Thread: blue gum slabs

Stack carefully using spacer sticks every 400mm or so along the length of the slabs. Garden stakes are good for this as they are a uniform size and are easy to buy.

Stack away from intense heat and direct sunlight but make sure there is good airflow around the stack.

allow about a year for each 25mm thickness .

Forget about keeping the sawdust. Attend to cracks and checking when making the articles from the timber.

What Art said. Use diggers casting resin to fill the cracks.

Pricing is a bit hard, "My" sawmill sells slabs that big for $3850 per cube levelled and sanded, $3300 for just levelled and a bit less for rough. You wouldn't be able to get those prices because I'm assuming you don't have a way to dress the slabs and you aren't a timber retailer.

You can most certainly keep the sawdust if you don't want the cracks to be noticeable after they are filled, I use a marine product called "West Systems", it is a resin to which you add a hardener along with your sawdust, fill the cracks to a little above the surface to allow for shrinkage after it has dried, then sand the slab starting at 80/100 grit all the way up to 2000 grit ( auto paint shops) and the slab will come out smooth as wet glass

hey funky, what do you pay for your casting resin? i nearly fell off my perch when i had to pay $19 for 500 mls at bunny's. as for the sawdust leave it in a pile mix it with chook poo and throw it on the garden. as for filling cracks,what funky said.what i do is is put black cement colour in the casting rein. especially if i'm filling holes in timber with alot of gum vein. like sawmiller said some dry sawdust off the orbital sander will match as well. if very fine cracks or chips need to be filled the just steal some of lovey's nail polish and mix with very fine dust

I think we pay about that much, it's not cheap stuff

Be careful if you're going to use the Diggers Casting resin for filling holes and cracks, best to do it in layers less than 10mm otherwise it shrinks too much and can crack. There are better products out there for filling holes and cracks.

Here is a old thread with a bit of info, also suggest you have a look at the CASTING & STABILISATION section in the Pen Turning section as there is some good knowledge in there and sources on where to get stuff as well.

Originally Posted by sawmiller

You can most certainly keep the sawdust if you don't want the cracks to be noticeable after they are filled, I use a marine product called "West Systems", it is a resin to which you add a hardener along with your sawdust, fill the cracks to a little above the surface to allow for shrinkage after it has dried, then sand the slab starting at 80/100 grit all the way up to 2000 grit ( auto paint shops) and the slab will come out smooth as wet glass

Sawmiller is spot on. You get an even better result with sander dust - closer colour match. I keep separate jars for each timber species I use.

WEST is good, but almost any epoxy will work as well - I use a local fibreglass shops generic epoxy, just as good and 35% cheaper. Its easier if you use the slow action hardener, especially if it is hot.

Cheers

Graeme

store in dry shed, racked with battens between them to allow air to circulate.
store in piles of 5 to 6 high so weight will help keep them all straight.
store for a minimum of 2 years and use moisture meter to check for moisture content...BG will be dry at between 10 and 12 % depending on humidity...
grease or wax ends to prevent splittage

have fun..

pics of teh slabs can be found here.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f132/y...ys-job-107725/

up to 1.5m wide.

the tree had less than 12mm of sapwood witch is strange for bluegum witch can have over 50mm. must have been growing on very little watter and nutrients.

some beautiful slabs there.

you should get $500 each for the big ones if they dried as good as the ones i have here. these ones are dry already down to 14%mc in the center.

pile teh sawdust and mix grass clipings with it. it will compost down quite quickly.

i fill cracks with car bog tinted with pigment.

Hey guys thanks for all your replies I want to make something of these slabs.Hey carl I lost your number cause I wanted to ask you a few more questions but here you are. Recomend Carl to anyone did a great job and it was stinking hot. The slabs that have larger borer holes and cracks are they worth doing anything with. I thought some people might find these natural defects desirable. Carl have you done anything with the slabs from my place yet? Have to go more questions to come. Thanks all

Originally Posted by stonemason

Hey guys thanks for all your replies I want to make something of these slabs.Hey carl I lost your number cause I wanted to ask you a few more questions but here you are. Recomend Carl to anyone did a great job and it was stinking hot. The slabs that have larger borer holes and cracks are they worth doing anything with. I thought some people might find these natural defects desirable. Carl have you done anything with the slabs from my place yet? Have to go more questions to come. Thanks all

Nah those defective ones with borer holes are no good better stick em on a truck headed my way I might have a use for them....lol

yes they are desireable for people making rustic furniture I.E. outdoor patio furniture and bars etc. or even in some cases as structural boards where appearance doesn't matter.