Thread: Milling of the big "Mother Log"

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Originally Posted by Bushmiller

PS. Still interested in what timber it is .

Originally Posted by tassietimbers

The grand old tree was a river red gum. It was a fair effort to prep and mill it, with Krunchie, Tony, Glen, Matt, John and myself

I lurk in this forum for diamond posts like this one. Awesome. I have always wanted to be involved in milling, but living in suberbia etc, it was never gooing to be. I live my dreams through efforts such as yours.
Great post, keep them coming
Sincerely
Willy

Originally Posted by DJ's Timber

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Thanks DJ

Went to last post and didn't see James' earlier post on previous page. Thanks James for the extra info. That really is a superhuman effort and congratulations to all of you. I hope you find a buyer for those magnificent slabs.

Thanks too for taking the time to explain your milling process and posting a superb selection of pix.


Regards
Paul

Edit: When I checked the times, I was putting up my tongue-in-cheek post at the same time James was contributing his very serious post. I have to improve my typing speed!

Out of curiosity, as an inexperienced newbie when it comes to Australian timber prices...what would a slab like the massive one cost to buy?
Not that my house's frame could take the weight of it without it crashing through the floor.

WOW, fantastic effort. going to be an amazing table.

Originally Posted by asheddie

WOW, fantastic effort. going to be an amazing table.

Big enough for a board room table i would say!!!

Always assuming it dries well I would imagine there is a market as a board room table. Not many houses could accommodate such a beast. Having said that, I would think that it could be sold to anyone willing to pay for it.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by tassietimbers

Hi all.

Thought you might be interested in a few pics from our last project, affectionately termed "The Mother Log". We tried a few times to move it, via crane, 400hp tractor, tilt tray semi with 25 tonne winch but to no avail, so end up milling it on the spot.

Docked the log back from 9m to 7.6m long, and it roughly averaged 2m in diameter, but up to 2.7 at the widest, covered in burls all the way along. Estimated the weight at 20-25 tonnes.

Milled two full length slabs, the largest weighing about a tonne. Even made a 6m spreader bar to lift the slabs without breaking them. Also milled book-matched sets of 700mm wide slabs and many sets of boardroom and dining table sets. The all displayed great birdseye, burl and fiddleback.

It took a day to prep the log, 6 days to mill, a day to shift the milled timber and another day or two to clean up the site. Not a cheap exercise, but dream big I say, dream big!

Anyway, hope you like the pics.

Cheers

James
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Now that is what I call Proper Timber.... I am now going to re-design my planes to suit.....Imagine a companion to this one....

Originally Posted by philip marcou

Now that is what I call Proper Timber.... I am now going to re-design my planes to suit.....Imagine a companion to this one....

Philip Marcou

Very, very nice plane. I imagine we will see a bit more size in your work based on the above comments .

Oh, and welcome to the Forums.

Regards
Paul

Thanks Paul.
Regarding size (of my planes): this is not important even when dealing with mega planks like those.... What's important is the fact that the African woods I brought with me , such as African Blackwood (Dalbergia Melanoxyllon) are dwindling and I am looking for suitable substitutes. From what I have seen here and on the internet OZ has some mighty fine little known woods which look to me a lot better than those woods being used by other plane makers still inside the box: I am looking for stuff the others are not (yet) using. I need to find a supplier willing to find the right stuff and sell me comparatively small quantities....

Have a look for Big Sky Timbers in Daylesford loads of desert timbers. Gidgee, Supple jack, Colabah, Beef Wood and more

Hi guys.

When going through the process of slabs vs boards, with this log in particular, the dominant burl and birdseye feature led the argument towards attempting slabs. I also thought back to my principle of getting the very best out of a tree, and also trying to have something unique. You can't sell a monster slab if you don't have one. Many years ago I cut a series if 6.0m x 1.2m slabs and some people said I was crazy for not cutting the barrel into two 3m logs. But sure enough, all those slabs have sold over the years to people wanting to create something unique, and the results were amazing. I have the vision of those slabs making impressive board room tables, potentially on the international market one day.

As for the "rot" in the slabs, the discolouration is actually sound timber, just showing the staining from the rot deeper in the log. That's why we stopped after two slabs, as the next one would have been quite inferior.

I have prepped up another log which we will be moving in the new year. At the butt end it is 2.7m diameter and tapers down from that. It weighs about 18 tonnes and will be a challenge to load and mill. I'll throw a few pics up when it happens.

Cheers

James

Originally Posted by tassietimbers

Hi guys.

When going through the process of slabs vs boards, with this log in particular, the dominant burl and birdseye feature led the argument towards attempting slabs. I also thought back to my principle of getting the very best out of a tree, and also trying to have something unique. You can't sell a monster slab if you don't have one. Many years ago I cut a series if 6.0m x 1.2m slabs and some people said I was crazy for not cutting the barrel into two 3m logs. But sure enough, all those slabs have sold over the years to people wanting to create something unique, and the results were amazing. I have the vision of those slabs making impressive board room tables, potentially on the international market one day.

As for the "rot" in the slabs, the discolouration is actually sound timber, just showing the staining from the rot deeper in the log. That's why we stopped after two slabs, as the next one would have been quite inferior.

I have prepped up another log which we will be moving in the new year. At the butt end it is 2.7m diameter and tapers down from that. It weighs about 18 tonnes and will be a challenge to load and mill. I'll throw a few pics up when it happens.

Cheers

James

Yes, I can't see anyone chopping up a valuable log of that size without a lot of thought given to extracting maximum value, not to mention the actual logistics. Wish I had a few "twigs" from it.... And would like to be there when the next one is converted.
How do you market this product? I would imagine that apart from America there would be interest shown from places like Russia, China and certain Arab countries

A friend gave me a small piece of this wood saying he thought it was "Wattle wood which comes from Australia". The tree was cut here so it seems it also can grow here in Kiwistan. I know there are many species of Wattle so is there any tame woodworm there who is able to confirm that this is a Wattle and even which one it might be? Nice and hard, easy to work and ideal for me-I would like to find more ....1-IMG_0086.JPG2-IMG_0087.JPG