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Thread: Big Timber?
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19th May 2018, 12:19 PM #16Senior Member
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Sorry if I am late to this conversation, but I had cause to look for some large timber late last year. My normal suppliers stocked nothing at all over 50mm thick in hardwood, but I think there is a good business reason. From what one supplier told me, they have to turn over their stocks and don't have the resources to properly season very thick timber. Most of the product is kiln dried, which effectively limits the thickness to around 50 mm. They pointed me to a timber yard in Western Sydney that stocks unseasoned hardwood.
See harper timber.com.au. I didn't follow it through, but their website says that have some really solid sizes in a range of timbers.
I have also visited a recycled timber yard in Geelong (my son-in-law is a regular customer). They had some wonderful timber in large sizes, and I think would mill to size if asked nicely. The timber is reason from very large beams etc from warehouses and wharves etc. The place is called 'Timber Zoo', and you could find them on the web.
I know these are a long way from where you are, but I think it may pay to hunt around. There are likely to be similar suppliers in Queensland as there is clearly a market for it in the commercial trade. My original starting point was Mathews timber, who shave a branch in Brisbane. It would be worth giving them a call and ask if they know where you can get large size timber.
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19th May 2018 12:19 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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19th May 2018, 06:20 PM #17
Thor's Hammer here in Canberra.
They have absolute mountains of the stuff. Thor's specialise in recycling old bridges and buildings.
There is some right on the front page: Thor's Hammer
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20th May 2018, 06:54 AM #18
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25th May 2018, 06:54 AM #19GOLD MEMBER
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Look I do big timber for a couple guys. It's not cheap, and its special order.... we dont just cut stuff other then standard sizes for fun anymore, and I won't waste good logs turning them into stock that doesnt move.
It's not going to be hard to get stuff slabbed out in thicker sections but it's the getting it dry. We air dry for a couple months at least before tossing them in the kiln, and 4" thick slabs can tie up a kiln for months. Someone has to pay for that. Just leg sections or shorter lengths - sure. I've got KD Northern Silky Oak and Queensland Maple in stock at 100 x 100 through to 100 x 250 most of the time. 125mm and thicker tends to disappear fast though, best to order that so I hold it for you.
oak4.jpg Thats about current stock of 100 x 100 and 75x75 Northern Silky "shorts". Probably half as much again in maple in 100 x 100 and wider.
Send me a PM to discuss your requirements and include an offsite email address if you dont mind, I dont get here often anymore so I try and keep it in our regular email system.
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25th May 2018, 08:26 AM #20GOLD MEMBER
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25th May 2018, 10:28 AM #21
Greg gave me a piece of Tas Blackwood (10cm X 25cm X 130cm).
It's been sitting in my garage for years. It is beautiful. Trouble is it is too good to be cut into smaller pieces and too hard for to find a project suitable for it. I think I'll let it season for another 10 -15 years.Visit my website at www.myFineWoodWork.com
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25th May 2018, 02:46 PM #22GOLD MEMBER
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As John said, drying is the issue. I laminate for large sections. If you must use large sectional sizes it would be best to search out old, reclaimed timber.
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26th May 2018, 09:31 AM #23GOLD MEMBER
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I was picking up some logs from a local sawmill last week and talking with the owner. He was telling me that they are pretty much logged out on the far south coast of NSW.....all our beautiful timber is being chipped and sent to China out of Eden where it is bleached and made into board and composite flooring
https://www.wilderness.org.au/articl...slands-forests
it is a bloody disgrace and a waste of a valuable resource
We just finished a project that had about 3 thousand l/m of wall cladding and over a kilometre of boardwalk all out of ironbark.
The logs were sourced in QLD and sent to the south coast of NSW for milling for the job, pretty crazy it has come to that
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26th May 2018, 07:03 PM #24GOLD MEMBER
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26th May 2018, 09:13 PM #25GOLD MEMBER
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Many years ago, we were staying in Merimbula, and got talking to the owner of the place we were staying at.
He recounted a story about when he was building and developing the property. It was a large area with quite a few timber cabins.
He approached the local sawmill about supplying the timber. The upshot was that they were too expensive, would not negotiate and he ended up buying the timber in Melbourne and transporting it to Merimbula. He claimed that it was much cheaper.
To say the local sawmill owner was upset, was an understatement. The prevailing thoughts of the owner, was that the sawmill owner thought that he had a monopoly and anyone would pay his price.
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26th May 2018, 10:33 PM #26GOLD MEMBER
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27th May 2018, 12:00 AM #27GOLD MEMBER
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The Chinese pay more money for the logs then an Australian mill can afford to - thats why the logs are being exported. As a logger... i get more PROFIT out of landing my logs on a wharf for export then I can out of putting them through my own sawmill for sale on the domestic market. I'm in business to make money: I'd have to see a 25% increase in the wholesale price of timber tomorrow to make the same kinda $ for less work.
The chinese are happy to pay a premium for Australian hardwood because of its outstanding strength and appearance qualities while Australian buyers/builders are building to a low standard with cheap $h!t pine. When the last Australian hardwood mill shuts down in about 20 years time they'll ship gluelam back to us from their own eucalypt plantations... and no i am not joking and yes it is sad.
I can cart good ironbark sawlog about 700km and not be out of pocket based on the premium we get for it here.
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27th May 2018, 04:07 AM #28
we are just victims of our botanical fate.
if you talk to oldies who were around prior to and shortly after WWII you'll hear stories about houses built with the seasoned Aus hardwood where every nail needed to be driven through a pre-drilled hole.
Preference was to use imported Douglas Fir (Oregon), while we waited for our "import replacement" Radiata pine plantations to mature -- which they have now done.
So although nail guns have largely solved the problem of nailing seasoned hardwood, we're using those same guns with crap pine because it the pine is plentiful and dirt cheap.regards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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27th May 2018, 12:25 PM #29GOLD MEMBER
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I would much sooner cut timber local than drag a log half way round the world. Assuming a 60% recovery rate from a saw log, that means you are carting the other 40% for no useful purpose. No wonder timber is expensive. Freight aint cheap. You dont see the Yanks shipping oregon or western red by the log. Not surprising our mills are closing when they no longer perform the service they were designed for. If we continue to sell our raw materials, without value adding, we will only have ourselves to blame for the demise of our primary industries. Be it the Chinese or whoever, we have what they want , so we should be dictating the terms, not the other way around. When it comes to negotiating skills we seem to play an awful lot of second grade. Look at our politicians and they are supposed to be blessed with this ability.
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27th May 2018, 12:30 PM #30GOLD MEMBER
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A wise old native american once said, " When all of the buffalo have gone from the prairie and all the fish have gone from the rivers, will the white man be able to eat his dollar?"
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