Thread: Australian timber for apple grinder

I would think that any of the eucs for the structural pieces would be fine. Maybe blackwood for the drum.

I would go for a fruit wood - better to be safe than sorry.

Hard to get fruit woods in large enough pieces to make up the drum and chute let alone the rest of the structure.

They use to make wine and water barrels out of blackwood and messmate. I'm sure other euc species would be fine. Other than tannin there wouldn't be any other extractives that would cause problems.

Well as Matthias said in the article on his website you can probably use anything that can be used as a wine barrel. I have wine barrel staves made of Jarrah. logically extending from that would bring a lot of Australian timbers into play. Dont forget wine barrels hold "fruit juice" for years. It passes through the apple grinder in a matter of seconds. I would think that as long as it is not one of those timbers that are regarded as particularly nasty to breathe in and smells pleasant when cut or is not a known poisonous species you would probably be ok.

I wouldn't use cedar, cypress or other aromatic timbers because of the flavour they may impart.

Blackwood is one of those timbers you don't want to breathe in but that is when sanding and the nature of the particles of sawdust. The wood itself is fine.

Here's a thought: see what wood you can get locally. Grab a chunk of it. Sit said chunk in apple juice for an hour. See what the juice tastes like. If it tastes like crap, don't use that wood. If the juice tastes ok, go ahead and use that wood.

Not that you'd have to use hoop pine, but I do know it used to be used for butter boxes, because it wouldn't taint the butter. Just as one option.

Originally Posted by weaver

Hard to get fruit woods in large enough pieces to make up the drum and chute let alone the rest of the structure.

They use to make wine and water barrels out of blackwood and messmate. I'm sure other euc species would be fine. Other than tannin there wouldn't be any other extractives that would cause problems.

Weaver's spot on. They also made beer barrels from golden sassaffrass.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Jarrah and WA Sheoak [Allocasuarina Fraseriana]