Thread: I hate slabs.

I agree with you. Finding the right buyers is the hard part so it is a risk. Those are beautiful slabs.

Originally Posted by Wongo

I agree with you. Finding the right buyers is the hard part so it is a risk. Those are beautiful slabs.

Yes, they are. Problem with raintree is it (a) cracks in front of the cut when sawing and (b) springs, bows, warps, cups and twists during resawing. Letting it partially season as a whole log for a few years seems to alieviate some of this, but not always. So it's only basicly good for turning blanks and slab furniture, I've had no luck at all cutting them into planking.

Only another 5 of the dammed things to go....

Love Raintree

Know what you mean about storage, I am currently building a second double carport, just to store more slabs.

Gotta agree - it's hard to beat a good raintree slab!!!

When I win Lotto.............





























you and Mapleman are on the must visit list!

i to hate slabs.

1. there heavy
2. there a PITA unless everything is perfectly setup
3. you have to store them for 12 months or more
4. everyone who wants to buy a slab has to look at every slab and therefor you have to move every slab, they take teh one tehy want and your left to lift way to frikin heavy slabs back up onto teh stack yourself.
5. your left with a great heap of slabs that noone wants.


thats why when i sold my old mill the slabber went with it and i waved goodbuy to that BS forever.

I just number the ends and take a photo as they come off the saw, thatway I dont have to show every slab to a prospective customer. Also stickering thick enough to take fork tynes helps with the handling. Shed space is always an issue .

I try to avoid slabs where possible, we're a scantling mill. Slabs and rainforest cabinet timbers generally speaking are cream - nice when you can get it but I'd starve to death if I depended on them to make a living. Big raintree's though... and theres a monster down the back of the yard that's 16m3 and has a small end diameter of 2.3m ... I'll slab them. Sometimes I put one in, take a few slabs then shove it aside and come back a month later for a few more. Would have been a waste to see them go through a chipper.

I've got a deal with a couple of cabinet makers who are regular customers... I put a price on a slab and send it to their place. They put a bit on top if they want to, lean it against a wall, and their customers get to look at them. Sooner or later someone buys it, we get paid and my customer gets a job building something with the slab. It works.

You don't happen to send slabs to that little place just outside Mosman do you??

Originally Posted by John.G

I try to avoid slabs where possible, we're a scantling mill. Slabs and rainforest cabinet timbers generally speaking are cream - nice when you can get it but I'd starve to death if I depended on them to make a living. Big raintree's though... and theres a monster down the back of the yard that's 16m3 and has a small end diameter of 2.3m ... I'll slab them. Sometimes I put one in, take a few slabs then shove it aside and come back a month later for a few more. Would have been a waste to see them go through a chipper.

I've got a deal with a couple of cabinet makers who are regular customers... I put a price on a slab and send it to their place. They put a bit on top if they want to, lean it against a wall, and their customers get to look at them. Sooner or later someone buys it, we get paid and my customer gets a job building something with the slab. It works.

G'day John. Ive been putting my 10 cents into the blade/band debate on the milling thread and saw this post. There are certainly some impressive raintrees up there. My 'monster' pales in comparison - 1.6m L.E.D, 1.3m S.E.D X 16m clear Gympie messmate. Where are you in FNQ? I have a mate who lives up at Julatten and often visit. I'd love to see your set-up when I'm up there next.

Regards Timboz

Hi all.

Your comments on the slabs are interesting, and I have a different outlook.

I find slabs are worth cutting if....

-they are potential dining table tops, around the 1m+ wide.
-they have clean, relatively straight edges with little taper.
-they have minimum defect and no splits
-they have plenty of natural feature, such as birdseye or fiddleback.
-they are racked properly, with sticks just thick enough for fork tines.

I have found too many people just cut slab after slab, through defects, shakes, splits, rot holes, etc. They do look great off the saw, but there is only so much natural feature grade that can be sold. With defects and odd shapes, it can limit your timber to the lower end of the market and then have trouble selling them. If you try and only cut premium grade slabs, you won't have trouble selling them for a fair price.

I air dry my redgum slabs for five years before making them available for sale. I have had many people eye off a great slab in the rack, but I refuse to sell it until it has had it's five years of drying. Some may say this is a little over the top, but I like to know my customers and their clients will be completely happy with the end result, and return in the future.

I rack my slabs outside in the shade, the pack wrapped in hessian and capped with a tarp to keep it dry. Only once they are dry do they come into the shed.

Anyway just few thoughts, but keep the sawdust flying.

Cheers

James

I love em when they turn out like this curved raintree slab. Inside outside servery with closed windows.
I did this for my son's patio and he loves it.

Originally Posted by timboz

G'day John. Ive been putting my 10 cents into the blade/band debate on the milling thread and saw this post. There are certainly some impressive raintrees up there. My 'monster' pales in comparison - 1.6m L.E.D, 1.3m S.E.D X 16m clear Gympie messmate. Where are you in FNQ? I have a mate who lives up at Julatten and often visit. I'd love to see your set-up when I'm up there next.

Regards Timboz

Home is outside Malanda, so not that far away from Julatten. There's usually a few cube of cabinet timber there awaiting shipment, but the-shed-that wives-hate-husbands-to-visit lest they come home with a car load of goodies is outside Tully - call it half way to Townsville, near enough.
Give me as much notice of a visit as you can, I tend to be hard to catch up with at times during the dry.

Originally Posted by Nanigai

I love em when they turn out like this curved raintree slab. Inside outside servery with closed windows.
I did this for my son's patio and he loves it.

Raintree at its best..your son should consider himself privileged,very tasty slab that one..MM