Huon Pine, Lagarastrobus franklinii, Australia’s oldest living tree which produces Tasmania’s iconic specialty timber.
Huon pine contains a natural oil (methyl eugenol) which provides its legendary durability also gives the wood a unique and pleasant fragrance. Huon pine trees are endemic to Tasmania and found near many west and south coast rivers but also on fertile sites with high rainfall within about 75 km of the west coast.
Huon pine forests are abundant in western Tasmania and more than ninety per cent of such forests are protected in large permanent reserves.
One historic Huon pine harvest area on a plateau south of Strahan provides most of the resource from the salvage of formerly unwanted material, when only large premium quality logs were removed. Sustainable Timber Tasmania surveys all salvage harvest sites and plants Huon pine seedlings to ensure these areas are fully regenerated.
Huon pine trees grow very slowly requiring about five hundred years to reach the size at which the trunk could be sawn into timber.
Huon pine timber is pale coloured from light straw to rich golden however fresh wood surfaces darken after contact with air and sunlight. It is a light, soft and very fine textured wood which is very easy to saw, chisel, plane, turn or sand. Timber quality ranges from straight grained to figured including birds eye effect.
Because the wood is naturally very durable logs can weather to silver-grey in situ but remain sound inside a five mm skin for hundreds of years.
Availability:
IST Strahan has a large stock of salvaged craftwood logs, limbwood, and stumps for sale. IST Geeveston also sell craftwood logs, stumps and sawn timber. Selected craftwood grade Huon pine logs are offered in the regular tenders at IST Geeveston and IST Strahan.
Caution:
All Huon pine logs, limbwood and timber sold by IST and established Huon pine sawmills and timber merchants originate from Huon pine forests managed by STT, the only legal source. Please do not purchase Huon pine timber or logs which could have been illegally removed from Tasmania’s National Parks, World Heritage Areas or State Forests. Huon pine forests do not occur on any private land in Tasmania.
