(Acacia shirleyi)



Dense stands of Lancewood are very common around Central Queensland on poor ground, usually sandstone rises or gravelly-soil. Growing to about 14 metres high with a trunk to about 400mm diameter, it is commonly used for yard rails and fence-posts. Even though it has a tendency to split badly as soon as it's cut, the timber still outlasts most with some yards said to be as much as 80 years old. 
To get around the splitting problem, one fencer I spoke to cuts all his Lancewood rails a foot or two over-length and leaves them at least overnight so that he can cut off the worst of the splitting just before he wires them onto the posts.
Lancewood is one of the harder acacia's to machine but it sands well and takes a very high finish. If you can find a piece without too many cracks, the results are well worth the effort.
The lidded vessel shown was a piece I turned and finished the same day the tree was dropped, knowing that it would crack and possibly fall apart in very short time, mainly due to the heart being used in the piece. It did indeed crack quite badly but was still in one piece a year or so later so I filled the cracks and put it back on the lathe to finish it. (Filling the cracks with CA leaves them almost invisible in this timber)


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