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View Full Version : Bulloak platter- how I discovered power sanding.



tea lady
26th March 2012, 05:43 PM
I know I know! Use power sanding at work, but never have at home. But I turned this bull oak platter on the weekend and sanding it today I discovered that sand paper just did not do anything. :doh: So I dug out the set of sanding discs I won at SATurn last year (Thanks Tim Skilton:cool: ) and stuck it in my drill. Voila! :U Only done to 320, but doesn't look too bad. Can see some swirl marks that I would go at with finer paper. (Danish oil slapped on just for the pic. ) Won't fuss about this one any more though cos I discovered another crack as I was taking the pic that I can't call a feature. :doh: Think I'll get another bit of this wood though. From Brendon Stemp's friend Bill. My new favourite wood. :U

Woodwould
26th March 2012, 05:52 PM
:thyel: Beautiful looking stuff!

brendan stemp
26th March 2012, 06:37 PM
That is one amazing piece of Buloke. And you've done well with it. 320 is often all it needs.

One of my favourite timbers. When it is good it is reeeeeally good.

Billy has tons of the stuff, most of which goes to firewood.

Cliff Rogers
26th March 2012, 06:55 PM
:2tsup:

tea lady
26th March 2012, 07:17 PM
That is one amazing piece of Buloke. And you've done well with it. 320 is often all it needs.
Ah! So that is how you spell it. :U Tell Bill I want some big platter blanks. Maybe not with a knot in it cos that was REEEEEEEEEEALLY hard! :rolleyes:

powderpost
26th March 2012, 07:20 PM
Very nice job, well done. :2tsup:
Jim

tea lady
26th March 2012, 07:22 PM
Some info about Buloke.:cool:

National Threatened Species Day - Buloke woodlands fact sheet (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/tsday08-buloke-woodlands.html)

Seems its threatened. Better turn it into shavings before it disappears. :doh:

Cliff Rogers
26th March 2012, 07:30 PM
Some info about Buloke.:cool:

National Threatened Species Day - Buloke woodlands fact sheet (http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/tsday08-buloke-woodlands.html)

Seems its threatened. Better turn it into shavings before it disappears. :doh:
That looks like what we call Beefwood up here.:think:

Cliff Rogers
26th March 2012, 07:33 PM
There is a Bull-Oak.

Allocasuarina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocasuarina)

Bull-oak (http://www.ttit.id.au/treepages/bulloak.htm)

Ironwood
26th March 2012, 08:31 PM
Nice work TL, thats a spectacular piece of wood put to good effect.

derekh
26th March 2012, 09:16 PM
Got to agree that I think Buloke is an under-rated timber for it's appearance. Not that I've done a lot with it and even though I treat it as a weed on my property (near Roma) because it interferes with my White Cypress Pine trees. I've got 300 acres of pen blanks :)

tea lady
26th March 2012, 10:15 PM
Got to agree that I think Buloke is an under-rated timber for it's appearance. Not that I've done a lot with it and even though I treat it as a weed on my property (near Roma) because it interferes with my White Cypress Pine trees. I've got 300 acres of pen blanks :)I like madelry rays. Buloke is silky oat on steroids. :D

dr4g0nfly
27th March 2012, 03:19 AM
What a fantastic timber - I don't care what you call it - I call it absolutely gorgeous and I'm very jealous.

Someone start planting some for the future.

artme
27th March 2012, 11:43 AM
Very classy piece of timber there TL!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Casuarinas and allocasuarinas are amongst my favourite figured timbers.

Sawdust Maker
27th March 2012, 08:55 PM
...

Billy has tons of the stuff, most of which goes to firewood.

:((

nice looking platter, TL

powderpost
27th March 2012, 09:43 PM
Plenty of that stuff here on the tablelands. One of the allo casuarina species grows prolifically on river banks and another on beaches. It is hard and is a bugger for splitting.
Jim

Kidbee
28th March 2012, 07:49 PM
You are certainly more than just a tea lady!:o

Bushmiller
28th March 2012, 08:27 PM
"Buloke?" Isn't that a large bovine creature commonly eaten as beef?:rolleyes:

Sorry that was awful. Cringeville even:-. Maybe that's why Cliff's mob call it "Beefwood." Sorry, sorry....

I was intrigued by the discussion and thought I'll look it up in Bootle's bible, but, to my despair, he only had Bull Oak listed (Casuarina luehmannii). Very hard as I think TL can testify (Janka 22kN. Compare to Ironbark @ 14kN and Gidgee @ 19kN) and ADD of 1050Kg/m3.

It's a force to be reckoned with and on top of that it has those beautiful rays (which I, like many others, still call medullary rays. Ern, "Rsser," explained that we don't call 'em that any more:(.: Just rays).

Now the other one, which from another book (my third attempt) seems to be Causarina glauca. It is apparantly very similar, but is has a different shaped canopy.

Then in another book I found C. glauca listed as swamp oak:?.

Clearly they are similar, as are most of the casuarinas and they are beautiful timbers if you can control them. I say this because most of the specimens I have cut develop chronic splitting, often in a spiral pattern, which renders them fit only for pen blanks and knife handles. My son tried to make a didgeridoo out of some recently and after he had drilled an 1800mm hole down the guts it split open about 10mm right down the length as if in some bizarre revenge frenzy. He was mightily pi55ed.

TL, you might have to examine this timber quite carefully, before turning on the lathe as it is a lot of work just to have it split on you. Still a really nice job by you:2tsup:.

Regards
Paul

Grumpy John
28th March 2012, 08:43 PM
That looks like what we call Beefwood up here.:think:

Don't you beef from bulls ? :p

Cliff Rogers
28th March 2012, 10:03 PM
Don't you beef from bulls ? :p
Might be a word missing there. :think:

I wouldn't recommend beef from a bull... too tough.

NeilS
29th March 2012, 01:06 PM
Ah! So that is how you spell it.

Both ways are acceptable as the common name. My preference is buloke. Either way it refers to Allocasuarina luehmannii in the area where it primarily grows in SE SA, West Vic and SW NSW.

As for the cracks, they come with the other features of this beautiful wood. Unless it is going to fall apart, I'd call it a keeper.

tea lady
29th March 2012, 05:05 PM
Both ways are acceptable as the common name. My preference is buloke. Either way it refers to Allocasuarina luehmannii in the area where it primarily grows in SE SA, West Vic and SW NSW.

As for the cracks, they come with the other features of this beautiful wood. Unless it is going to fall apart, I'd call it a keeper.:cool: Unfortunately the crack is from sanding I think! :doh: Heard it go "tink" and there is a little wiggly hair line crack on the bottom. I think I also went a bit thin trying to get rid of the tear out and the dimple. :rolleyes: But it does actually mean I get to keep it! If it was good I'd have to sell it. :doh: