Woollybutt

Woollybutt is a hardwood timber species natively occurring in coastal regions of southern New South Wales. The true wood of this species is a medium to dark red in colour, with distinctively paler sapwood. Texture is medium to fine. Grain is typically straight but occasionally interlocked. Woollybutt timber surfaces often exhibit a waxy sheen when dressed.

Because of its extreme durability (class 1 on a 6-class scale), woollybutt finds a wide variety of applications in engineering and general building construction. Commonly used for posts, utility poles, sleepers, wood blocks, stumps, printing blocks and fence posts, woollybutt is also suitable for a variety of marine applications, including bridge and wharf construction, boatbuilding and decking. Being durable in contact with the ground and resistant to heavy traffic – woollybutt is a very hard timber – it is also used for paving blocks.

Care is needed in drying woollybutt in order to minimise surface checking and splitting. A slight collapse of the timber is known to occur during seasoning.

In accordance with AS 5604, the heartwood of this species has been deemed termite-resistant for inside, above ground applications. If untreated, woollybutt sapwood is susceptible to lyctid (powder post beetle) borer attack.