JARRAH OR HORNBEAM/ IRONWOOD

[andy144]

Hi all I am a newbie and this is my first post so please be gentle, I would like to ask a question Can somebody give me some advice I bought a railway sleeper which was advertised as jarrah, now before we go any further I am a enthusiastic amateur wood-turner and I am disabled, And I do not have years of experience with different types of woods and have never seen jarrah in the flesh only in books and internet so I will carry on with the story when I got the sleeper home and started to cut it up and work with it
it didn’t look anything like the pictures I have seen of jarrah after doing some more research I am almost sure that it is Hornbeam/Ironwood it is light and dark orange grain to the wood and very blumin hard and dulls saws, planers, and turning chisels very quickly and you only have to look at it and you have tons of splinter to try and pick out of your hands so here is the question has anyone on this forum site ever worked with both Jarrah and hornbeam and could anyone please describe their characteristics thanks for your time and help

 

[marcros]

I bought some sleepers that I believe are jarrah. They are very hard, and when cut a bright red/orange. The dust is the same bright colour (well I suppose it would be). There was no light colour at all to them. They faded to a browner shade over time- bit duller than rusty metal. I wanted to cut some short boards from the off cuts I had from using them in the garden but to be honest it was full if shakes, and any bolt holes/splits existing in them were full of creosote or some other such nasty. Be very careful of embedded metal within them- bolt holes etc. if you can get below the surface using something that doesn't matter, do so. I did it with an old circular saw with a silver line blade in but you are limited on depth of cut (I did it from both sides, to remove a 1/2" crust. Later I used my bandsaw with an m42 blade on. That worked better but cleaning up the timber was not a pleasant job.

 

[Kalimna]

I don't know if hornbeam has ever been made into sleepers, but the only time I have used some it was a light creamy colour with greyish streaks and turned beautifully. It is completely different from jarrah which I've seen (and used) pinkish, reddy orange and as you say, dulls edges as quick as looks at them.
If you are able to link to a picture it would help.
Cheers,
Adam

 

[andy144]

Hi i would post a picture if i new how i am unsure how to post pictures help if pos

Wow what a pantomime that was trying to work out how to reduce the quality of a picture file so as to post on a forum but I do understand why.
I got there in the end so wood workers and turners is it Jarrah or Ironwood or something else

 

[jpt]

Looking at the picture I would say either Iroko or Ekki, if it has white stripes in it, both of these were used for sleepers.

When you cut and sand it does it feel oily?

john

 

[andy144]

Hi John it has no white strips or parts in the fibres, it is light and dark orange in appearance and the dust seems to be free from oil or very little

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Too reddish for iroko, I'd have thought.

 

[marcros]

my sleepers were much redder, and even after a few months and no finish on are noticable rusty in colour.

 

[tekno.mage]

From the pictures that is neither Jarrah or Ironwood - but as it was a railway sleeper it might be something called Australian Red Mahogany (which is not related to Mahogany at all). I was given some pieces of old railway sleeper by a friend who had bought a load of firewood that was cut-up railway sleepers - some of my peices were indeed Jarrah (whhich is a much darker colour), but most were something else which between several turners I know and some wood identification books, we identified as most likely to be Australian Red Mahogany - and it looked remarkably like the wood in your photos

 

[andersonec]

Jarrah has a finer grain pattern than your timber and is a darker red, you stated that it splinters a lot, my guess would then be Azobe, a very hard red/brown timber used for sleepers which if not handled carefully when cutting can produce some vicious splinters.

Just a guess.

Andy

 

[andy144]

Hi Yes when you work with it you need gloves or you get splinters like they’re going out of fashion and yes some can be really big nasty mothers

As regards the species of wood I still have no real idea I did think that it wasn’t dark enough for jarrah but again having not seen jarrah other than in books I cannot be sure
Andy