Chilean Myrtle

[mat]

Anyone used Chilean myrtle? How different is it to tassis myrtle?

[glenn k]

Chilean Myrtle, or Luma apiculata is an erect, glossy evergreen shrub grows quickly to 6 - 8 feet tall and can eventually reach 20 feet.
Tasmanian Myrtle (Myrtle Beech). Nothofagus cunninghamii is a tree so nothing in common and not related. What do you want to do make pen blanks?
There are about 10 species of Nothofagus in South America they would be very similar to Myrtle Beech. Common names mean bugga all you need to know what it really is hopes this helps.

[mat]

Some of the big timber yards are now selling chilean myrte in boards much larger than pen blanks as a replacement for tassie myrtle which is in short supply. Just wondering whether it is equivalent.

[Ravvin71]

I did a bit of a search around on the web and found a few pics of it. Mostly seemed to be used as cupboard doors, but there were a couple showing it as a concertina door and one of it as a kitchen bench top. The colour seemed very similar to our tassie myrtle but I didn't find any info of its hardness or stability/durability. If they were using it for a kitchen bench top though, I sort of suspect it might be a bit harder than tassie myrtle. Saying that though, I have noticed that timber cut from very large, old trees seems a lot harder than most of the stuff you see sold in many shops. This older timber is going to be pretty rare though. Much of it would have to come from old growth forests, and this is going to be a very scarce comodity.