Thread: Green Woodworking

This ones been here waiting for someone to comment for a long while so I just had to regurgitate this one!

As the proud new "dadda" of a swag of very green Tuart Ive been glaring at the massive stacks of perfectly lovely timber sitting on me front lawn... and seemingly will continue to do so for the next 2 or so YEARS!!... while they air dry to be able to be used.

So wondering the same thoughts as Phil... Ive been informed I can probably use the timber for construction type use by Christmas this year... now thats okay cause theres my boats keel and deadwood along with a pergala amid all that timber... but I wouldnt mind making a dining table for the missus before she goes and blows some money buying one 2 years to wait for a table is a long time eatin in the living room or on the dining room floor... {try that with 8 kids! :eek:} The one we have had since I built it 10 years ago is still going strong but she has decided that she wants needs and must have a nice new table as she wants needs and must have this Jarrah one as an outdoor table for the soon to be builded pergala!

So question being could I or rather should I start building this dining table with the Tuart at Christmas or should I... shudder... try to get her loveliness to understand... shudder... that this is not a good idea... I shudder at the thought of her reaction to having to wait another 2 years before she can have a new table

And nope she aint gettin the sheoak no matter how much she sobs and threatens!! :mad:

So whats the worst case scenario for doing something like this... a rather large and stunning timber pretzel in the middle of the dining room? :eek: or would it hold its shape?

If I were in your position dingo, I'd be inclined to buy some seasoned wood for the table, and then sell off some of that wood when its dried to recoup some of the money. It will cost a lot less to buy the wood than a complete table (a good one that is) and you get to make whatever you want. Just an idea.

I was sorta thinking about it last night after I posted that and Jarrah isnt so expensive that I cant get hold of some quite easily and for using white or pale wood Spotted gum is around from what I learnt yesterday.

Im thinking of using a pale wood for the table top proper and using the SheOak for some inlay within that.

so the idea of using the green Tuart... nope dont think so... but it is interesting to wonder at what would happen if one were to do it!

Be a devil and make the table from your green Tuart! Then rejoin the thread in twelve months telling what shape the table is in and we can all learn from you

I can guarantee that using non-seasoned wood will leave you with gaps where there were no gaps before, in about a year (or two) 's time. We made our workbench out of ironbark 6X1.75"''s as we were told it wouldn't shrink much. The gaps range from .25 - .5 inch.

Imagine how good your table will look with gaps like that!

You could build yourself a solar kiln for not too many $s to get your stack to dry quicker. Of course if your other half really can't wait you could select the timber you need for the table (leave it oversize so you can dress out any warpage) and pay to get it kiln dried. This may still take some time. I got some 150 x 150 rose gum that was 3 years milled kiln dried and it took about a month in the kiln

Thanks fellas no Im not goin to start using the timber yet... although there are some 6 x 5 Keel timber peices out there that are going to be started on around Christmas

The whole solar kiln idea interests me... however I dont like the chances of this shire agreeing to allowin one to be built here... then again nothing ventured nothing gained I guess

The option of taking this timber to a mill {nearest 30klick up the hills in Dwellingup} is a non starter due to missus pulling the purse strings shut on me fingers although I do intend on getting up there to the school of wood and having a sticky beak tomorrow and will enquire at costs... when I spoke with the fella from up there prior to the milling being done he reckoned 3 months in the kiln which is a whole lot shorter time span than 2 years! So we will see.

Im going to start looking into costs of setting up a solar kiln over the next few days and see if its a goer

Thanks fellas!

You can make a solar kiln for not too many $$ using star pickets pegged into the ground, some bows of poly pipe arched over a pair of pickets and the whole lot covered in clear plastic. You need to put plastic on the ground to stop moisyure coming up as well. I've seen it done here on a slight slope away from the prevailing breeze so the breeze helps the convection current. Of course this is the sunny tropics here, so you may need to add a chimney of black painted 300mm pvc drain pipe to get a convection current happening. I was looking at some US sites that had pretty in depth articles and drawings so if I can find them I'll pass them on. As far as the council is concerned, well it's not really a building is it. I presume you didn't ask their permission for fold up pergola type structures you put over your timber stack. I've gone through council with my workshop (of course it just went through as a shed, I didn't tell them I'm filling it full of machinery) but I'm also putting a couple of shipping containers on the back boundary for extra storage. Normally here you need to keep 1.5M from your side boundaries and 6M from a road alignment. Of course these shipping containers are just sitting there waiting to go out to a job, at least thats what I'll tell them if they ask. Living in a semi-rural area helps, I probably would have a lot harder time in suburbia.
Have fun, be safe.

Mick

Try this site for solar kiln information, follow his woodwork link:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/E...756/index.html