Thread: Silky oak in WA

I was told it shrinks a bit when I contract cut a couple of small logs a couple of weeks back but can't be sure as I never did the research, it was nice to cut. Cut it all at 40mm thick to suit the owners wants of finished boards around 30 - 32mm.

It is pretty popular to make cabinets and the like out of.

In WA, what species is known as Silky Oak, where I come from in Cairns, Silky Oak(Northern) is the large rainforest tree 'Cardwellia Sublimis' 50mtres plus in height and over 2metres in diameter some attaining 3metres in diameter in pre-1900 trees.

Grevillia Robusta (from your side of the country) is what I was refferring to.

Nifty, I'd say slice it inch or inch and half, sticker it out and hang on to it until you get someone willing to pay what it's worth.
I air dried a heap of it here at home, we where going to use it for skirtings and architraves, but the boss changed her mind. On air drying the only probs I had was knots, they deformed badly, but you'll get that with most timbers anyway hey?

Thanks Alan, I got sick of lookin at em so just slabbed them out at 40mm and ill take it from there. What is it worth per cube over east boys?

I sold some slabs off the saw for $2k per cube - 3m long from 800 to 600 wide and 50mm thick, fella took what was left of the log after we got what we wanted for the kitchen,log started 6m long and I just sliced each slab in half to move it after cutting it. The boss has changed her mind again, but I do have some nice slabs waiting for someone now

I would like to know what sort of price premium the really nice quarter cut stuff gets over the run-of the-mill back sawn stuff. I just went to considerable effort to cut a silky oak for quality (all was quarter cut, or actually radial cut) so it all shows the ray pattern. I hope it can fetch $6,000 a cube when dry, does anyone know if this is realistic?

Nope, it's not realistic.

About half that, although you'll get more if you don't mind selling one stick at a time for the next several years.

Demand for silky is not great. I sell most of mine to a local joiner who uses it for window frames - painted.

Thats depressing. Why is demand low? The stuff is gorgeous, easy to dry and easy to work.

Might be like a sign of the times...aluminium window frams...solid timber replaced with manufactured boards...the general public may not be aware of what real timber is or looks like...something like.. Where do potato chips come from? Out of a packet.

It's only wood people that would be asking for quarter sawn oak and know what to expect when cut that way, I didn't know there would be a difference in the way a timber looks depending on how it is cut b4 getting into this wood game....Timber's expensive so demand goes down..just a few reasons maybe
Peter

Unfortunately no. Put it this way, is the punter going to buy Batu decking for $5/mtr or Jarrah off me for $6.50 ?

Originally Posted by nifty

Unfortunately no. Put it this way, is the punter going to buy Batu decking for $5/mtr or Jarrah off me for $6.50 ?

Do you machine your own decking Nev or have someone else do it and do you cut for a standard 90x19 finished board or various sizes. How much over final profile size do you cut?

I get a local mob do my machining in exchange for flooring blanks, I cant justify being a one man show and having another machine, how big do you want to get really. For decking Mike I have 3 sizes, 110x27 for 90x19 finish, 135x27 for 120x19 finish and for the yuppys 200x38 for a 180x30 finish

Originally Posted by nifty

I get a local mob do my machining in exchange for flooring blanks, I cant justify being a one man show and having another machine, how big do you want to get really. For decking Mike I have 3 sizes, 110x27 for 90x19 finish, 135x27 for 120x19 finish and for the yuppys 200x38 for a 180x30 finish

Cheers