Thread: Big Timber?

Try Mal at Boutique Timbers. He has some 90-100mm slabs.
I know he is planning a trip to Brisbane next week and may be able to bring some or cut some for you.
How much do you need? What types?
Greg

I could ask "are you crazy, or superman in disguise?

a 100 mm thick table top in a typical Australian hardwood would weigh in at around 140 kg (300 lbs) add in the weight of the legs and you're looking at maybe 500+ lbs for the whole table.

There's nothing inherently wrong with "thick" but I strongly suggest that if it's thick and Aus hardwood you should be looking at using a torsion box construction. All the look almost none of the weight.

Not much is cut over 2" these days.

American Oak and American White Ash are cut up to 3" thick (width is pot luck); the Oak tends to have a lot of internal checking at that thickness, Ash is good. Try Britton Timbers.

Originally Posted by ian

I could ask "are you crazy, or superman in disguise?
a 100 mm thick table top in a typical Australian hardwood would weigh in at around 140 kg (300 lbs) add in the weight of the legs and you're looking at maybe 500+ lbs for the whole table.

Could be more - a whole lot more than than 140kgs

For Tassie Blue gum
3 m x 1 m x 0.1 m = 0.3 m x 750 kg /cubm = 225 kgs

Jarrah; 246 kgs

Spotted gum : 291 kg

I'd like to see that.

My bro has a 4.2 x 1.2m x 100 mm jarrah dining table with 150 x 150 mm legs - it came with the house and as he's selling its staying with the house.

Not crazy, or superman.....only parts of the base will be made of the thick stuff. The table top will be 40-50mm max. Something along the lines of this. Probably made a couple of dozen of this sort of thing...The foot, and the stretcher were the only really chunky bits. The square balusters were laminated to make up the bulk. Pretty heavy for sure, but nothing a couple of scrawny English cabinet makers couldn't handle.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Not much is cut over 2" these days.

American Oak and American White Ash are cut up to 3" thick (width is pot luck); the Oak tends to have a lot of internal checking at that thickness, Ash is good. Try Britton Timbers.

I called Brittons yesterday, the only thing they could offer over 50mm is New Guinea Rosewood at 75mm, hence this thread!

I was working on a "small" 2 m long table


but point well and truly taken -- it will be bloody heavy and the timber cost for a 3m long table (just for the table top) would be something well north of $2000

Originally Posted by Whistlingcoyote

Not crazy, or superman.....only parts of the base will be made of the thick stuff. The table top will be 40-50mm max. Something along the lines of this. Probably made a couple of dozen of this sort of thing...The foot, and the stretcher were the only really chunky bits. The square balusters were laminated to make up the bulk. Pretty heavy for sure, but nothing a couple of scrawny English cabinet makers couldn't handle.

OK, so not as massive as first suggested.

I think you are going to have to go the lamination route for the "chunky" bits.
As far as I know, in NSW at least most trees that will yield quality 100 mm thick stuff are pretty much reserved for the repair of historic timber bridges.

I think you'll struggle to find anything over 50mm. You might be lucky and find some 75mm somewhere, but I wouldn't hold my breath. There just isn't enough call for anything over 50mm, and then you have to factor in the extra drying time. Merchants wouldn't want to hold on to that for any amount of time in the hope that it might sell.
Give the guys at Bootle Timbers in Loganholme a call.

If you're not getting your dimensions in timber from suppliers or salvage yards local then perhaps you may need to source from those that know like some of the folk that recently attended the Maleny wood show. There is quite a healthy woodworking environment up there .
We had a property on the Sunshine Coast ,there always seemed to resources about like the Maleny shows.

I'm just polishing a top I made now of local grown English Oak , or its something similar to the English . 2.4 x 1050 x 48mm thick . I knew I was going to be struggling with the weight before I built it, but when I started machining up one of the four planks I had to be careful . Weighed one of the four planks that made up the top and its 25 kg. so the top is 100 kg once assembled. wouldn't be so bad if I had a helper . Had to spend half a day shifting things around to get a rolling gantry in over the job with a one ton block and tackle to fit the top to the base and do the colouring both sides and all the rest.

The U shaped jarrah slab top desk I built in 2002 is 2.3 x 3.3 x 1.8 m (~7.4 m surface length) was made from 2, 4.2m x 800mm x 42 mm slabs), the slabs were originally 45mm thick but taken down to 42 mm using a 900 mm wide thicknesser. The original slabs were 110 kgs each.

I worked these on a pair of saw horses on the back lawn, one slab was placed on top of the other and swapped them over every night when my young bloke came home from work.

Once they were broken down I could just move them by myself, the largest one being ~80kg. The desk was built to come apart in 3 sections and the tops were separate from the supporting drawers/cupboards.

Cascamite is made from curd isn’t it.
When George Ingham arrived in Canberra to show us bumbling colonials how to make furniture he tried that stuff. Results weren’t pretty.
He then tried Huon pine with an appropriate glue but the glue line wasn’t freshly planed or cleaned with a suitable spirits. The hand carved bowl fell apart. It was then reconstructed with brass rods.
The young synofanic 2 ic though this was the latest breakthrough in design ever.
It was a fun 2 years. Thankfully I spent 90% of the second year in Dons workshop in Fyshwick.
The Pom mosquitos fell apart in the air here during WW11 thanks to Cascamite, we made ours using urea.
H.

Try Watts Wood and Moulding on the south side. I went in there once and he had some 200x200 Queensland Maple. It is one of the largest pieces of dried, milled, defect free wood I've ever seen.

In hindsight I should've bought it...

Nonetheless, it's as good a shot as any.

Otherwise, yeah, your experience is similar to most. Just not a lot of thick stuff being milled in Aus today.