Is it curable?

[Geebung]

I am fairly new to this woodworking thing but I think I now have a serious illness.

The other day while travelling to work on the bus I was staring out the window with my usual glazed look. We were stopped at the traffic lights when a ute towing a trailer broke my stare. It was full of old timber of various sizes (in pretty good condition) along with general rubble and debris.

After about 15 seconds staring at the trailer I realised that I was fantasising about it...how could I use the timber - perhaps a new workbench...how could I get my hands on the wood in that tralier - perhaps unhitch his trailer while he is sitting at the lights...and then I shook my head violently and slapped myself across the face.

Is anyone else afflicted with this debilitating illness?
Is this malady curable?
Should I seek medical advice?
Or should I just succumb to the fact that everytime I see a usable piece of discarded timber I will get the unstoppable urge to take it home with me?

[HappyHammer]

Is anyone else afflicted with this debilitating illness? Yes almost everyone here...
Is this malady curable? No
Should I seek medical advice? Not unless your doctor is a woody and can empathise
Or should I just succumb to the fact that everytime I see a usable piece of discarded timber I will get the unstoppable urge to take it home with me? Afraid so.....

HH.

[petersemple]

Along with this I am afraid that you will realise that everyone else in the world has a warped sense of priorities when you try and persuade your spouse that right next to the front door is really the best place for the wood pile because it's out of the way and under cover and that "but it's an eyesore" isn't a legitimate complaint.

Peter

[The Bleeder]

Geebung,

What HH said. Just go with the flow....to a point. I asked a guy what he was going to do with all the timber once he knocked the house down next door to me.....it all ended up in my driveway and SWMBO was not impressed. SWMBO came around after a while when I started making things. Then complained I spend too much time in the 'shed'. The kids thought it was great cause they got the biggest cubby house in the street. Anyway I still can't stop. I see it and it must follow me home.

Steve

[wheelinround]

Geebung you could have jumped off the bus ran to the car window and said to the guy want to save your tip fee's for all that timber :?

I'll take it off your hands :D

Today i am sitting at my lathe making a little handle for a stove simmer plate LOML uses and all of a sudden I hear a familiar sound

I continued working till all of a sudden :o thats a chainsaw cutting wood :doh: out the garage door I rolled to see the local council fella cutting a reasonable branch off the Peppermint gum.

Wheeled over and I now have a small pile of logs :2tsup: all for the asking.

An arborist he is and is going to keep an eye out for some special timbers and drop them off when he can. His off sider confirmed he would also.:2tsup::2tsup:

[Woodlee]

Nice grab Wheelin, I drive around town looking at trees when I go anywhere .
There are a lot of really old cypress ,tamarinds and rain trees and a few big old mangoes .
I'm just waiting for some trimming to take place .Trouble is the council use contractors ,they take the big logs and store them on their rural blocks .One contractor would have at least 600 ton of African Mahogany trunks .They are just piled up because they don't want to pay tip fees .

This guy has a mill but has done nothing with his stockpile , he did ship some big logs down south a while ago ,didn't even put a dent in his stockpile.Mahoganies are being targeted now ,as some school kid got clobbered with a falling branch in Darwin a few months ago from one , killed the poor little blighter .So now they are cutting a lot of them down ,liability thing I guess.

A few weeks ago they cut down a big old raintree at the back of the pub ,it would have been 80 -90 years old I guess ,it had a trunk 6 feet through.When they let the trunk down with a 50ton crane you could see a hole straight up the guts that a bloke could crawl into ,Damn Darwinesis white ants had hollowed it out ,but still a lot of good timber .

Kev

[petersemple]

My parents' next door neighbours have a nice big tree out the back of their place. I've asked mum and dad to let me know if it ever comes down, cos there's some massive burls on the thing.

Peter

[Poppa]

I went for a bush walk the other day and spent most of the time looking at the fallen logs and wondering if you're allowed to mill them and remove them from national parks (only the dead 'uns). The went to the beach and walked along the high water mark wondering how I could get all the washed up wood and timber into my car... It is sad...

[Geebung]

I went for a bush walk the other day and spent most of the time looking at the fallen logs and wondering if you're allowed to mill them and remove them from national parks (only the dead 'uns).

That would be a big NO NO...dead tree trunks are usually great homes for wildlife. You are not allowed to remove anything from a national park except your own rubbish (and other's if you are a greenie).

[watson]

G'day,
We have a system in Victoria, where you pay to remove wood from a designated community firewood area within forests.
The usual users are looking to cut "foot blocks" that can be split easily into firewood.
It's not free.....but often the most interesting bits of wood are left behind as "unsplittable'.
Burls and crotches are considered "unsplittable".
The going rate is about $18 a Tonne.
No exotic species....but some beautiful timber just left for the next clean-up burn.
I'm not for or against...just hate to see it wasted.

Oh, and to answer your original question Geebung....its un-curable, and I would have got off the bus.

[artme]

Had a similar experince to Wheelin.
Been Known to go to the tip with empty trailer on spec and scavenge in green waste. One time some fellows had just opened the gate of their trailer and were about to dump some Jaccaranda. Guess where itis now?

No, I'm an incurable case, like the rest of us.
I've benn having severe withdrawal symptoms since Christmas but I've steadied them to some extent by spending time here! Also go into Woodturners to sniff the dust and that really helps!

[DavidG]

A lot of research has gone into this disease but the prognosis is not good.
So far there is no known cure.

Temporary relief can be achieved by taking a sea cruise in a steel boat but passing wooden hulled boats are known to cause recurrences.

As with most diseases of this type, management is the best treatment.

It has been found that regular doses of various timbers can relieve some of the symptoms but unfortunately the need seems to escalate with larger and larger pieces of wood required to provide the same relief.

[artme]

Just think. Our disease is preferable to smoking, alcohol addiction, glue sniffing,eating McDonald's, gambling, steroid taking. Some have rated it as the most fun you can have standing up. That's mostly because it's very difficult to do lying down.

[Master Splinter]

Its worrying, but you know you are thoroughly addicted when the things that catch your eye in this music video are the power tools...

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

[wheelinround]

:D What only one darksider tool the hand saw
No SC, BS, Mill's