Huon Pine, God's gift to boat builders.

Jeff,

Yes,I plan to do the boat predominantly in Huon pine.

It is a delight to work. Planes, saws and drills superbly.

It lends itself to very easy steam bending.

It’s strength and density is similar to Mahogany, but at the same time has extremely high durability.

However, supply of Huon is very limited and the cost astronomical.

Huon pine is extremely slow growing and following 150 years of harvesting, standing timber is now protected.

Plantation growth is, of course, inconceivable.

Regarding your query, I doubt if I could find a couple of planks big enough to do the coamings and if I did the cost would be around $450 for the pair.

It would also probably look better in a dark (red?) contrasting timber.

Pete.

Growth rate

The 2” x 2” piece of Huon I used for my Somes Sound tiller contains 101 growth rings in 70mm (less than 3”).

Recent samples taken from a 25cm (10”) diameter, dead Huon log at Mt Read, Tasmania contained over 1,000 annual growth rings.

All the Huon that is available is solely from stockpiles and that recovered from fallen trees and sells for $16,000 per cubic metre; approx. US$400 per cubic foot.

So I need to be selective as to where I will use it.

2" x 2" Huon used for Tiller 101 years of growth rings.

Distribution.

Huon pine is only found in rugged South West Tasmania.

The extent of remaining stands is estimated at a mere 10,500 ha.

Pollen samples from lake cores show that Huon was widespread across Victoria and Tasmania half a million years ago.

Dendrochronology.

Trevor Bird from CSIRO Forest Products Division, Hobart, a dendrochronologist, has taken a core sample from a living Huon pine, dubbed BHP (Big Huon Pine) and dated it somewhere between 2500 and 3000 years old.

Sub-fossil logs

Dr Mike Barbetti of Sydney University, Dr. Ed Cook (Columbia University) & Mike Peterson, Senior Forester with Forestry Tasmania, have found buried sub-fossil logs, carbon dated 38,000 years in which the wood is still solid and the growth rings are still visible.

The incredible resilience of Huon pine to decay is due to the oil, methyl, eugenol which protects the wood from insect and anaerobic decay when buried, such that it will remain solid for tens of thousands of years.

Managing Huon pine.

For the last fifteen years the target limit for harvesting has been 500 cubic metres per annum. However, the average in this period has been about half that limit.

There is also a stockpile of timber cut from the flooding of Lake Gordon.

The two resources will provide sustainable volumes for the next 50-60 years.

Characteristics.

Class 1 (refer to AS 1604). Extremely high durability.

Density 550kg.m³

Huon pine is very easily worked, may be highly polished and is a very good bending timber.

Cuts cleanly and accurately with low feeding force. 

Surfaces very smooth and lustrous.

Huon Slab 314 years old 32cm radius.