Thread: Bottlebrush

Can't help with the SG but I have turned it. It's quiet plane, with very tight grain and turns nicely.

Thanks for that Picko. I'm hoping to resaw them into small boards on the bandsaw. I don't know how hard it is though and whether or not the bandsaw could handle it. It's a two horse power industrial 19".

It makes really nice kitchen implements like wooden spoons and salad servers.

Do a google or other search for Callistemon, there are a few varieties and many garden hybrids I would guess. Here is an old thread.....


Is this a useful timber for woodwork?

can't help with specific gravity but have used some of this timber in the past and it has a grain similar to silky oak ,is a bugger for not remaining straight when cut but if you sticker it and weigh it down maybe it will stay how you want. In my opinion bottlebrush is worth the effort it has a beautiful grain and is reasonably hard.

There are dozens of different "bottle brushes" in cultivation and they vary quite a bit in size but few produce much of a trunk. The wood of some species can be tough & springy & good for handles for turning tools (a couple of my skews sport 'bottle brush' handles). As kids we favoured bottle-brush forks for out "gings" as we called them, but since those are now illegal, that's redundant information. We have one species in our yard that is more of a shrub than a tree; even under good conditions it doesn't grow much over a metre high & the wood is pretty brittle, so I'd not bother keeping any wood off those, but many varieties are worth investigating for small items like kitchen spatulas, etc., as BobL suggested.

Colour varies with species, some have a pinkish hue, but most I've seen are pretty bland, pale brown. Most of the small bits I've acquired were prunings, 75mm diameter or less, which dried ok 'in the round', though one or two split a bit. I've never seen grain patterns like silky oak in a bottle brush - they belong to a quite different family, the Myrtaceae, same as the Eucalypts, so I'd be somewhat surprised to see prominent rays in any bottle brush, but then I've seen the wood of maybe a half-dozen of the 300 or so species that have been named.

And just for the record, the genus "Calistemon" no longer exists, the taxonomists have decided that they & Melaleuca belong under the same roof, & since Melaleuca was named first, that name gets priority. "Bottle brushes" and "paper-barks" are now all Melaleucas.

Cheers,

Thanks very much for that wealth of information. I leaving one as a stump but the other I'm hoping will resaw without a problem.

Section1

It would be interesting to see your trees. As others have said the Bottlebrushes comes in a wide variety of sizes. I did not know they had been re-classified as Melaleucas so thank you Ian for that.

The three trees outside the front of our house have some size to them with the biggest being about eight meters high,

P1060735 (1) (Medium).JPGP1060736 (1) (Medium).JPG

but they are multiple stemmed with a very short trunk before branching out

P1060737 (1) (Medium).JPG

The third tree has a modest trunk to it, but has only just started to recover from a trimming I applied to it about ten years ago! Dbh is about 400mm. The others (at ankle height) are about 600mm, but that is academic as it would be difficult to recover anything useful unless the branches were large enough.

P1060738 (1) (Medium).JPG

Trees of this size may yield some useful timber, but I would anticipate it to be a bit of a battle and in any event I won't be cutting these down.

Regards
Paul

These were carved from the short truck of a melaleuca looking shrub I found on a verge during council clean up some time back in 2007?
Usually the wood is pretty plain but that one was really purdy.
SS1.jpg

I have taken some pictures and the tree is identical to what Bushmiller posted. I have tried to cut it on the bandsaw and it’s next to impossible being only a 2horse power. I don’t know of any local saw mill nor how much it would cost or even if it would be worth their time.




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Originally Posted by section1

I have taken some pictures and the tree is identical to what Bushmiller posted. I have tried to cut it on the bandsaw and it’s next to impossible being only a 2horse power. I don’t know of any local saw mill nor how much it would cost or even if it would be worth their time.

Pity, as it looks like a really worth while log. What TPI was the blade and is it sharp? A 2HP should be able to cut it (slowly) using a minimum of 3TPI. Maybe try a new blade?

You might find someone with a chainsaw mill to just split the log in half for you. That's how I handle my short logs, Then I cut half log diameter wide boards from the split logs.

If you were closer I'd offer to do that for in exchange for a piece of log.

I appreciate that BobL. I will swap the blade over for a fresh one and give it a try. The blade I'm using is 3/4" 3 tpi and on smaller on regular sawn stuff it works fine but when it comes to logs I get a headache as the blade twists and stalls the motor. I see people on youtube resawing using smaller bandsaws without issues. I just don't know why it happens.

Originally Posted by section1

I appreciate that BobL. I will swap the blade over for a fresh one and give it a try. The blade I'm using is 3/4" 3 tpi and on smaller on regular sawn stuff it works fine but when it comes to logs I get a headache as the blade twists and stalls the motor. I see people on youtube resawing using smaller bandsaws without issues. I just don't know why it happens.

Does the blade twist because the log rolls? If so, tek screw aligned square sided pieces of 18mm MDF on both ends of the log to stop it rolling. you might have to shorten the log so as one end of the log (with MDF) is always on the table. Or set up a temporary table by clamping some MDF to the BS table.

I made a neat Al BS sled for my BS that holds the log by the ends.
Here it is cutting up some Olive.
It does not need to be anywhere this fancy and could be made just out of MDF
BSS2.jpg

Two HP should sail through one of those little logs. If the blade is twisting, my first thought would be to check the blade guides and backing bearing to make sure they are properly set up. Also check blade tension..

If all else fails, at least split the billets in half & paint the ends, that'll minmise splitting as it dries.....

Cheers,