Salmon Gum

[Willy Nelson]

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen
Scored a trailer load of big blocks of Salmon Gun. I don't have any Salmon gum in my collection, so not sure exactly what it should look like, but I did expect it to be more pinky in colour. There is some rot through the it, but I will manage to get quite a few blanks from it. The tree was massive, but most of it got mulched or had termites through it.

in the photos, you should be able to see my process for the milling (eg rounds, spindles or pens blanks) and my way of sealing the timbers. Also note how good my wood trolley is, a real back saver.

The wax is scavenged from friends and skip bins, so doesn't cost me anything. The frypan I bought about 10 years ago, cost me $1. Garage always smells awesome and calming from all those fragrant candles.

I am hoping there will be enough room on the racks for drying

Cheers
Willy

Jarrahland

[chambezio]

Willy, you are always up to something.
Can you go through the process of deciding what you cut the blanks into? I have a half dozen Silky Oak logs about 1200 mm long. I would like to get some planks for making boxes as well as bowl blanks. I am always sightly perplexed as to how to cut/mill to get the best use out of the log.

[smiife]

Hi willy , nice score mate, wot no burls :o

[Willy Nelson]

Willy, you are always up to something.
Can you go through the process of deciding what you cut the blanks into? I have a half dozen Silky Oak logs about 1200 mm long. I would like to get some planks for making boxes as well as bowl blanks. I am always sightly perplexed as to how to cut/mill to get the best use out of the log.

Hello Rod

Sure.

It will normally depend on two things, the quality of the logs and what I need or am short of. Oh yeah, normally the big thing for me is the species. Galleries generally only want WA timber for the tourists. Also, anything thing which is absolutely stunning/curly etc is set aside for pen blanks.

I also consider how the blanks will dry and season. Eg, Wood pear will split as soon as you look at it, so I cut them quite small

I never rough turn bowls now, as I have been caught short eg what I rough turn was the wrong shape, but the original blank would have been ok. I make the blanks as big as I can get, up to 50 cm, which is a fair lump of timber.

As for the spindles, I usually get these from the slab with the heart in it. So I cut a spindle blank either side of the heart. I don't do a lot of spindle work so most logs I cut are for bowl blanks. Spindle blanks are generally the by catch. I usuall slab the log so that I end up withy square slabs which will maximise the bowl blank I get.
Hope this helps
Willy

[kcam]

Hi Willy,
The Salmon Gums that I remember seeing as I drove across the Nullarbor some years ago did not appear to be of a size that would yield the dimensions that you have achieved in your photos. Having not seen any turned or finished items of the timber, what does it turn like, colour and grain? Will be interested in seeing some WIP pics and details.
Cheers Kerry

[chambezio]

Thanks Willy, The logs that I have been getting are mainly limbs around 300 mm. Not having anything in mind to use the timber for, I usually slice to 30 mm thick and thicker. I have some Silky Oak at the moment waiting to be broken down for seasoning. One log is just over 600mm but only 1500 long. The rest I think may well be destined for bowl blanks. In the past I have left them intact in slabs, then, when ready, cutting out with the bandsaw, but this time I think I will be making round blanks, so storage will be more efficient.

When I come home with logs my daughter asks what am I going to make with them and when I tell I don't know, she can't understand. But you have to take them when offered because there may not be any around when you have a project!

[Willy Nelson]

Hi Willy,
The Salmon Gums that I remember seeing as I drove across the Nullarbor some years ago did not appear to be of a size that would yield the dimensions that you have achieved in your photos. Having not seen any turned or finished items of the timber, what does it turn like, colour and grain? Will be interested in seeing some WIP pics and details.
Cheers Kerry

Hello Mate
I too am not convinced they are Salmon Gum. Now, the logs you are looking at are just the branches, the trunk was approximately 1.5 meters across!!!!!

[Optimark]

Hi Willy,
The Salmon Gums that I remember seeing as I drove across the Nullarbor some years ago did not appear to be of a size that would yield the dimensions that you have achieved in your photos. Having not seen any turned or finished items of the timber, what does it turn like, colour and grain? Will be interested in seeing some WIP pics and details.
Cheers Kerry

There are some serious Salmon Gum stands in various parts of WA, with the biggest congestion of stands sort of between the hamlet of Salmon Gums on the Norseman to Esperance road, and south of Lake King and Lake Grace.

The best place to see some of the stands, and where there are probably the heaviest concentration of Salmon Gum stands that I have seen was in 1974. We took the Norseman-Esperance road from Norseman, then turned off towards Peak Charles heading approximately SSW, then we headed more westerly at the first corner but still trending southwards. Along this section we saw our first stand of Salmon Gums.

Further travel had us eventually hitting a 45º (ish) right bend where we basically headed due west in a dead straight line, 54 miles later there was a left bend where there was a set of government water tanks. We camped there for the night, doing some exploring for Salmon Gums the next day, no luck. We then headed further SW where we hit a 45º right turn, from there we once again were heading due west and towards farming land. Once through the rabbit fence farmland happened pretty frequently and we headed towards Lake King on the Lake king Newdegate road. We turned due south on Stenets road (Spelling) and after about 2 hours of sandy track we came upon our first stand of quite large Salmon Gums. Think trees that were about 15m high.

I was working for WAGR at the time and we were installing/replacing the narrow gauge rail line from Kalgoorlie to Esperance. We had a freight train derailment happen with dire consequences for the farming communities up north as they needed the line to be open for the wheat harvest to get to Esperance. As we needed to build a temporary track around the derailment, we were in desperate need of anything we could use for sleepers. Hence the search for Salmon Gums as the WA government fella had told us to find some and cut them down, then cut them up, for sleepers.

We found three stands suitable, one on private property. The farmer made more money out of that stand of about 20 trees than he made from whatever he was farming that year. I think we made about 60 sleepers using the farmers tractor with a big circular saw running off the three point linkage on the rear. They were rough, but they worked. Thank heavens there was no such thing as OH&S back then.

Trains traversed the 8 chain section of temporary track at a maximum speed of 1½ miles an hour, suggested speed was ½ to 1 mile an hour. :D

They do look a nice salmon red colour, when viewed in full late afternoon sun.

Mick.