Thread: Sheoak with lace

cool

That is some beautiful stuff you have there.

I have 1 acoustic guitar set of the stuff. Enough to do 1 guitar worth of back and sides. It is spectacular stuff - and really hard to find (moreso on my side 'O the pond..)

Stunning pieces [emoji106]
What's the plan for these?

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Originally Posted by truckjohn

I have 1 acoustic guitar set of the stuff. Enough to do 1 guitar worth of back and sides. It is spectacular stuff - and really hard to find (moreso on my side 'O the pond..)

John, I have to ask....how in hell did you get some Lace She Oak in South Carolina? (it'll kill your blades, btw)

Originally Posted by TasSculptor

I always drool over the beautiful lace Sheoak that Dusteater posts on here and I have always wondered if the local sheoak down here in Tas ever developed "lace". I have been keeping an eye out for a likely looking tree. I found one recently and milled it. It's definitely showing promising signs of lace type grain in some sections. I will definitely keep an eye out for another.

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Very nice mate, definitely I would call it Lace , beware it becomes an obsession like looking for that perfect Opal.It is hard to find and only occurs in a small part of the tree.

Originally Posted by dusteater

It is hard to find and only occurs in a small part of the tree.

Didn't know that. What part of the tree?

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

John, I have to ask....how in hell did you get some Lace She Oak in South Carolina? (it'll kill your blades, btw)

Ah.. Well, you know... Just had some laying around out in the yard... You know how that goes. .

I got it from Tim Spittle at Australia Tonewoods along with some spectacular Native Olive and a beautiful set of curly Wandoo or Jarrah (I don't remember now)...

I wish I could get some more of the stuff.. It's spectacular.

I grew up in coastal Florida. Sheoak is known here as "Australian pine" because if the "needles" and "cones".. They planted the stuff all over the place as wind break and a way to control erosion since it does well in brackish water and salty, sandy soils... The lumber guys could never be bothered to figure out how to properly cut the stuff so it doesn't crack all to pieces.... And so it earned the reputation of "useless trash wood"... I was subsequently told by a firewood fellow that it "was related to oak..." (Which it is not) And that it made fine firewood....

Much later - I saw the lumber and had to have some for a guitar... Except that nobody cuts it for anything but firewood in the USA... And so I ended up having to order wood that grows all over the place in the southern USA from Australia....

And so it goes...

Originally Posted by cava

Didn't know that. What part of the tree?

I`ve only ever found it within the first two or three meters of the tree and it might be only mm`s thick , the biggest piece I`ve found that you would call pure lace all the way thru was about 600 x 150 x 300 after getting rid of rot and cracks and that was from a 15-20 mt tree.

Originally Posted by dusteater

I`ve only ever found it within the first two or three meters of the tree and it might be only mm`s thick , the biggest piece I`ve found that you would call pure lace all the way thru was about 600 x 150 x 300 after getting rid of rot and cracks and that was from a 15-20 mt tree.

Is the Sheoak over your way hard to dry without cracks? I have only cut sheoak once before and got cracks in half of it.

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Originally Posted by BallaratBill

Stunning pieces [emoji106]
What's the plan for these?

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A lot of my smaller stuff is sold to knife makers. Bigger stuff to guitar makers.[emoji106]

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Originally Posted by TasSculptor

Is the Sheoak over your way hard to dry without cracks? I have only cut sheoak once before and got cracks in half of it.

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I only mill trees that have been dead for years , so the cracking is minimal and I find there is little cracking with the Lace as the grain is a lot tighter.But yes there is a lot of cracking in Sheoak and I have to do a lot of trimming to get pieces that are fault free, so the off cuts make great firewood.If I have logs from fallen trees that are still green ,I`ll leave them in a shaded area with bark on and wait.

Some grevillea pieces will have a lace grain patter but it is rare and I have never found enough to make even one blank.

This type of grain patterning can only occur in timbers that have distinct medullary ray patterns from what I learnt.

Originally Posted by artme

Some grevillea pieces will have a lace grain patter but it is rare and I have never found enough to make even one blank.

This type of grain patterning can only occur in timbers that have distinct medullary ray patterns from what I learnt.

You`re right about the medullar rays, here is some nice Banksia with some beautiful Lace.

The lace grain effect also appears in Northern Silky Oak (Cardwellia sublimis) but is extremely rare from my limited experience.

I think any of the Allocasuarinas and Grevilleas have potential for lace grain. I have seen some in Banksia integrifolia (subsp. compar) from the Proserpine area.