Brittleheart in Eucalyptus Robusta Grown in Hawaii

Brittleheart, a central core of brash wood, occurs in logs of many timber species. In Eucalyptus robusta grown in Hawaii, it is usually contained within an area of light- colored heartwood that is more clearly defined in green than in air-dry wood. Most brittleheart has characteristic broken fibers on sawn end-grain surfaces. It will often contain visible compression failures, but these failures will often extend into wood that is not brash, except at the point of visible compression failure. The average toughness of brittleheart was about 29 percent of the average toughness of normal wood. A workable method of segregating brittleheart at the sawmill would be to saw to a point about midway between the extreme limits of any noticeable broken fibers on the log end grain and the light-colored-dark-colored heartwood boundary when it occurs. This method would be used at the expense of frequently including some normal wood along with the brittleheart.

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