A nice slab of Spotty

**Kuffy** · 19th March 2017, 05:38 PM

I went out to a timber slab clearing auction today in Wandin which is north of Melbourne. I picked up a decent slab of spotted gum 2800x500/750x55 which has a decent sized end check which is nothing more than an opportunity to use some dutchmans. The price was right, south of 3k/cube. Luckily, Gabriel was also at the auction and he was good enough to give me a hand to load the slab onto my Ute. I reckon I owe the bloke a beer or two or three, maybe more, because a lady accidentally pinched my slab and had it loaded onto her ute half way through tieing it down. So Gab and I gave her a hand to swap over slabs and get her loaded up.

The prices paid at auction is mind boggling. Unreserved timber slab clearing auction, and prices are well above what I would expect to pay at a sawmill any day of the week, and often they were more than I pay in a retail showroom. But as time went on, the deep pockets started to thin out and I picked up my slab as one of the last lots of the day. I had already made a dozen low ball bids on other slabs throughout the day only to be instantly shot down and left for dead. But when I bid on my slab of spotty, I knew it was mine, nothing but dead silence after I made my bid which is always good to hear.

I took a few happy snaps just as I was leaving the site. It didn't take long for the majority of the slabs to be loaded up and taken off to their new homes.
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The two redgum slabs in the 2nd image are rubbish. Clearly rotten, cracked through n through. But someone has a plan for them because they still fetched several hundred bux.

And my slab below, I unloaded the easy way because for some reason when carrying the slab onto my ute with the help of Gabriel, it nearly killed me. And it isn't even that heavy. Only about 80kgs.
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I quickly planed a couple of sections, because well....I have to see what lies below though I already knew that it had tight figuring but it is hard to tell because the figuring aligns pretty well with the chainsaw marks. I am thinking I will build a decent desk out of part of the slab. and then the other part will probably go to a client one day.

**cava** · 19th March 2017, 05:55 PM

Good score and thanks for the overview. I had wanted to go, but alas I am not in Victoria at the moment and could not make it.

Interesting about the high prices, and really not surprising - it just goes to show that you need to know your prices before going to these auctions.

**shedbound** · 19th March 2017, 06:18 PM

That should come up a treat. I considered going, but after having seen the prices that things fetch at clearing sales these days I also figured the prices would be beyond what I would want to pay.

**Gabriel** · 19th March 2017, 06:55 PM

Mate, all I can say is, next time I grab something I'll make sure I can't lift it with the one hand so I can rope you in for carry.. ..

Maybe find a paddock a little closer than a half marathon to park in too.....

My impressions were this.... Redgum was the word of the day.... Basically all Redgum sold for a premium price. Camphor Laurel also fetched a pretty penny and Blackwood rounded out the high flyers. There were some huge specimens of quite a number of species available, and by the call of the aucrioneer a few regular buyers were snapping up most of the items (I can only assume furniture makers or shop fitters).
The burls and mallee roots were also a little hot to handle. By my figure I would have to get at least 50 pen blanks from one burl just to cover my costs (what else do people do with burls??!?)

I found a weathered piece of Californian redwood (sequoia) that should come up a treat as a natural edge bar/liqueur storage destined for a mates city office. Apart from it having a waterfall edge, I haven't put pen to paper to come up with a solid plan yet. Wip to follow......
IMG_20170319_130132.jpg

I have it safely stored at my sister's place now, but had to hit it with a sander to make sure it still had colour.....

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All in all, great to catch up with Kuffy and have someone to laugh with during the boring (expensive) bits. Enjoyed the auction platform too, first time I have attended something like that.

**cava** · 19th March 2017, 07:03 PM

Has/will there, be a prices realised list issued for future reference?

**Simplicity** · 19th March 2017, 07:16 PM

Are you guys going to drop figures or just leave us hanging ?

Gab if I hear you cutting up burl for pen blanks
We will talk [emoji15]?

Cheers Matt

**Kuffy** · 19th March 2017, 07:34 PM

In hindsight Gab, I probably should have told the guy directing traffic to 'jam it!' and just parked right next to my slab. I literally nearly passed out after getting it up on top of the ute. Standing in the sun and then working hard for a few minutes just doesn't agree with a fatso like me.

Prices were north of 7k/cube far too often, breaching 10k occasionally (rough calcamalations in my head at the time. could be out +/- $1k). The vendor should be happy as Larry with the prices realised. I paid 230bux gst and buyers premium included, for my spotted gum slab (~$2600/cube). A genuine bargain and one of the best buys for the day.

As I was tieing down my Ute, a bloke walks up to me and starts talking to me. Turns out he works at the old bowerbird mill out in the yarra ranges. He said he rarely sells a slab for more than 1000bux, and in cubic meter rates it is around the 5k mark.

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