Thread: Milling Redgum on Site

Originally Posted by steck

Hi,
Does anyone know a timber miller who can mill on site near Elmore in Victoria?
I am going up to check out a large Red Gum tree which has fallen across the creek up there. I am told it is huge.
What is the going rate for this sort of work?
Does anyone ever work for a share of the timber they are cutting?

1. Pm sent
2. details would be good when you have seen it
3. $200 per log cube is the market rate / other then that there are hourly rates if the log needs to be preped and moved
4. that always been a long bow to draw based on a really difficult equation(but can be done)


Cheers rob

I'll be heading up there this week. I will take a few photos while I'm there.

Here are some photos of the tree.
Unfortunately it is down in the creek. There is some water underneath the tree but it isn't sitting in the water. There is some very fine soft sand around the base of the tree.
I got a photo of me on the trunk to give some idea of the size. The circumference around the trunk is around 5 metres, I guess. ( My armspan is less than 1/2 the circumference)
It forks about 4 metres up. The branch which continues is over the water quite a bit over 1m in circumference as I could not get my arms around it. The branch which sticks upwards at 45 degrees is also over a metre in circumference.

Hi there.

I live 10 minutes away from Elmore, have the Lucas gear and will have a 20 tonne excavator there later in the year helping me do some milling. Feel free to contact me if you are interested. Ph 0417845224
Cheers
James

Hi there it looks like your going to spend more money geting the log out than milling it !!
Pm me if you need a quote, but would have to look at first.
( Rock Ridge Portable Sawmilling )

Thanks for the replies.
I am going to investigate getting it out of the creek and then have a look again at milling. It's sowing time so the Big Steiger Tractor is tied up at the moment.
Ideally, I would like to get the logs out soon, before the creek comes down and the paddock gets wet.

it will not hurt it to get wet! may even be a godsend. Biggest issue I have found with redgums that are big and fall over is that they are normally quite rotten in the middle. If it is you have a lot of good firewood. You may find however even if it is rotten that you can still salvage quite a bit of good timber. You would have to find out before getting a contractor in to mill it or you would be wasting his time and yours. If you are unsure I would get tassie timbers to come and make an assment of it as he is obviously guite close, Not sure where exactly Mal is but he might be worth getting to check it out if he is not too far away.

Hi there

Quite happy to have a look at the log before you go to the effort of dragging it out. I travel through Elmore most days for work so it's not out of my way. Just looking closely at the photo's, it appears there is significant regrowth of the outer layers of the tree over what may have been a dead centre in years gone by. This is also suppurted by the growth of small branches seen growing from the main barrel of the log.
I suggest it would be worth working out where the log is to be finally docked for milling, and doing some plunge cuts to look at the condition of the sawdust. But please, if your not sure where to cut, don't, as you maybe plunging through an area that could provide good timber.
The log, as large as it is, appears quite tapered and short in the barrell, and may yeild better if sawn into some nice boards, rather than producing very tapered slabs. I have done a lot with big redgums in nasty locations over the years, and as mentioned by someone earlier, there is a fair bit of work involved before you start seeing timber come off the mill.
Happy to help if I can.
Cheers
James