain slightly interlocked.
Wood structure
- Vessels: small to medium, very numerous, but more so in WES; solitary and short radial multiples; vessels lines not obvious; both often show whitish vessel deposits.
- Parenchyma (soft tissue): difficulty to see under lens.
- Rays: barely visible to the naked eye, and tends towards 2 distinct widths.
Other features
- Burning splinter test: match-size splinter from both timbers will burn with some crackling to leave a charcoal tip and black non-adherent ash.
Note: both timbers differ only 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.