CATALOGUE OF THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 105 



Jarrah is eminently suitable for high-class cabinet work, but care 

 must be exercised in order to get it thoroughly seasoned before use. Some 

 very handsome furniture arid panelling has been on view at the London 

 office of the Agent-General for Western Australia, and this can stiU be 

 seen by appointment. It has been used in England for railway waggon 

 and platform construction, and is in the third highest class for shipbuilding 

 purposes at Lloyds. According to a report from the Chief Engineer 

 of the North Eastern Railway Company, jarrah piles driven about ten or 

 twelve years ago (1919) are still in good condition, and have proved quite 

 satisfactory for wharf work. At Hartlepool, where the same wood was 

 used for piles, there is only slight indication of attack by sea worms. 



Concerning other uses to which it may be applied, Julius sajrs that 

 it " has been employed for telegraph and telephone poles and signal 

 posts and has been found exceedingly suitable and durable ; while its 

 miscellaneous uses in the State generally, for almost every purpose and 

 requirement of all the industries, are innumerable." 



Contrary to general practice in the case of other chief timbers of the 

 world, the heart-wood core of the Eucalypts is to be avoided, and specifica- 

 tions for cut jarrah timber should therefore require freedom from 

 heart-wood, except in the case of pUes, which are better round than 

 squared. Sap-wood, on the other hand, rarely measures above an inch in 

 thickness, and being often almost as hard as the inner wood, hardly 

 needs to be particularly excluded, except in cases of special importance. 



The British Fire Prevention Committee made some careful inflamma- 

 bihty trials with jarrah timber a few years ago, with a view of obtaining 

 reliable data as to its fire - resistance capabilities, when severe tests 

 were apphed. The results were regarded as generally satisfactory and 

 as indicating that a building constructed of jarrah would be unusually 

 resistant to fire, especially in the case of floors and floor-beams. 



Quoting other State authorities with regard to the durability of this 

 timber, JuUus writes : " Its suitability for piles and any works requiring 

 immersion in salt or fresh water has been practically noted. Specimens 

 obtained from piles and girders sixty years old, and used in local harbours 

 and bridges, appear to be perfectly sound and free from any signs of decay. 

 If anything, the wood seems to be harder, more sohd, and apparently 

 more durable than freshly-cut timber. ... It is destined to supply one 

 of the most lasting of hard-wood timbers for a long time to come, at the 

 least costly rate, to very many parts of the world." He adds : " Not- 

 withstanding the superiority of this timber over so many other kinds, it 

 has not been found to give altogether satisfactory results for scantlings for 

 railway waggon building (for which karri has been found so good [A.L.H.]). 

 Probably the nature and grain of the wood render it unsuitable." 



Jarrah has been used very extensively in England for wood-block 



