Pepperwood

• Medium-sized hardwood tree.
• Grows to 35m high with a spread of 6m.
• Bole (trunk) is straight and somewhat buttressed.
• Bark is reddish-brown or light brown, and occasionally scaly on larger trees.

• Native to the tropical rainforests of North Queensland.
• Occurs from Mackay to Atherton.

Colour

• Heartwood is very pale pink, pink-brown or straw to golden brown.
• Sapwood is pale to light brown and not easily distinguished from the heartwood.

Grain

• Usually very straight grained.

• Construction: plywood, internal covered flooring.
• Decorative: panelling, cupboard fittings and mouldings, carving, stained and polished furniture.
• Others: boat planking, light spars and oars, brush stocks, fishing reels, toys, crates and cases.

• Density: 480kg/m³ at 12% moisture content; about 2.1m³ of seasoned sawn timber per tonne.
• Strength groups: (S7) unseasoned, (SD8) seasoned.
• Stress grades: F4, F5, F7, (unseasoned); F4, F5, F7, F8 (seasoned) when visually stress graded according to AS 2082—2000: Timber—Hardwood—visually stress-graded for structural purposes.
• Joint groups: SD4 seasoned.
• Shrinkage to 12% MC: 5.1% (tangential), 2.0% (radial).
• Unit shrinkage: 0.28% (tangential)—this value applies to timber reconditioned after seasoning.
• Durability above-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy less than 7 years).
• Durability in-ground: Class 4 (life expectancy less than 5 years).
• Lyctine susceptibility: untreated sapwood susceptible to lyctid borer attack.
• Termite resistance: not resistant.
• Preservation: sapwood will impregnate with preservative.
• Seasoning: seasons well using conventional air and kiln.
• Hardness: very soft (rated 6 on a 6-class scale) to indent and work with hand tools.
• Machining: easy to work due to its softness; excellent carving timber.
• Fixing: holds nails and screws well.
• Gluing: glues well.
• Finishing: paints, stains, and polishes well.

General characteristics

• Sapwood: light brown.
• Heartwood: pink-brown to yellow-brown.
• Texture: medium and uniform, straight grain.

Wood structure

• Vessels: solitary, and short radial multiples up to 3 cells, uniform diffuse distribution, visible without a lens; vessel lines prominent on dressed surfaces.
• Parenchyma (soft tissue):not visible at low magnification.
• Rays: fine, visible with 10× lens; ray fleck prominent without magnifying on radial surfaces.

Other features

• Burning splinter test: match-size splinter burns to a filament of black ash.
• Odour: freshly cut wood has a slight spicy aroma.

• 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.