A slice of the heart red gum veneer
From the Summer 2007 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
The vibrant reds of the river red gum species make stunning furniture and flooring, as seen in this photo. Photo courtesy of Glen Gray furniture.
Gavin Rowe is obviously very passionate about veneer and the quest to source river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) for his veneer slicer is dear to his heart.
Indeed, such is his passion that he travelled extensively to make sure he got the right veneer slicer for his family-run sawmill, Bonum Sawmills, at Barham on the NSW/Victorian border.
“I went all over the world looking for the right machine and finally found a machine in Brazil,” he said.
The Rowe family began harvesting river red gum in 1906 in Victoria. Four generations later they continue to operate their multi-faceted timber business, which includes a sawmill and drying kiln at Barham in NSW.
The red gum slicer has been in action for the past four or more years. And to Gavin’s knowledge, Bonum Sawmills is the only mill pro-ducing river red gum veneer in any quantity because existing veneer slicing plants in Australia are not geared to dealing with the peculi-arities of red gum.
“Veneer is the high-end of value adding – where the dollars lie,” he said.
“With veneer you don’t need vast quantities – it is value adding at its best because you are making a small amount of wood go a very long way.
“I’m keen to see that when the river red gum is harvested it is directed to best end use.”
Most of the mill’s river red gum is sourced from State forests around Central Murray that represent just a part of the 530,000 hectares of river red gum forest in Victoria and NSW.
In any given year, about three per cent of the 110,000 hectares of red gum Forests NSW has available for harvest is harvested.
Bonum Sawmills veneer markets are both local and overseas with the overseas market rapidly expanding.
“River red gum veneer is unique and totally different from anything else in the world.
“It has such a rich colour and variance in grain that every product is very individual.
“And it lends itself well to veneer because although it is very difficult to slice it is very strong and has a long life span,” Gavin said.
Bonum Sawmills commercially slice other quality Australian hardwood for veneer such as alpine ash and spotted gum, but river red gum is certainly the flagship of their range.
The veneer is mainly used for bench tops and cupboards, but the Rowes have found that feature-grade veneer is showing consider-able promise for flooring, in addition to successfully using veneer in furniture production.
“When it comes to river red gum, veneer is where I want to go as it is the best end use of this fabulous product,” Gavin said with passion.
Sarah Chester Public Affairs & Media, Albury
