Milling at George's place

**dai sensei** · 16th February 2014, 10:36 PM

Well I am currently near Adelaide on my Big Trip (see https://www.woodworkforums.com/f125/aus-176921) and had arranged to meet an old forumite George "Robutacion" some may remember or know from the IAP Forum or even his Ebay timber store. I wanted to see his casting set-up

and of course his timber piles

Well yesterday he took me on a tour of the workshop etc with various tools and stack upon stacks of timber and pen blanks (and I thought I had a bit a home

). We did a bit of clear casting on a large lump of half rotten peppercorn timber I scored from Tim's (Tim Creeper) place (near Mt Gambia) I intend to turn into a lidded container of some sort. He casts at 100psi in lieu of the 40psi I use, his pot has been tested for this (you casters with Supercheap Autos pressure pots don't try this at home

), so was more likely to get into the gaps and even the timber itself.

Today we rigged up my mill and headed for his paddock of wonders

. He basically looks after a large paddock and stores his millable timber there until he finds time to get to it. Wow what an over whelming site

georges paddock.jpg few blanks.jpg

Started on what George described as Fiddle Gum, a brownish eucalypt tree timber with heaps of fiddleback (although you can't see too well in the photos), about 2' diameter and 6' long, and hard. I slabbed it into 4" slabs that George will then cut up smaller on his bandsaw.

fiddle gum.jpg milling1.jpg milling2.jpg

Then we were going to set-up on some lovely 120 year old olive hunks he had, but I decided as they were not that big (~2' dia) to just do them freehand with the 4' bar. He does not do furniture, so mainly cuts his timber into turning blanks of all sorts and sizes. The first one was fine, ~3.5' long, but the second was 4.5' long so proved a bit of a challenge as it was the end of the day and I was getting pretty tired by then

. Wow what timber, that grain was amazing, plus a sweet smell to go with it all.

olive group.jpg olive grain1.jpg olive grain2.jpg

Not shown in the photos is an secret area he has with what looks to be a dozen or so Olive Wood whole tree root ball burls

.

Tomorrow we intend to hit some huge 1/4 tree trunk chunks of redgum that will probably test the saw. Not that long, less ~4-5', but each 1/4 is over 3' wide

Cheers

**tdrumnut** · 16th February 2014, 10:53 PM

Sounds like fun Neil, George sure does have some amazing timber.

**artme** · 17th February 2014, 07:56 AM

I've seen some of Georges blanks on the IAP site. Gorgeous stuff!!

I sent him an email. Bugger hasn't replied.

**wheelinround** · 17th February 2014, 08:27 AM

Neil thanks for this info and photos on George I often visit his site I miss his posts of tempting timbers and that Olive..........Bowl Basher however did bought some from George and dropped around to show me it. Your right that smell is devine and colour

**gawdelpus** · 17th February 2014, 10:41 PM

That acreage you were thinking about a while ago Neil , must seem a bit more tempting these days hehe, Say hullo to George for me ,I am still working my way through a pile of blanks I got from him a while back now hehe. The colonial redgum I did recently might have been one of his

Sure giving the old mill setup a bashing ,must spend every night sharpening blades

Cheers ~ John

**dai sensei** · 17th February 2014, 11:52 PM

Well today we hit the one of the redgum lumps and scored 6 100mm slabs. It was a very old tree with unfortunately heaps of sand/dirt and even some stones

at the bottom end (it was an old trunk) so milling was slow and painful, heaps of zig-zagging with blunt chains

, but the grain was pretty good.

milling redgum.JPG redgum slab1.jpg redgum slab2.jpg

The slab pictured above also had what I though originally to be old mud, but at a close look, is timber but what looks like brown coal

. Very light and brittle and still took the edge of the chain

.

redgum slab coal1.jpg redgum slab coal2.jpg

It wasn't long after we headed back to the olive to do a bit more freehand milling.

freehand slabbing.JPG olive slab1.jpg olive slab2.jpg

One log George took a slice off of a branch that I quickly pounced on

olive piece1.jpg

As soon as we got back to the house I cut it round on the bandsaw and then put it on George's lathe to rough out a bowl ready for drying. It ended up being ~280mm dia x 25-30mm thick. Splashed a bit of water on it to show the grain

olive piece turned inside.jpg olive piece turned outside.jpg

I'll seal it tomorrow and then leave it to turn in the future when it is dry, say Darwin

Cheers

**gawdelpus** · 17th February 2014, 11:58 PM

That bowl looks a real "treasure " might even encourage George to make some for himself

cheers ~ John

**wheelinround** · 18th February 2014, 08:33 AM

Your going to need a bigger Motorhome n trailer with all this wood I know I would.

To think you could work your way around Oz from Tassie and right round the mainland picking up timber as beaut as Georges, Chris, Grreg & Mal's, Tassie Timbers, WA, even Darwin and its Mahogany.

**dai sensei** · 18th February 2014, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Your going to need a bigger Motorhome n trailer with all this wood I know I would. .

Nah, all this timber milling at George's is for George to cut up and sell, except for the bowl

, no room in my trailer for much more. Although I do tend to swap and turn the timber I brought from Qld to make room for more

.

**A Duke** · 18th February 2014, 11:26 AM

Hi,
You may have to stop some where and forward some of your stash, so that it beats you home.
Good to see you are enjoying your self and thanks for the posts so that we can get a share of the fun.
Regards

**Tim Creeper** · 21st February 2014, 12:00 PM

Nice stuff Neil. What a fun time you're having.
PS do you remember the big stringy that died with the fiddle back? Weee............ll ............................... fell over.

**dai sensei** · 21st February 2014, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Tim Creeper

PS do you remember the big stringy that died with the fiddle back? Weee............ll ............................... fell over.

Hopefully not because the termites ate it all

**Sawdust Maker** · 21st February 2014, 05:58 PM

Say hello to George for us !

Ask him if he's still got the pen I sent him - if he doesn't ask which one? He doesn't remember

**dai sensei** · 21st February 2014, 06:12 PM

Sorry Nick, I've already moved on, currently in Adelaide

**wheelinround** · 21st February 2014, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Sorry Nick, I've already moved on, currently in Adelaide

Did you bypass doorstop Chistopher?

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