Wood Types

A hardwood native to Tasmania &Victoria, Messmate is highly sought after as furniture. It will look good in anold-style home with its warm, light brown to rich burgundy tone. In acontemporary home, it can easily be a feature piece with its coarse grain textures,gum veins and growth rings on full display.

Stringy Bark is a hardwood timber species foundalong the south coast of New South Wales. There are many different types of StringyBark wood, including yellow, brown, red, white & grey. It’s strength anddurability make it a great choice for a piece of outdoor furniture.

This is a timber that shows evidence of theelements, from droughts and winds to fires and floods. Wormy chestnut is toughand robust, often marked by deep red gum veins, ambrosia beetle marks, saplines and pin holes. It’s a striking wood variety, with a traditional oak tintand blonde-beige highlights. It’s often used for cabinets and flooring.

Known for its high quality, strength andstability, Tasmanian Oak suits both modern and period homes. With shadesranging from pale cream to reddish-brown, it planes, sands and finishes well,but is prone to blending under pressure. For this reason, it’s an ideal type ofwood for mainly interior use only.

Victorian Ash is a medium density hardwoodcomprising of two identically looking species, Eucalyptus delegatensis andEucalyptus regnans. It’s incredibly resilient and will add a warm, country feelto any space with its pale blonde & honey tones. Its distinctive straightgrain and natural knots & swirls will also make each piece unique.

Oregon (aka Douglas-fir) wood is one of thestrongest softwoods on the market. It’s a hardy piece of furniture, andappearance wise, its sleek, smooth finish and vertical grain length makes it anattractive addition to any home.

As the name suggests, Red Gum wood is aneye-catching variety, with colours that range from a light, warm pink to adeep, rich red. A versatile, dense and durable hardwood, it makes for greatindoor and outdoor furniture, as well as decking and flooring.

Grown in Western Australia, Jarrah is oftenreferred to as one of the very best hardwoods around. Strong, durable andresistant to termites, water and rot, it’s great to use as is and has an evengrain that shows up nicely in furniture making.

A native hardwood from Australia’s EastCoast, Ironbark is a high-quality, tough timber. It will suit most interior andexterior spaces, as it comes in a variety of tones, fine textures and abeautiful, natural interlocking grain.

Sought after by architects, builders andfurniture makers alike, Mountain Ash (aka Swamp gum or Stringy Gum) is anAustralian hardwood primarily used for furniture, window frames and flooring.Coloured beige to light brown with a straight grain, it’s a lightweight andattractive type of wood.

An Australian Standard bushfire-ratedhardwood, Spotted Gum is a very versatile timber.

It has a distinctive, wavy (fiddle-back)grain and warm, comforting colouring, with tones ranging from rich, chocolatebrown, to taupe and cream. Common uses include home furniture, decking,cladding and commercial or office fit-outs.

Used on the floors of Canberra’s famous ParliamentHouse, Blackbutt is highly durable and adaptable. With golden brown and carameltones, it looks perfect in a contemporary home, and as a recycled timber, its man-mademarkings mean it will suit a more rustic setting too.

Recognisable for its deep, dark brownpatina, American Black Walnut is a tough timber of medium density, and respondswell to steam bending and carving. As it ages, its colouring will lighten, butbe aware that frequent UV light exposure will speed up that process.

See description above.

Imported from North America, American Oak(aka American White Oak) is an elegant wood type with straight grains and witha medium to coarse texture. It stains and polishes well and is often used tomake fine furniture in antique and contemporary styles.  

See description above.