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  1. #1
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    Default Is this Waddi Wood?

    Several weeks ago a friend came to me with a nondescript looking piece of wood about 300mm long and 80 - 90mm in diameter and asked me whether I could turn her a pepper grinder from it. It was obviously the top portion of an old fence post. It was also HEAVY.
    I agreed, and proceeded to turn a fairly standard pepper grinder. It was immediately obvious that this wood was HARD. But, using previous experience gained turning 100 year old red gum, I quickly found that it reacted very well to scraping, but tools still needed to be sharpened very frequently.
    On completing the turning of the grinder, I began to wonder what this wood could be. A bit of investigation with Dr Google quickly showed that Waddi wood was a good candidate. And the source of my friends wood was consistent with this identification. But continued reeading showed just how rare this wood was - I couldn't find any photographs to compare it with!
    So I thought I would tap into the collective wisdom of this forum to see whether you think that this could possibly be Waddi wood or, if not, what else it could be. Your thoughts and suggestions would be very welcome

    Bruce

    PS: I sanded and polished (EEE) the cut end of the off-cut top of the post just to show what the grain looks like. Fantastic isn't it. I had a go at counting growth rings but gave up and was satisfied with "a lot" - also consistent with a slow grower like waddi wood.

    IMG_20170804_103916.jpgIMG_20170804_103944.jpgIMG_20170804_104021.jpg

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  3. #2
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    From the information and descriptions, it certainly looks like waddi, but cannot confirm this. It is similar to a known sample. If you want or need a definite answer, contact Jugo Illic, there will probably a fee for his services
    Jim
    Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important...

  4. #3
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    I'd be asking where the fence was it came from, and offering to 'replace the old run down fence' and remove the 'waste' just for the cost of materials.
    Any shots of the completed grinder?
    Looks like lovely timber
    "All the gear and no idea"

  5. #4
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    Here are a couple of photographs of the completed grinder. Has o be the heaviest grinder ever made!

    I am delivering the grinder tomorrow so I will ask about the possibility of gaining access to the remaider of the fence.

    20170814-Waddy Wood Grinder-103417-2.jpg20170814-Waddy Wood Grinder-103548-2.jpg

  6. #5
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    Nice job, end result looks great.

    As to whether it is Waddy Wood, from the first photos I was thinking no (especially being a fence), but seeing the finished photos it could be. Can't say I have ever heard someone making a fence from it, but I guess cockies make fences from anything locally hard like acacias, and if the fence was constructed where it grows I guess it could well be given its age.

    If the whole fence is from Waddy, yes a few of us would offer to replace it for them . I'd be looking at adjacent properties too

    ps what happened to the scraps? Even they could be cast up into something
    Neil
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  7. #6
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    I spoke to provider of the wood today when I delivered the grinder. She says that it came from a private property in the right area for it to be Waddy wood. Sold to her as firewood! I have pleaded with her not to burn it! She says that some of it is fairly well rotted, but as you point out, even small bits would be worth rescuing.
    She has some more and I am confident that I can get hold of at least some of it.
    She asked me what she should do with the rest if it. I suggested that any number of wood turners would love to get hold of some, even in quite small bits (pen blanks?). How much interest is there, and how much do you think people might be willing to pay? Given what people are willing to pay for burls these days, I imagine it might be quite a lot!

  8. #7
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    I'd be interested in some but it would depend on the size and condition. I buy burl at $5-$15/kg could be a starting point I guess, or perhaps an auction of lots??
    Neil
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  9. #8
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    I'd put my hand up for some too..... And if it's in Vic I'm happy to help out with transportation or machining up sizes of that helps at all....

    Would love to get my hands on some!!
    "All the gear and no idea"

  10. #9
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    Hi all, just to add an opinion, I have a friend who is a member of the wood collectors society and he has some waddy wood ( only a small piece mind you) and it has a very purple colour to its heart wood and distinctive yellow sap wood. The piece pictured appears to be more like gidgee, but I could be very wrong.
    Make something idiot proof, and they make a better idiot.

  11. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bagmann View Post
    Hi all, just to add an opinion, I have a friend who is a member of the wood collectors society and he has some waddy wood ( only a small piece mind you) and it has a very purple colour to its heart wood and distinctive yellow sap wood. The piece pictured appears to be more like gidgee, but I could be very wrong.
    I was given some from south of Alice Springs, Old Andado Station awhile back and it also had a purple brown colour to it. It's where it gets its name from - Acacia Peuce and it is the hardest wood I have turned.

  12. #11
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    I agree that it is unlikely to be Waddi Wood and more likely to be Gidgee.

    Woodturners should be cautious in collecting or receiving specimens of Waddi Wood as it is listed under the EPBCA1999 as a "threatened species" and is also offered protections under NT & QLD environmental legislation. Cultural heritage legislation also comes into effect as stands of Waddi Wood have cultural significance to indigeneous groups in the endemic range of Acacia peuce. The NT govt has been fencing standa of waddi wood to prevent grazing cattle from foraging seedlings. Acacia peuce does not create a seed bank in the soil but relies upon annual seed production and rare extreme rainfall events to establish seedlings. Trees are believed to live to 500 years or more.

    With the increasing threats to the long term survival of threatened populations the conservation groups and authorities are also using more sophisticated methods of monitoring threats. Beware!
    Mobyturns

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  13. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mobyturns View Post
    I agree that it is unlikely to be Waddi Wood and more likely to be Gidgee.

    Woodturners should be cautious in collecting or receiving specimens of Waddi Wood as it is listed under the EPBCA1999 as a "threatened species" and is also offered protections under NT & QLD environmental legislation. Cultural heritage legislation also comes into effect as stands of Waddi Wood have cultural significance to indigeneous groups in the endemic range of Acacia peuce. The NT govt has been fencing standa of waddi wood to prevent grazing cattle from foraging seedlings. Acacia peuce does not create a seed bank in the soil but relies upon annual seed production and rare extreme rainfall events to establish seedlings. Trees are believed to live to 500 years or more.

    With the increasing threats to the long term survival of threatened populations the conservation groups and authorities are also using more sophisticated methods of monitoring threats. Beware!
    Moby I can assure you that the pieces I turned were legally collected.

  14. #13
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    20171002-Waddiwood-170034.jpg20171002-Waddiwood-170153.jpg

    Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I apologise for not responding sooner but I have been overseas for several weeks.
    On reviewing my original post, I realized that the photograph did not portray the true colour of this wood - I think the colour temperature was a bit off. So I re-photographed another piece, but this time with a sheet of white paper as background to ensure that I got the colours just right. The second picture is just a close up of the first in a (relatively unsucessful) attempt to show the end grain.

    To those of you that thought the lack of purple colouration was a telling reason to doubt that this was waddywood, I think the new photograph may change your mind. In the flesh, this wood has a distinct purpleish brown colour to it.
    Mobyturns; Bagmann: At first I tended to agree with you that this could well be a piece of gidgee. So I decided to try to get a measurement if the specific gravity of the wood. I machined an accurate cylinder (that you see in the photograph) that was just under 50 mm in diameter and a bit over 32 mm high. The culated volume of the cylinder was 62.02 cubic cm and it weighed 79.5 gm. This gives a specific gravity of 1.28. I estimate that the error in this measurement is plus or minus 0.02.
    The Wood Database quotes the specific gravity at 12% moisture content as 1.43 for Waddiwood and 1.15 for Gidgee. There are a couple of reasons why my sample would have a lower specific gravity than that quoted: it includes several shakes and non-uniformities, and, while I have no way of measuring its moisture content, it is obviously extremely dry (as you might expect having been exposed to the climate of the Simpson desert as a fence post for many years).
    On the basis of these measurements, I now doubt that it is Gidgee.

    Having just about convinced myself that this was indeed Waddiwood, I moved on to the niceties of putting it up for sale. I am now well aware that Waddiwood is on the endangered list in the NT and on the vulnerable list for NSW (and QLD I think). It appears that to sell something on the endangered list, one must be able to establish where it came from and how it was obtained. While I am confident that this sample was obtained legally, I have no way of proving it! What does this mean if I now try to sell it?

    Any suggestions wuld be very much appreciated.

  15. #14
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    Hmm, all I can see are 2 blurry photos
    Neil
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  16. #15
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    Hi Dai

    Do you mean that you can ONLY see two blurry photographs (no text) or that the photographs ar blurry? Either way I do not know what I can do to fix it - the post, including the photographs, appears fine on my monitor!

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