Milling and grading New Zealand grown blackwood
New Zealand Tree
Grower August 2006
Mike Esson
 Blackwood
is a much sought after timber, especially by cabinet makers
because of it rich dark colour and fine finish. Blackwood is a species
that brings people to our yard because of its dark colouring.
Our customer base is growing in number and variety, from cabinet makers
and joinery firms through to very specialist woodworkers making and
restoring gunstocks or musical instruments, and all manner of other
interesting things. We also supply people building their own houses who
want something different for the ceilings and floors.
Sources of blackwood
The nature of our business means we are milling a lot of one-offs.
These are often large individual trees or occasionally small groups of
the same species. Some of the trees come from farms, some from urban
parks, roadsides, riverbanks and gardens.
If individual owners ask us to mill a tree for them, our system is to
mill the tree in return for half the timber. After all, we want the
timber and not just to operate as contract millers. The remaining half
of the timber belongs to the supplier, who can then sell it back to us,
use it himself or sell it to someone else. We are also increasingly
selling the owner’s share on their behalf, which includes seasoning,
grading and marketing.
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| The same two 140-year-old logs with a wide
band of sapwood and good
colour |
Tree owners’ expectations are generally high, but wood recovery can be
very low, especially from small logs. The average saleable grade
recovery from the blackwood we mill is only around 20%. The
maximum recovery we have ever achieved is 23%. Even with a log that
looks good you do not know what you are going to get until you mill it.
Milling the logs
Generally the trees we mill have never been managed for timber
production. The logs tend to be rough, difficult and time-consuming to
mill. We run a Pedersen sawmill and mill to grade. That is we mill
boards that we are likely to sell. This tends to be higher grade
boards. We avoid the sap and mill around defects, aiming for lengths
that are as long and clear as possible.
To achieve this we often drop down to 50 mm board widths. The maximum
board width achievable is 150 mm. It becomes nearly impossible to cut
anything wider of any useful length without including rough defects.
The market is virtually zero for knotty boards or those with sap on
three faces.
The most commonly requested longer lengths are two metres to 2.4
metres. These also happen to be very difficult to mill from untended
trees and as a result we tend to build up a steady surplus of shorter
lengths. We have adapted our method of grading and sales to ensure we
sell shorter lengths along with the requested longer lengths. We cannot
afford not to sell short lengths. In effect we ration the longer
lengths, supplying specified lengths to match a customers cutting list.
We also endeavour to provide timber from the same log or group of trees
to ensure a colour match. Colour can vary noticeably from one tree to
another, and trees from one location to another, as can timber density.
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| Blackwood timber from the same logs and site |
Drying and grading
Timber milled from other people’s logs is taken to our yard, graded,
filleted and placed under cover as soon as possible. The grading
determines the value of the log supplier’s share. Timber milled from
our own logs is graded across a docking saw to remove the worst
defects, then filleted and placed under cover. We then specifically
grade it for sale and entry into our inventory once air dry.
Many of the species we mill incur further defects during drying. Often
the timber graded off the saw requires re-grading once air dry.
Blackwood can vary markedly in drying defects. The less timber defects,
the lower the drying distortion. Crook and bow may show immediately
after milling or close to air dry. Air drying the timber can take
between six and eighteen months depending on timber density
and time of year it was milled.
When an order is confirmed we undertake further drying in one of our
dehumidifier kilns, taking it down to between 10% and 12% for general
interior use. The time taken to kiln dry the timber can vary from seven
days to many weeks, and depends on the timber dimensions and density.
We can lose further timber in the kiln drying process from distortion
and shrinkage, but have learned to minimise this by taking our time.
Blackwood can be kiln dried from green, but again the results vary,
sometimes with minimal drying defects, other times with as much as a
20% grade loss.
I suspect that tended trees will be less variable, as they are likely
to have straighter grain, lower trunk tension and less internal
defects. It is hard to make specific judgements on the properties of a
species such as blackwood when the resource is so variable.
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| Variation in blackwood timber density |
Big is good
Bigger, older trees tend to produce better wood. My preference is for
butt logs of over 80 centimetres diameter at breast height. My
experience with trees in general suggests that the larger the trunk
diameter, the lower the wood stress from supporting the upper tree and
canopy.
Blackwood colour can vary noticeably. All colours sell equally well,
although this may be related to limited availability because the richer
brown is generally preferred over the duller grey. Cabinet makers
making commissioned one-off furniture definitely prefer timber that
will colour match. We do our best to supply these customers with timber
from the same tree or group of trees, reinforcing the advantage of
having a bigger tree to start with. Larger users making laminated
products like bench tops may mix and match to provide an overall
balanced pattern or colouring.
Markets and price
Generally we are cutting for furniture and bench tops, and the demand
is for straight, clear timber. The market for low grade boards is very
limited. We retail the timber at $3,000 a cubic metre. Widths greater
than 200 mm attract a premium of 10% and lengths over two metres
attract a further 10% premium.
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| Variation in colour, the richer brown is
preferred |
Overall, blackwood is expensive to mill and grade – much more so than
comparable species such as black walnut, so we need a good return to
make anything out of the process. This means it is relatively expensive
to make furniture out of blackwood. The timber can be difficult to
work, but it does finish very nicely.
I think blackwood is a species with great potential. The demand is
strong and increasing, and the more people get to know of it, the
greater the demand is likely to become. We are always interested in
acquiring blackwood.
Mike Esson is joint owner of Rarefind
Timbers with business partner John Woolford.
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