Grey satinash
Scientific name
Syzygium gustavioides syn. Eugenia gustavioides; Acmenosperma claviflorum. Family: Myrtaceae
Other names
Watergum
Description
- Medium to large hardwood.
- Grows to 40m high and 1.8m diameter.
- Bole (trunk) symmetrical and partly buttressed.
Occurrence
- Occurs in the high rainfall areas between Tully and Cooktown.
Appearance
Colour
- Heartwood buff grey to yellowish.
- Sapwood not clearly defined.
Grain
- Texture fine to medium.
- Grain often interlocked.
Uses
- Construction: building framework, dressed window and door sills, joinery, flooring, plywood, linings and fixtures, mouldings.
- Decorative: turnery, furniture and cabinet making, picture mouldings.
- Others: funeral caskets, shoe heels, plywood.
Properties
- Density: Syzygium gustavioides is690kg/m3 and Acmenosperma claviflorum is880kg/m3 at 12% moisture content; about 1.5m3 of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
- Strength groups: Syzygium gustavioides—S5 unseasoned, SD6 seasoned; Acmenosperma claviflorum—(S4) unseasoned, (SD4) seasoned (brackets indicate provisional value).
- Stress grades: Syzygium gustavioides—F5, F7, F8, F11 (unseasoned), F7, F8, F11, F14 (seasoned); Acmenosperma claviflorum—F7, F8, F11, F14 (unseasoned); F11, F14, F17, F22 when visually stress-graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—Visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
- Joint groups: Syzygium gustavioides—J3 unseasoned, JD3 seasoned; Acmenosperma claviflorum—J3 unseasoned, JD2 seasoned.
- Shrinkage to 12% MC: 5.7% (tangential), 2.5% (radial).
- Unit shrinkage: 0.28% (tangential), 0.17% (radial)—these figures apply to timber reconditioned after seasoning.
- 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 will impregnate with preservative.
- Seasoning: slow to dry, but with little degrade and without much difficulty.
- Hardness: moderately hard (rated 3 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
- Machining: works well with machine tools.
- Fixing: no difficulties using standard fittings and fastenings.
- Gluing: satisfactory.
- Finishing: accepts paint, stain and polish
Identification features
General characteristics
- Sapwood: white-grey, not clearly defined.
- Heartwood: yellow to yellow-grey.
- Texture: medium and uniform; grain often interlocked.
Wood structure
- Vessels: medium to small, visible without lens, mostly solitary, but some in short radial chains of 2–4; visible vessel lines; tyloses with occasional vessel deposits.
- Parenchyma (soft tissue): plentiful as fine confluent bands, not uniformly distributed.
- Rays: fine, numerous, visible with lens, and tending towards 2 distinct widths.
Other features
- Burning splinter test: match-size splinter burns to a charcoal or sometimes a fine black ash.
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.
- Last reviewed: 12 Dec 2018
- Last updated: 12 Dec 2018