Can’t say I love Marri. I find it’s colour can vary a lot once oil is applied. Does have some crazy variation though. Here’s a bench top I did a while ago. Jarrah and dark woods are making a comeback over here. The market is flooded with 2 bit makers like me using recycled Messmate/Stringybark to death. Some of the quality makers are now using Jarrah, Tassie Blackwood and other dark timbers in their designs.
My first ever table I made when I was 18 or so and is still in my living room today was made from Jarrah I begged off the demo guys that were tearing down and old telco yard. All the buildings framing was Jarrah. Crazy.
In the Marri I've used the really light sections seem to be where it's almost started to dry rot a bit.
Jarrah house timbers there's heaps of it here, every house in Perth before the 70's would have a stick built roof and even later it was still common. Timber frame and brick veneer are not so popular and have a bit of a stigma here so there is less of it but all of the older ones are Jarrah framing and the weatherboards would have been Jarrah too. My Dad helped my Grandfather build their first house when they emigrated here after the war, greenish Jarrah framing and fibro and heaps of hours after school he said they did go upmarket slightly and had WA blackbutt floors. Every old house that gets knocked down these days they don't even bother to recover any of the timber any more, the digger comes in and knocks it into a heap and it gets trucked away for landfill.
When I did turn a lot most of it was reclaimed house timbers, I would leave the nail holes in the piece unfilled as evidence of it's past life. I used to mark them on the base with a soldering iron "WA Jarrah, too good for firewood". Used to sell a few through my wife's aunt who had a gift store that focused on WA made craft items but most were given away as gifts especially to friends from overseas.