I am sure that Australia has been up all night wondering what I did today. Well Australia can rest easy as I will tell you. I had fun today. About 12 months ago I put a lot of silky oak slabs in the shed to dry and today I cut the first lot of them into boards. The slabs I cut up today are about 38 to 45 mm thick and I got a heap of good long boards between 100 and 300 mm wide out of them. As I write they are sleeping peacefully on my storage racks waiting to be turned into tables, bookshelves etc over the next few months. They seem to be quite dry. The difference in their weight from the last time I picked them up was startling. When I stacked them to dry it was a two man effort to carry them. This time I handled them by myself okay. I think that out of a 40 mm thick board I should be able to get a good dressed 19 mm board and perhaps a dressed 12 mm after allowing for cleaning up. When I stacked the timber to dry I sprayed it for borers etc and so far as I can tell the wood is sound with none of the pin holes I have had in other silky oak I have used. I do not know why it is but the sight and sound of timber being cut seems to be good for the soul.