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Thread: King Billy

  1. #1
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    Default King Billy

    Recently I was lucky enough to be offered some king billy slabs. Even though I hadn't seen the timber I was keen to take them. They were obtained by the forming of a hydro electric dam in the late 80's and were only going to drown. After bringing the timber home I noticed borer damage to the sapwood so trimmed the affected areas of with the bandsaw.
    Whilst doing so I noticed the incredible number of growth rings in a piece of sound wood.See pics below, 30mm of sapwood with in excess of 40 years of rings! No wonder there's not much of this stuff around these days.
    Cheers Wayne 20190216_134300.jpg20190216_134332.jpg20190216_134525.jpg

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  3. #2
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    Supposedly the best australian timber for soundboards of musical instruments.
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    Certainly illustrates the huge difference in old growth woods to fast grown plantation stock. Sweet find!
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    I stumbled upon some from a retired luthier, a few thin boards for $20, could not pass it up. Growth rate is between.5 and 1mm per year. I just saw on the news that the fires in Tasmania have encroached on some of the King Billy, they are still trying to workout how much of it has been impacted. Apparently King Billy doesn’t burn very well but the shock of the fire kills them outright. It’s very sad [emoji3525]


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  6. #5
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    Hi all,

    The mention of king billy brings back so many great memories. Back in the late 1990's I was living on the west coast of Tassie for a few years where the timber bug really bit hard. I was lucky enough to gain a kingbilly log from a tree that was removed for an infrastructure project and we milled 12' x 2' slabs from it. So beautiful and the ceder-like scent is amazing. The milling of this log started my love of timber and the rest is history.

    I also discovered a pile of king billy logs under vines and moss that had been left there since the start of WW2 an old local timber cutter told me. They had choker rings cut in them from where the bullocks had hooked onto them and dragged them out. They were still as good as the day they were felled and I milled them all into slabs with an old Stihl 090 which is still have. One particular log had the most beautiful flamed grain, never seen it in another log in 20 years of milling.

    I have sold a few over the years but the rest are nicely tucked away in the shed for someone's special project. Unfortunately all my photo's of that era are not digital, but milling away up in those mountains was the best office in the world to work in, how could I not fall in love with milling and timber!

    Cheers,

    James.

  7. #6
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    Can't imagine a sweeter smelling office than yours James! One old timer described the scent of king billy as strawberries and cream. Maybe romanicing a little but certainly smells edible. As far as the fire damage is concerned parks and wildlife are saying that its mostly been button grass that has burnt. Despite measures to try and prevent the spread up the slopes some damage has occurred. Heard a beekeeper say the other day that each time we have a wildfire another 50 metres of rainforest is lost. Hopefully it will be many years before we see a summer like this again, touch wood.

  8. #7
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    Let's hope the loss is minimal, those beautiful old trees are really something else. Might go and sniff those slabs in the shed tomorrow just to remind myself how beautiful they are!
    Hiked into Frenchman's Cap many years ago on the west coast, the trees in there were amazing, untouched wilderness and miles of it. Anyone who has the fitness for big 54km hike through forest and muddy plains, well worth the effort. A mate and I did it in winter 20 years ago, torrential rain with mud so deep our back packs were dragging on it as we used clumps of grass to drag ourselves along. Toughest walk I have ever done but the huge ancient trees I still remember like yesterday. Better leave it there Wayne, I could go on forever!

    Cheers,

    James

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    Quote Originally Posted by Somerfly View Post
    Heard a beekeeper say the other day that each time we have a wildfire another 50 metres of rainforest is lost. Hopefully it will be many years before we see a summer like this again, touch wood.
    Sadly that was the case with the steep forested slopes behind Cairns each year with the cane fires. We used to sit on the verandah at home in Earlville and watch the cane fires "get away." Now that almost all of those cane farms have become residential subdivisions the slopes are recovering. Its taken some 30 odd years, but its happening.
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