Thread: Paulownia pile

Whats your intended use for the logs?

If you're going to mill them or even if your interested in get in rid of them and wanted to sell some if the quality is good i might be interested if we can work out shipping. I want to build a canoe but I am in uni and finding it difficult to find good quality cheap wood in my price range.

All the best with your information gathering!

Originally Posted by movay_2008

Do all Paulownia get that hollow through the centres he says they have?

All the paulownia I've ever used has the pipe up the centre...
I love the stuff, I use it for patterns and models for sculptures and castings..
it glues up nicely and takes spray putty well and remains quite stable in big sections..
I can't imagine using it for any other purpose though..
If you find any salvagable wood in that pile that is surplus to your requirements movay...let me know

I don't think I'll need much myself but happy to collect and store for others at no cost - just transport cost to your whereabouts. I have the means to palletise quantities as the farm is across the road from the coffee plantation I work at (occasionally now) where pallets and forklift are on hand. We usually use Lismore freight which goes interstate.

You could even buy a 20kg bag of our world renown coffee - no exaggeration - then buy yourself a popcorn machine for roasting it. Beautiful, cheap fresh roasted coffee!

Actually if any of you guys are interested I can roast lots on our small roaster here and do mail orders.

Another thought I've had with the closure of the mill is to ask to use it for a chainsaw carving weekend: Plenty of work area, with 3 phase power running an industrial air compressor with al least five plug in points around the sheds.

Had a look this morning at Barry's. There is toones of it there in accessible piles, and a huge bulk of it is heaped metres deep in a gully, that is not so accessibl(you can just make out the gully to the left of the pile in the bottom pic). A lot looks good despite bulldozing, and some nice root balls as well. Diametres up to 60 cm. Still quite moist wood in the one I cross-cut - after eighteen months and a burn attempt. Growth rings are not as spaced as I thought they would be, and looks like quite tight grain in most selections without much fracturing from the dozer. Don't know if a can manage more than five foot on the larger ones as they seem to be more to the bottom of the piles.

oh the tyranny of distance

OK, so what intentions have you got for this wood?
Slab wood for tables, craft wood for carvings? What's on the plate?

If I showed up, pseudo wood carver that I imagine myself to be, I have some very specific interests.
!. Growth ring count per inch/25mm. Any less that 25/25mm and you can burn it all.
2. I want to inspect the bottom 3-4m of each trunk, rot or not. If the core is rot, so much the better as craft/carving wood = that rots off all the original lower branches when the tree was very young.
3. If I can pop that log segment open/in half, I can see where the (potentially) big knots have been overgrown. I may see crud, I may see gold. I'll hog the rot out with a sculptor's adze and look at the knot bases in the clear wood.
= = =
This is so much like prospecting in an old logging debris pile that somebody forgot to torch off 20 yrs ago!

Yes its a bit like that. I just know that if I don't collect some I'm likely to regret later... that house I'd like to build and the panelling it will need. Wouldn't expect to see any paulownia in these parts with tight growth rings, but for chainsaw carving whose looking? Maybe do some quick fruit bowls with it, always a seller at local markets.

Hi movay it sounds like owner would like to see some of it gone . Would be keen on some , have crane truck, bobcat ,chainsaws.I take it, it is just over the border in nsw ?

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

OK, so what intentions have you got for this wood?
Slab wood for tables, craft wood for carvings?
I have some very specific interests.
!. Growth ring count per inch/25mm. Any less that 25/25mm and you can burn it all.
!

..As mentioned before, I love using the stuff, but outside of pattern/model making the wood is not practical for much of anything..
..it grows fast... 1-2 growth rings per 25mm is not unusual..
..it's soft...think balsa, but softer sometimes..poke it with your finger and leave dents..
...the end grain tears out with even the sharpest of chisels
...

Some uses are...
as an alternative for foam core fibreglass sandwich construction for boats and surfboards...however there are issues with resin/wood delamination..(and there are better and cheaper products available)
..Decorative paneling (where there is no chance of it being bumped)
..model aeroplanes...(it's great for them)

....anyways Movay, if you are going to salvage some and there is surplus let me know...(can swap for other carving species) and I haven't driven up to Nimbin since I was a teenager

Thanks, underfoot. You have dampened my "log lust."
Of course as "craft wood," you might shake your head in disgust with what
I consider a prize piece of Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata). The loggers don't
want the butt/3m as it is flared. Might be 50 rings/inch, clear of knots and
otherwise as straight as a ruler, 30+cm thick.

I guess the farmer didnt want his carbon credits

Clinto, the previous owners just couldn't sell it, same story with many plantations in the area. Fantastic soil couldn't go to waste, so in went avo's and passionfruit this year.

J Maxwell, the property is just above Nimbin up between Mt Top Rd and Lodge rd. The big pile in the gully they made, and tried to burn, is difficult to access (maybe 50 by 20 metres, and God knows how deep) A LONG chain would be useful? Several smaller piles will be fairly easy with a crane. Tractors should be available if Barry gets a tip. I can give a hand and snaffle some for underfoot and anyone else. Need of course not to leave a mess.

This google earth pic looks about a year old. The gully full of log is quite visible to the East of the house. About a dozen piles to the South of the house in grass are less visible.

Google earth co-ordinates:
28°36'40.87" S 153°10'21.00" E

Thats a tragedy, a pity they didnt plant something more commercial but went for fast growing instead

Yeh, like silky oak.