trees on new property

[Wild Dingo]

Ive just moved to a new property south of Perth and was told by an arborist that it has some interesting trees on it

English Elm... 3 trees trunks are about 3ft across about 30ft tall
English Oak... 2 trees same as above but about 4ft across
Silky Oak... 1 tree about 2ft across the trunk and some 15 or so foot high
Native Jacaranda... 2 x bloody massive!
Camphor Laurel... 2, 1 about 20ft, 1 about 10ft
Brazilian Mahogany... 1 about 30ft tall and base trunk about 3ft across
Lemon Scented gum... 4... 1 has to come down {planted in wrong spot dangerous to neighbors house} about 2ft across and 25ft high straight as buggary... 2 about 3-4ft across and 40ft high and 1 about 20ft high
Blue gum... 2x big buggars
River gum... 1 x big buggar
Swamp gum... 2 x really old the trunks and boughs are pretty craggy and twisted
Willow... 4... 2 very large and 2 about 10ft high
Pine... 2... 1 is massive and the other is about 15ft high
Ornamental Orange... 1 about 18ft high
Flame trees... 6 huge trees
Fiddlewood... 2, 1 is massive and has many many branches other is smaller but also has many many branches

Along with others I cant think of the names for just now... most are reasonably big trees a few are smaller all are accessable other than the wild berry trees that line the bottom of the creek line toward the back of the property {berrys include wild raspberries and blackberries} some of the branches are pretty thick but one has to fight the bramble thorns to get to them which if the wood is worthwhile I will do without a moments hessitation!

thing is that several of these trees need to come out.. and all the others need pruning {well not all and not quite as radical as Im considering but hey I want the timber!!}... and here Im talking about branches that are between 6in and 18in across... they are hanging low and need to come down I want the tree to grow up not out dahmnit!!... now the thoughts I have run to cutting down with chainsaw and keeping the thinner boughs as they are {debarked and stacked above ground level} and the thicker ones ripped to planks.

So what uses can yous blokes think of for the types of timbers I have?
Ive heard that fellas use Camphor Laurel and Silky Oak but not for the others so have at it mates what can I use the above woods for {by order would be excellent {just so I dont get confused!} turnings? furniture? decking? etc etc

[PAH1]

English Elm... 3 trees trunks are about 3ft across about 30ft tall
Useful for just about any purpose, furniture etc, has an interesting grain pattern that zig zags

English Oak... 2 trees same as above but about 4ft across
Some of the oldest english furniture is made from this and it is a good timber to turn, nice figure on the quarter face

Silky Oak... 1 tree about 2ft across the trunk and some 15 or so foot high
Furniture, turnery and ornamental. turns well and makes very good inserts in things like jewellery boxes because of the grain on the quarter face.

Native Jacaranda... 2 x bloody massive!
No idea but over here it is a white wood that works well but I cant tell you how it finishes up yet.

Camphor Laurel... 2, 1 about 20ft, 1 about 10ft
At least in some places a declared noxious weed, useful timber for all sorts of things and works machines and finishes nicely.

Brazilian Mahogany... 1 about 30ft tall and base trunk about 3ft across
NI
Lemon Scented gum... 4... 1 has to come down {planted in wrong spot dangerous to neighbors house} about 2ft across and 25ft high straight as buggary... 2 about 3-4ft across and 40ft high and 1 about 20ft high
If you mean E. viminalis then you have an opportunity, nice wood with striped pattern that seems to dry pretty well and finishes nicely

Blue gum... 2x big buggars
River gum... 1 x big buggar
Similar for both in terms of use turn or furniture, although some on the board say river red (camaldulensis) is unstable but a lot of stuff gets made from it. If the blue gum is tassie rather than sydney there is a recent thread on it you can do a search

Swamp gum... 2 x really old the trunks and boughs are pretty craggy and twisted
Souns interesting but NI
Willow... 4... 2 very large and 2 about 10ft high
Pine... 2... 1 is massive and the other is about 15ft high
Allways good for something

Ornamental Orange... 1 about 18ft high
If it is a citrus then it may be interesting for turning lemon etc is sought after, is there the possibility you mean mock orange, having a fruit that is about the size and shape of an orange but is green and nobbly like a mulberry ? If so then the value goes up a lot

Flame trees... 6 huge trees
Fiddlewood... 2, 1 is massive and has many many branches other is smaller but also has many many branches

No idea about either of the above

Even the small branches will crack radially unless you saw it up into something. I have got a lot of interesting wood from small branches of things.

[Wild Dingo]

WOW!! Thanks for all that Pah1 Just what I was hoping to hear

The ornamental orange isnt fruiting as yet from what I can see.. aparantly its not edible... it may well be the mock orange as you suggest Im simply not sure the arborist called it an "ornamental orange" will have to wait and see what happens when it buds!

Info much appreciated mate! Thank you :cool:

[Little Festo]

Brazilian Mahogany - Good for turning and furniture etc. We get a few in Darwin from time to time and it is much more highly prized than the African Mahogany.

Peter

[Toymaker Len]

Ornamental Orange is likely to be Ossage Orange -beautiful wood.

[Wild Dingo]

Thanks fellas! Seems I have some great trees here eh! Bit of constructive prunin may be needed shortly ;)

Ive just scored a half a dozen of seasoned logs of Marri, Wandoo and Jarrah all around 20 -30ft long and about 20 or so inches across for the entire length...beautiful straight logs these things :cool:... just gotta figure a way of getting the ruddy things from Bullsbrook to Brunswick Junction! :eek:...

Actually I havent told the bro in law yet but... Im aiming on getting the others while Im at it!... I sorta figured I gotta try and get this lot back here THEN work out how Im goin to get the rest of it from the pile my brother in law has out the front of his place that theyre chainsawing up to use as firewood! :mad: ...movin them out of the pile and to one side {about 20ft} today was a major hurdle considering the tractor he has is an ancient and rather tired old thing and these things are seriously HEAVY! So Im planning on sawing them down to more managable lengths of about 8 or so ft each should get a few out of each log... mmmm gotta start huntin a twuck :p or else a bloody helfty sorta trailer to cope with the weight and number of these things! :rolleyes:

gawd lifes good sometimes aint it!! ;) :cool:

[Wild Dingo]

Well having survived some major storms and flooding wherein we lost 94% of our gear including many of my tools, Im seem to be ever optimistic about my future in woodbutchery and have made several wood gathering forays into the bush and up to future son in laws parents place in North Dandalup... my humpy thing out the back is now almost quater full of logs of various sizes and timbers quite asside from the Wandoo and other timber I got from my brother in laws place I now find I have:

Mulberry... several large trunks 2ft across
Plum... several trunks up to 18in acroos
Pear... many large trunks
Oak... big trunks
Jarrah... LOTS of good sized trunks and boughs
Sheoak... :D gotta love that stuff!! :cool:

Now a question I have is what does Mulberry Plum and Pear turn like (yes yes I know I gotta buy a new new lathe and other tools but hey I said I was optimistic! :cool:) But what do they look like finished? Anyone got any pics they can show of what they end up looking like?
Thanks

[goodwoody]

I would suggest selective pruning ensuring trhe survival of the mature trees to produce the next generation of timber kids.
Be wary of people who offer to help with the trees as some ruthless people will have contacts further afield and mates decide to come and help and before long trees have been removed. Voice of experience. Damien.

[Wild Dingo]

Gidday Damian
The first post was about trees still standing these latest ones are ones that have been ripped during a development of a farm and the trunks tossed on a heep at Dans parents farm to be burnt... ala free timber for moi!!! :cool:
Any idea of what plum or mulberry turns like? what the results look like? How do they go bookmatched? :confused:
Thanks mate

[John Saxton]

Shane,mulberry and plum like all fruit woods turn nice,figurative and close grained.

I envy you,you lucky b ;)

Cheers :)

[glenn k]

Lemon Scented gum... 4... 1 has to come down {planted in wrong spot dangerous to neighbors house} about 2ft across and 25ft high straight as buggary... 2 about 3-4ft across and 40ft high and 1 about 20ft high
If you mean E. viminalis then you have an opportunity, nice wood with striped pattern that seems to dry pretty well and finishes nicely



Ornamental Orange... 1 about 18ft high
If it is a citrus then it may be interesting for turning lemon etc is sought after, is there the possibility you mean mock orange, having a fruit that is about the size and shape of an orange but is green and nobbly like a mulberry ? If so then the value goes up a lot


Lemon sented gum is Euc.citriodora
If the Ornamental Orange is Osage Orange the wood will be dark yellow break a dead stick and have a look.
Sounds like a great lot of trees speeking as an Arborist, and a nice pile of wood aswell.

[Wild Dingo]

John mate lucky in one way (ala wood gatherin) and unlucky in another way (ala loss of most tools to the flamin mongrel flood!) But Im a pretty positive fella and will eventually get the tools again, sometime down the track! bloody expensive hobby this! :rolleyes: especially when you have to replace the bloody things without ever usin them :mad: water mud and slush inside crated tools do not a good combination make

The orange I cut a small bough off and checked the smallish fruit and theyre small knobby things the wood is a beautiful shade of orangeish yellow stunning when debarked with a chisel and a peice is put alongside a chunk of jarrah :cool:

Ive attacked a wee bit of plum with the chisel to have a gander at it and seems theres rings of varying shades of dark purple black interspersed with the lighter wood at varying thicknessess throughout its thickness, this as Ive been chiseling away along the peice is showing a very seriously interesting feature, planing on making a simple chisel and hand drilled flute with this for my yippee hippy sis up north ;) Im olso making her a wee fife out of pear, another interesting timber eh!! :cool:

Ive not had a looksee at the mulburry yet as its a tad on the large and knotty side, and while whitling away with a chisel at a peice of 1ft x 2in plum Im okay with tryin to do the same with a chunk of that monster with simple hand tools does not inspire me just yet! But then Im easily bored and will probably attack it on my return from the goldfields in a few weeks.

All in all Im a fairly happy chappy :cool: still irate with the loss of the tools the bloody 18in bandsaw 15in thicknesser and 8in jointer have seriously disrupted my cool, calm and collected equalibrium to say nothing about the friggin lathe and incra fence that it landed on!!! :mad: This is equalled only by the irate displeasure of the missus at the losses inside the house which amounted to pretty much everything :eek: and the combined natures of us both toward CommInsure :mad: but for all that Im a fairly happy chappy, when I manage to get me damned tools together again I will have a fair whackin stack of wood to butcher the heck out of eh!!! :D

I think ol hewy up there has it in for me, either than or he has decided that I should be a hand woodbutcher and not a machineised one :rolleyes: ;)

[Clinton]

If you are thinking of cutting and replacing your trees, Diggers ( http://www.diggers.com.au/ ), a seed savers and heritage garden group have Black Walnut seedlings. Juglans nigra ?? Blacker harder and finer grained than (ordinary) European/English walnut. Not sure if you can grow them out your way, but here's some info http://www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/handbook/walnuts.html .
You can "patch bud" English walnut stock (superior nut) onto black walnut up high on the Black Walnut. This gives a couple of meters of "log" for when you want to harvest the timber after 20 years. I'm trying to sort some space at home for one or two, but in a suburban yard, competing against fruit trees - they might loose out.
Just a thought :)

[John Saxton]

SHANE,I empathise your situation,I have been away, and away from the BB for some time and am trying to catch up, but my sympathies in your losses tho materially, these are a bloody nuisance and can be rectified ..given time.

The only point of concern must be that of your family for that's all that matters..time will see you up and about doing what you love to do in working once again with wood.

Positve attitudes like yours are always a boon to hear of and more than encouraging to those of us with lessor troubles than yours. :)

Cheers :)