Thread: good size redwoods

Great saw work on those logs look forward to seeing the milling pictures

Nice that'll turn out good when you slab it if it doesn't crack up too much. nearly enough to share haha.

Top haul - pun intended!!

How many Cubic metres do you reckon on retrieving?

itsposs,it'll be a while before it gets milled but i post a few pics of it when we do.woodkid this timber doesn't do anything, it doesn't crack,split,cup,twist and hardly shrinks and takes little time to air dry.it's almost the perfect timber.the only downsides to it, is it has little character except for some quilting and is so very soft,so bench and table top are almost out of the question.next to that i love it.artme,there's 7 cm3 in log form and the two big logs will be cut into 55mm slabs,the smaller log i don't know yet.but if anyone has any other ideas for sizes it should be cut to i'd love to hear them.regards andrew

So what timber is it Charlsie?

Looks like red stringy, and the stuff we have up here cracks as you blink

Originally Posted by dai sensei

So what timber is it Charlsie?

Looks like red stringy, and the stuff we have up here cracks as you blink

Neil

And the final reckoning for pen blanks is...............?

Regards
Paul

Charlsie

If you are going to mill or have them milled, slap a few layers of paint on the ends of the logs to minimise cracking. They are certainly fair lumps of trees.

Regards
Paul

neil, they are californian redwood not the sequoia though.paul they don't need paint on the ends as they hardly even end check when drying i'll post some pics later of the last one i milled.if i had keith bootles' book i would be able to tell you of the shrinkage rates,but from my very limited expierience with the timber it's not very much at all.

Is this where I get to be a smart #### and say fire wood, It almost reads like the perfect timber with any use possible,I wonder how it would go for clading, How does it handle termite's ?. What sort of age is the tree would be interesting to know because thats a great timber yeild. Just reading some more stuff on it and found some redwoods at Ballarat that are suposed to be 150 yr old thanks for bringing some thing different to the forum that encourages learning

nah your'e not being a smarta#$e the small stuff is great to split for kindling.don't take this for gospel but a few things i've heard is the bark doesn't burn too well and/or the tree or timber has a low ignightability factor (if that's even a word?) not sure if that's true but it does sound good.also it doesn't seem to harbour any mould or fungus.so no blue stain like the rest of the soft woods in my yard (radiata,bunya and hoop). so it wouldn't surprise me if the yanks use it for cladding or shingles.as for rating it strength wise i have no idea but i'm sure it would be equal to radiata and better than our local cypress.one of the downsides i have found is if you nail it and moisture starts to rust the nail or screws the result is a dark purple stain not unlike what the tannins do with some of our eucalypts

the tree in the previous pics,i reckon would be about 80 years old. the slab in these pics i think are about the same age if not a little older.they get real big real quick.this slab is from a tree i milled a couple of years back and is about 300mm larger in diameter.i reckon i'm pretty lucky to have been able to get two of them due to the fact there aren't many about this slab is 4500mm x 1300mm x 55mm you can see the sticker marks and it doesn't really show the colour. very easy to lift as there's little weight in it for its size at a guess i'd say it weighed less than 100kgs

Originally Posted by charlsie

neil, they are californian redwood not the sequoia though.paul they don't need paint on the ends as they hardly even end check when drying i'll post some pics later of the last one i milled.if i had keith bootles' book i would be able to tell you of the shrinkage rates,but from my very limited expierience with the timber it's not very much at all.

Charlsie

Bootle only quotes for Sequoia Sempervirens, which is what we know as "Redwood." Shrinkage is as you say minimal at 1.5% radial and 2.5% tangential The drying process is slow but has little degrade.

There is another related tree Sequoiadendron Giganteum, which is know as the "Big Tree."

I did note that Bootle says the dust can be an irritant if you are susceptible (sensitive?).

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by charlsie

very easy to lift as there's little weight in it for its size at a guess i'd say it weighed less than 100kgs

Redwood is very light. About 450Kg/m3. Very handy trees.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by itsposs

It almost reads like the perfect timber with any use possible,I wonder how it would go for clading, How does it handle termite's

Itsposs

My understanding is that Redwood is termite resistant and is primarily used for cladding and outdoor furniture. It is good in water situations too. Any use for which you would consider Western Red Cedar, you can subsitute Redwood and is probably more highly prized.

Redwood is not used much in Australia because it is more expensive than Western Red Cedar, which is already expensive. The timber is not strong and does have a tendency to be brittle. I have seen somewhere that it can snap like a carrot.
Regards
Paul