Thread: Grey gum lateral milling & preparation (split minimisation)

This species is hard and heavy...even when seasoned
Typically used as fence posts etc
A durable hardwood apparently
You might score a few slabs out of the butt
When dealing with multiple hearts recovery is impacted somewhat
Enjoy milling it...it will be very firm cutting though
Nice sharp chain an imperative
Log Dog

Thanks Log Dog,

Yeah, I'm not anticipating it'll be easy or fun. It's why I'm pondering to go quite large slabs with the chainsaw mill, and gift future-Jedd the challenge of trying to re-saw them down to size on a bandsaw. I'll get a feel after the first cut, but, indeed, with only green black cypress on my resume, I'm assuming it will require a lot more resharpening, huffing and puffing, and invective.

I did hand-sharpen the semi-chisel just before felling, and it went through quite easily, of course that's cross grain, and a relatively short cut.

Top half of the tree is very much tagged for firewood -- apparently excellent for that -- but it saddens me to not try to do something more interesting with the good bits.

I believe that Grey Gum seasons with little degrade
That said I would mill slabs at 50mm thick thereabouts
Remembering too that at 12%mc this species weighs in at over 1000kg a sawn cube
Good to see you making use of it mate
Again,enjoy the milling journey
Log Dog

Depending on where you are in Sydney Jedd, see if you can get a ripping chain as that will make your life easier for the slabbing work. If you ever need a hand felling trees let me know as im a qualified arborist with 20 mil public and product liability and based in the hills district of sydney.

Grey gum is common up here. I mill a lot of it. Drying needs to be slow, this is the right time of year to mill it as it will have cool weather for the initial phase. I think you will have a lot of defect in that butt piece. Highly durable, pretty good inground, hard and heavy. Mill to 5mm oversize to allow for shrinkage on 50mm slabs. Paint the ends.Two years air drying should be enough.

Thanks Wood Collector & rustynail -- due to woeful weather and worse time management I still haven't gotten out there to rip it. I assume the high humidity is helping it cure more gently. Let's say that's my intention.

I did pick up a couple of rip chains, one a standard and one a 10 degree, for this task, but haven't tried either out yet of course.

rustynail - I'm familiar with the rule of thumb of 1 year per 25mm to dry, but are you suggesting it wants to be dried real slow so it doesn't crack so readily, or it's just so dense that it's going to take that much longer? I'm in no great hurry, and as much as I'd rather reduce the number of cuts (ie. go nice and thick) I reckon manoeuvrability at much thicker than 50mm would be a nightmare, plus I've no way later on to trim him down without a lot of waste. : (

Happy with defects in the butt piece, I'm hoping, if I can do *something* with it, that it'l have some interesting patterns given the age and the stresses of that fork. Been watching a lot of blacktail studio (youtube) videos lately - he does almost exclusively epoxy in-fill table tops - and mildly curious to try something like that ... in a few years!

jedd

Where I used to live in NSW we had quite a bit of Grey Gum. The timber is similar to Ironbark in both weight and colour, but the timber is tougher and at the ends it checks radially instead of in squares. I would try to paint the ends of your logs as soon as possible and when you do get to mill them paint them again after docking to length. Wet weather will have slowed down the drying process so it may not be too late. to paint

While crotch timber can look amazing it is pretty difficult to dry without defects presenting themselves, often as the drying is all but complete, because the grain is going everywhere. Worth trying just for the experience, but I don't think your 24" bar is going to do the trick with your mill. You may be able cut it freehand. Chainsaws are fearsome beasts and you should always be wary, but not necessarily afraid. Remember that the danger part of the bar is the top quarter of the nose: If you contact timber with that part, the saw will want to kick back.

It is good to have a second person with you if you can, particularly until you build confidence.

Regards
Paul

Jedd,
Yes, slow drying will reduce end crack, also case drying and cell collapse. Heavy eucs wont air dry properly if they are much over 60mm thick, the centres tend to retain a bit of moisture and a kiln needs to be used to remove this. Best then to recondition the timber before use. Slow and steady is the name of the game.

Thanks Bushmiller, Rustynail,

It's pretty humid in the Hunter, so I'm hoping that reduces drying shock, and indeed I have low expectations around crotch timber (glad to know the terminology there now).

If I can get that stump off the ground, I may leave it there to dry as a large specimen, and deal with the logistics later, at least see if it develops large visible cracks around the edges. Sounds like even if it cracks badly, some epoxy experiments may be appropriate there.

I've done a lot of freehand chainsawing (mostly felling, firewood) with 12, 14, and 16 bars, it's just the orders of magnitude more power with the large beast. I suspect it falls into the 'no second chance' category of tools. And yes, between eastern browns hiding under leaf litter and other risks, I do try to have someone else nearby.