Common name: Tawhairaunui, Red beech
Botanical name: Nothofagus fusca
WHY USE RED BEECH?
Red beech is sourced from sustainably managed forests. It is extremely stable, suitable for interior joinery and flooring, and the fine even texture makes it most suitable for turning into dowels and brushware. Being very hard-wearing, it is also suitable as stair treads and flooring. As a flooring timber, it has a very attractive figurative appeal and lustre, and is significantly harder and more resistant to impact than alternative attractive softwood species such as Rimu and Matai. Red beech can also be used for upmarket furniture items. Due to the natural durability of the timber to H3.2 hazard class, it is a suitable alternative to hardwood timbers and makes an excellent alternative for use as outdoor furniture settings and decking timber.
APPEARANCE AND DESCRIPTION
The dry heartwood is a light to medium red-brown colour. The sapwood is light brown to white exhibiting toning in greys, browns, and greens once dry, red beech is considered the most stable timber in New Zealand due to its very tight cell structure.
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS
Durability:
Red beech is naturally durable to Hazard class H3.2 and is not prone to household borer attack.
Mechanical properties:
| Density at 12% moisture content | 630kg/m3 (ranges from 625-740 kg/m3) |
| Modulus of elasticity | 11.6 GPa |
| Modulus of rupture | 116 MPa |
| Shear strength parallel to grain | 13.6 MPa |
| Compression strength parallel to grain | 54 MPa |
| Bending Strength | 116 MPa |
| Side Hardness | 5.4 kN |
| Tangential shrinkage – green to 12% MC | 7.6 % |
| Radial Shrinkage – green to 12% MC | 2.4 % |
Machining:
Red beech combines the qualities of excellent sawing, machining, turning, finishing and bending properties with good strength, durability, hardness and exceptional dimensional stability.
Glueing and coating considerations:
No particular considerations.