Ancient Timber
Think of a B grade sci-fi movies in which organic matter of unknown origin is examined by lab-coated scientists who stroke their chins as they try to make sense of the thing on the laboratory bench. Well I have six such things wrapped in plastic membrane and tucked away in the dark recesses of my timber store. I am the scientist, but of course I know what these things are, but I never quite know what I will do with them or when. They come from the far past when strange and unrecognisable the animals roamed the Australian continent.
These mysterious time travellers are perfectly preserved trees, or bits of them really, but they are not fossilized, they are the actual wood, from 10 million years ago. These remnants are being carefully dried at the slowest possible rate to prevent them from disintegrating like a dug up Egyptian mummy.
They were salvaged from an open cut brown coal seam here in Australia. There they were uncovered by a gigantic industrial excavator, which, as you can imagine, is not the ideal tool for delicate palaeobotanical digging. Inevitably, the original tree was torn into lumps but amazingly, the wood is still 'alive', capable of being dried and used.
I have one particular piece about 50cm (20 inches) long with the bark intact and the grain clearly visible. The colour though is odd, because Cyprus wood is normally a cool honeyed yellow and this ancient piece is a uniform deep brown, almost black, like the coal it was removed from.
We also have some 'young' pieces in the special section of our wood store. These are River Redgum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis for you Latin types, and mere babes-in-arm at 7,500 years old. This Redgum is no longer red, time has turned it is as black as a moonless night and it polishes to a glaze which looks like fired pottery. It was salvaged from what once was the course of a mighty river. Over time, the river undermined the banks beneath the trees and they fell into the dark waters that covered and preserved them for thousands of years until they were excavated by gravel miners.
You can't have the Cyprus, but we do offer the rare and extraordinary River Redgum in some of our tables.
Oh, and finally, I do have petrified wood. In fact, I have a piece sitting in front of me as I write. It's a contemporary of the dinosaurs, hundreds of millions of years old, and yes it will go into a table one day.
More magic. More beautiful wood. More beautiful tables with precious inlays.
"... Your table has already brought us great pleasure, and while our children are absolutely guaranteed to bang it with spoons and trikes and spike it with compass points when they do their homework, it is guaranteed to grow to be a much loved family treasure ..."
- Tim Winkler
Our extensive range of solid timber furniture and soft furnishings includes Dining Tables, Chairs, Lounge Suites, Cabinets, Mirrors, Bookcases, Sofas and Chairs. It's all on display right now in our furniture section.
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