Thread: Seeking MASSIVE pieces of timber for sculpture- DESPERATE

how many do you want?

Originally Posted by wonton

The sculpture is approximately 2.8m long with a mild curve to suit the shape of the fish.

If the sculpture "is" already then why do you need the materials?

Originally Posted by wonton

I NEED pieces of wood (logs, offcuts, trees) with a MINIMUM diameter/width of 600mm. The longer the section of wood the better.

Do you have any idea what a piece of wood 2.8 m long x 600 mm diameter is going to weigh?

Originally Posted by wonton

This is incredibly important and i would be very appreciative of anyone willing to lend a hand. Transportation will be arranged by me.

Why is it important? Is it an assignment or project of some kind?

Considering the length of the PROPOSED sculpture, i was planning on carving it in sections and then assembling it on site. It doesnt matter how long the sections are, but the diameter of 600mm is imperative.

And BobL- This is for a 2nd year Industrial Design project- and for some reason time has a habit of going very quickly- so you can understand the urgency

IMHO your best bet is buying recycled sleepers or something similar from a landscape supply place, build the structure cutting the main external lines with a bandsaw and gluing them together (could be hollow inside, helps keeping the weight down), then sculpt the details as you wish.

I would call some timber mills up, they always have short logs that can't be milled

how much do you want?

There was an exhibition of wood and metal sculpture recently at NGV Fed. square. Guy's name Barrett? Any case, he was sourcing very big lumps of redgum from farmers in the Western district.

Wonton "echnidna" seems to be repeating himself...

How much do i need? That depends on what people offer. If someone has a massive log, i can come over with a chainsaw and cut it into sections. Likewise, i someone has smaller lengths, i'll just cruise over and put them to good use. The final length of the sculpture will be 2.8m, so its all dependent on what people can offer.


BTW- i dont think i've ever been to a forum where people have been so damn helpful. THANKS EVERYONE

If you're not fussy, ie don't need it dry, try a tree lopper (yellow pages). They cut trees down all day, so would be a good bet for some big logs.
Just a thought.
Cheers
TM

check out yr local sawmill or some timber recyclers, just use the yellow pages...like some said ask some treeloppers of yr local council

you are probably looking for some vic ash or other eucalypt, maybe yellow stringbark...
would make good chainsaw scuptures

if ya got a chainsaw just through it in the ute, drive out of town and look around, often good old logs come down in storms..

Just beware of most Aussie hardwoods including redgum.
The heart section of the logs are notoriously unstable and prone to significant movement which can split a log so much that all the timber in the log becomes unusable.

So you need to research a suitable timber species for such a large carving.

I suggest you consider Cypress Macrocarpra an exotic species
Many victorian chainsaw carvers use this tree.