JARRAH

The magnificent West Australian Jarrah (Eucalyptus Marginata) grows only in the South west corner of Western Australia. The tree, under ideal conditions, grows to 30-40 metres in height and 2 metres in diameter. Some trees have been up to 600 years old. The bark is stringy, being red-brown when fresh, weathering to grey. On small branches it is smooth.

It is one of the best known of Australian hardwoods. It suffers from a rootrot fungus called Phytophthora cinnamomi (commonly known as jarrah dieback) The timber is deep red to red-brown, medium hardness and heavy, generally straight grained but sometimes contains fiddle back (also called curly) grain. Can contain pockets of dry brown sap

Jarrah seasons reasonably well with some shrinkage. Jarrah has excellent durability, and is both termite and rot resistant. It has poor burning qualities (hence its use for building beams) Straight grained Jarrah works reasonably well for a hardwood, but requires care and sharp tools on curly grain.

Because of its high strength and resitance to rot, jarrah is used for heavy engineering such as ship building, wharves, fence posts, railway sleepers, as well as general building, door and window sills, flooring, cabinet work, plywood. Jarrah takes a high polish that really shows off the glorious colour and grain. This ability to take a high polish makes it eminently suitable for furniture. It is also used for turning and carving. Jarrah blocks were once used as the base in road making.

As the timber ages it gets harder. It is almost impossible to drive a nail into old jarrah beams without pre-drilling. I well remember spending many frustrating hours as a boy trying to build a pigeon loft from old Jarrah. There were many bent nails in the construction!

return to LifeStyle Furniture home..................With thanks to Woodlink.