Got a bit of milling to do

**dai sensei** · 27th October 2012, 08:41 PM

Got an email from another Macadamia farmer near the one I scored the Red Ash from a few weeks ago. She said she had 5 Camphor Laurels and another she thought was a White Cedar all to come down. I asked what size and she said the were all around the 1m dia

. I advised her to get them dropped, cut to minimum 2m lengths for the branches >0.6m.

The tree lopper arrived last week and dropped them, but only cut up a few, as most of the trees were felled over the back fence down a decent slope. He had advised her they were Red Cedar and Crows Ash, at what point I was a bit confused of what I was getting.

Today I headed out for a recky with the chainsaws and trailer, plus John (Gawdelpus) to give a hand that was lucky, I was completely stuffed at the end of the day just from the cutting.

When I got there there were actually 3 Camphor Laurels, 3 Red Cedars and a Crows Ash, all pretty big. The cedars were out in the open, but the Camphor Laurels and the Crows Ash were a tangled mess over the fence down a rocky slope. Spent the whole day chopping through trying to clear the trees, but also managed to fill the trailer with some decent chunks of each species. Needed the farmer to pull me out, the front 2-wheel drive didn't have a hope on the sloping grassy tracks between the Macadamia trees.

Plenty of big bits to slab up of each species on another visit or 2, plus heaps for the local wood turning club

First up the Camphors. The stump still in the ground of a good one I wil drop next visit, plus stump and trunk down the slope of another (some of the best yellow/red/orange/green patterns)

camphor laurel.jpg camphor laurel2.jpg

Next is 2 Cedars very close together, the largest one splits into 2 ~1.5m off the ground.
red cedar1.jpg

The last is the big Crows Ash, with a heap of lumps and bumps, but not burls. It is actually wider than it is high in the photo, so hope the blue beast can handle it, although green this stuff is hard.
crows ash.jpg

The strange tracks around the trees are not fence wire as i first thought, but a poor attempt to ring bark them last year. Lucky for us after an extremely hot week, today was a perfect relatively cool day, overcast and windy. It started to rain just as we finished packing up

Cheers

**wood hacker** · 27th October 2012, 11:20 PM

Man it's no wonder your stuffed after dealing with that lot. Worth it though if the timber turns out ok.

**Christos** · 28th October 2012, 07:34 AM

Would be interesting to see what comes out.

**Alby123** · 28th October 2012, 07:42 AM

Some times I wish I lived in NSW or Vic. Living in Adelaide we are too far away to get access to the timber that you have been able to source. Congradulations on a wonderful find.
Cheers Alby

**BobL** · 28th October 2012, 10:46 AM

Good work DS.

Got any picks of slabs?

**MBM888** · 28th October 2012, 01:19 PM

What a great stash of timber you have there! Do you have a project in mind? I'd like to see pics of the red cedar slabs when your done. Happy milling.

**dai sensei** · 28th October 2012, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by BobL

Good work DS.

Got any picks of slabs?

Not slabbed yet Bob, that's got to be another weekend or two, it took all day just t clear the way and take some blocks. I did manage to square off the ends and seal them ready though.

Originally Posted by MBM888

Do you have a project in mind? I'd like to see pics of the red cedar slabs when your done.

Nothing yet, but probably tables of some sort from the slabs, the blocks are destined for turning and carving blanks. I have at least a year before they are dry, and I return from travels, so I will be just storing them for now.

**BobL** · 28th October 2012, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Not slabbed yet Bob, that's got to be another weekend or two, it took all day just t clear the way and take some blocks. I did manage to square off the ends and seal them ready though.

Yeah that part always takes a lot longer than one thinks, people I have milled for find that hard to understand.

**dai sensei** · 28th October 2012, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by BobL

Yeah that part always takes a lot longer than one thinks, people I have milled for find that hard to understand.

Especially when there are multiple trees with all the branches tangled together

. Very easy to brake an ankle too.

I figure I'll drop the 2 remaining trunks and mill the Camphor and Cedar over 2 days, will have to go slow with only a 660, then the Ash will probably take another day on its own

. Should be a really good work out for the blue beast

. Yesterday was nice and cool, but the hot weather has already started up here, not the best for milling and can crack the timber too

. Not the best for an overaged, over weight and unfit bloke either

**artme** · 29th October 2012, 08:50 AM

Fantastic Neil!! All power to you!!

I'll bet there is some interesting grain in that Crows Ash.

Surprised you were allowed to fell a living Red Cedar.

**Bushmiller** · 29th October 2012, 10:01 AM

Neil

A very good find. As to all the hard work, nothing comes for nothing. I often think that a little bit of sweat and a minimum of blood and tears makes the end product that much sweeter.

Arthur has raised a question. A red cedar? I am not sure about whether you can cut them down or not. I don't think it would come under any legislation or protection. My thoughts were that these trees have been given away when they are probably worth more than 5 acres of Macadamias

.

Regards
Paul

**dai sensei** · 29th October 2012, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by artme

Surprised you were allowed to fell a living Red Cedar.

They are not protected to my knowledge, but I didn't drop these, they were all felled by a professional (?) tree lopper. I'm not into dropping trees, especially cedars, but once they are on the ground

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

...Arthur has raised a question. A red cedar? I am not sure about whether you can cut them down or not. I don't think it would come under any legislation or protection. My thoughts were that these trees have been given away when they are probably worth more than 5 acres of Macadamias

.

Regards
Paul

How true, but the local farmers know I will make good use of the timber, their alternative was burning or mulching them

. These will make it 5 RCs I've scored in recent years, but these are the first good enough to slab, the others were smaller and/or damaged and ended up as turning blanks for myself and the club.

**rustynail** · 29th October 2012, 11:24 PM

You might regret sawing those cedars this close to summer. If it were me, Id dig a hole and bury them till autumn. I trust you are going to dig the stump as well? Some of the best figure comes from below ground.
A chainsaw mill on cedar at 10mm per cut sure makes expensive sawdust.

**dabbler** · 29th October 2012, 11:27 PM

I'm really sorry I missed the day now. Glad you had a willing helper.
D.

**MAPLEMAN** · 30th October 2012, 10:44 PM

The Crows Ash should cut up nice...looking forward to pics of it milled...

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