DIYbanter - View Single Post - Hardwood not hard, softwood not soft! (necessarily)

In article ,
says...

Q: A Conifer, that is the same thing as a Gymnosperm. Right?
A: Not quite: there are four groups of Gymnosperms, of which the
Conifers
(with some six hundred species) are the biggest and most important.
Ginkgo
(one species) is another such group. The remaining two groups don't
yield
anything that could be regarded as timber.

Not exactly correct. One of those remaining groups is (or should be)
podocarp. (Almost) endemic to New Zealand with some members in Australia
and Fiji.

Podocarp includes the NZ Kauri tree which is one of the nicest softwoods
to work with, ever - straight grained, knot free, easily cut in any
direction ... in the 19th century most of Sydney and San Francisco
houses were built with Kauri framing. Many sailing ships had masts made
from young Kauri trees. Sadly, because of the rampant exploitation _new_
Kauri is as rare as hen's teeth these days.
A lot of Kauri is recycled from demolished houses these days. The wood
has a beautiful inner golden glow that gives the impression you can look
into it when polished. Generally quite soft.

Same family yields Rimu, which is still available - hard, ornery,
poisonous (wear respirator and protect eyes when working) with a grain
that can be as attractive and vivid as the very best of them (walnut,
tupip wood). Heart rimu is so hard you can't nail it. Many old houses in
New Zealand were built from rimu framing because borer does not like it.
Still in use for veneers for interior doors, cabinetmaking ...

Totara - a reddish pink wood with white sap. Also contains a natural
perservative, more or less immune to fungii and bacterial rot. Looks
very pretty and is nice to work with but 'blooms' under just about any
varnish so it's not used much in cabinet making and such. (I've heard
that it will not bloom when French Polish is used). Farmers used to use
it for fenceposts that would last up to 70 years in the ground without
any chemical treatment whatsoever. Works well, similar to Kauri.

Kahikatea - early settlers used to call it 'yellow pine' and it tends to
be buttery yellow in colour when freshly planed. Good to work with,
doesn't shatter like Rimu, has a lot of spring. Sadly does not hold up
to weather at all, even when treated. Makes nice timber for shelves etc
though. NZ butter used to be shipped in boxes made from Kahikatea
because it is flavour neutral. Hard to obtain these days, but not for
lack of trees.

there are a few more members of the family ...

-Peter

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