Bell-fruit trees are not common on the Highlands and the only place I've
found them is around Expedition Range and in Bendee country near Blackwater
which are practically opposite environments. The largest of these was around
300mm diameter at best and around 8 metres tall.
The cork-like bark is very distinctive and the timber is very light (like
Balsa wood) and open-grained. The trees pictured above died shortly after
the photos were taken and had completely rotted away in less than 12 months
- not very durable!
I scored the small section for this box from a tree that had been
bulldozed only a couple of weeks beforehand but the fungus had already taken
over. So soft to work with, the timber was easier to sand to shape than cut
and it soaked up the oil finish like nothing.
