20140809, Red Ironbark Eucalyptus, ~ 3 months old
Young seedling RED IRONBARK (Eucalyptus sideroxylon).
Rowan Reid:
Red Ironbark is an excellent timber and highly regarded for almost every purpose from firewood and landscaping through to high value appearance grade timber. The common name, Red Ironbark, refers to at least three equally important tree species: Eucalyptus tricarpa, Eucalyptus sideroxylon and Eucalyptus crebra. In all cases the timber is dark red and has Class 1 durability (Life expectancy of over 25 years in the ground).
Red Ironbark does grow in plantations. Early growth rates are slow compared to the high rainfall eucalypts but it is during the dry years that the Red Ironbark proves its worth: I’ve seen many low rainfall sites where Blue Gum and Flooded Gum died out during the drought but the Red Ironbark just kept on growing. Add to this its tolerance of water logging and frost and you have an ideal species for poor, infertile shallow soils (sands, gravels, ironstones and clays) which should never have been cleared for farming.
Eucalyptus sideroxylon 'Rosea', or red ironbark, is a common California landscape tree. It can be either dense or open, slender or squat, weeping or upright in its native inland habitat on poor shallow soils, from New South Wales to Victoria. Best used as a street tree or specimen tree, it becomes chlorotic in wet heavy soil. From fall to spring, it produces fluffy pink to red flowers in hanging clusters. Its most recognizable feature is its furrowed black bark.
The relative density and weight (mass) of different woods
(or other substances) can be compared mathematically:
Probably the best way to appreciate the relative hardness of different woods is the concept of "specific gravity," a numerical scale based on 1.0 for pure water. Without getting too mathematical, the specific gravity of a substance can easily be calculated by dividing its density (in grams per cubic centimeter) by the density of pure water (one gram per cubic centimeter). The brilliant Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes discovered over 2,100 years ago that a body in water is buoyed up by a force equal to weight of the water displaced. Archimedes reportedly came upon this discovery in his bathtub, and ran out into the street without his clothing shouting "Eureka, I have found it." Since one gram of pure water occupies a volume of one cubic centimeter, anything having a specific gravity greater than 1.0 will sink in pure water. The principles of buoyancy and specific gravity are utilized in many ways, from scuba diving and chemistry to the hardness of dry, seasoned wood. Some of the heaviest hardwood trees and shrubs of the United States have specific gravities between 0.80 and 0.95; including shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) and ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) of the eastern states, and canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis), Engelmann oak (Q. engelmannii), hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) and Santa Cruz Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. asplenifolius) of southern California.
Eucalyptus sideroxylon has a relative density of 1.17, it will not float in water.
Red Ironbark METRIC JANKA RATING = 13
Red Ironbark IMPERIAL JANKA RATING = 2922
20140809, Red Ironbark Eucalyptus, ~ 3 months old
Young seedling RED IRONBARK (Eucalyptus sideroxylon).
Rowan Reid:
Red Ironbark is an excellent timber and highly regarded for almost every purpose from firewood and landscaping through to high value appearance grade timber. The common name, Red Ironbark, refers to at least three equally important tree species: Eucalyptus tricarpa, Eucalyptus sideroxylon and Eucalyptus crebra. In all cases the timber is dark red and has Class 1 durability (Life expectancy of over 25 years in the ground).
Red Ironbark does grow in plantations. Early growth rates are slow compared to the high rainfall eucalypts but it is during the dry years that the Red Ironbark proves its worth: I’ve seen many low rainfall sites where Blue Gum and Flooded Gum died out during the drought but the Red Ironbark just kept on growing. Add to this its tolerance of water logging and frost and you have an ideal species for poor, infertile shallow soils (sands, gravels, ironstones and clays) which should never have been cleared for farming.
Eucalyptus sideroxylon 'Rosea', or red ironbark, is a common California landscape tree. It can be either dense or open, slender or squat, weeping or upright in its native inland habitat on poor shallow soils, from New South Wales to Victoria. Best used as a street tree or specimen tree, it becomes chlorotic in wet heavy soil. From fall to spring, it produces fluffy pink to red flowers in hanging clusters. Its most recognizable feature is its furrowed black bark.
The relative density and weight (mass) of different woods
(or other substances) can be compared mathematically:
Probably the best way to appreciate the relative hardness of different woods is the concept of "specific gravity," a numerical scale based on 1.0 for pure water. Without getting too mathematical, the specific gravity of a substance can easily be calculated by dividing its density (in grams per cubic centimeter) by the density of pure water (one gram per cubic centimeter). The brilliant Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes discovered over 2,100 years ago that a body in water is buoyed up by a force equal to weight of the water displaced. Archimedes reportedly came upon this discovery in his bathtub, and ran out into the street without his clothing shouting "Eureka, I have found it." Since one gram of pure water occupies a volume of one cubic centimeter, anything having a specific gravity greater than 1.0 will sink in pure water. The principles of buoyancy and specific gravity are utilized in many ways, from scuba diving and chemistry to the hardness of dry, seasoned wood. Some of the heaviest hardwood trees and shrubs of the United States have specific gravities between 0.80 and 0.95; including shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) and ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) of the eastern states, and canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis), Engelmann oak (Q. engelmannii), hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia) and Santa Cruz Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. asplenifolius) of southern California.
Eucalyptus sideroxylon has a relative density of 1.17, it will not float in water.
Red Ironbark METRIC JANKA RATING = 13
Red Ironbark IMPERIAL JANKA RATING = 2922