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Thread: Macadamia

  1. #16
    ElizaLeahy's Avatar
    ElizaLeahy is offline Old enough to know better, too young to care!
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    Well, you don't need large when you have a mini lathe.

    I have a mini lathe! What a co-incidence!!!

    Eliza

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  3. #17
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    Hi all, the pieces in the pic have been surfaced on the jointer and then just wiped with water to bring up the colour. It's unlikely I'd come down just for the small sizes, however, I do come down to Bris for the wood show and I always like to take something back.
    It would depend on whether farmer wants to get rid of the lot as soon as poss or whether they could sit in a pile off to the side somewhere after being pulled out by excavator, and if I end up mmm just remembering I think I'm already looking at slabs to take back, so short answer is probably not.

    Just a clue on seasoning, my guess would be to get the bark off, which is probably easier said than done, and then seal the ends with thick paint primer or something, you can get a made for the purpose product, timber end grain sealer , stack them up off the ground and then I'd wait a bit b4 cutting, 3 months maybe, I'm thinking this cos my boards do have a few cracks and checks and they may have dried out too quickly, I bought them as boards so not real sure of the drying history, some others might have some more ideas specific to macadamia. Drying might be the same as for the oaks?

    The small logs should be quite suitable for the small things tho, pen blanks and hair sticks, but u would need a mini lathe for that, oh! I think Eliza has one of those.
    Cheers all,
    Peter.

  4. #18
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    The best way to season is a hard one, there seems to be different theories. On the one hand, leaving whole may slow the drying rate and reduce splitting, but if there are other stresses in the log, cutting it up early may relieve these and improve the result. I'm not experienced enough to know. I did cut up one maca log tonight, got two 1.25 inch boards out of the centre, the rest I can cut up on the table saw. I applied end grain sealer to every log last weekend, time will tell what happens from here. Most logs already have radial splits from the log centre. Ken

  5. #19
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    Default drying

    Yes, from what I read and from others experience's it can be a bit tricky, I was thinking leave them whole based on the size of the log, BobL wrote in a thread a little while back about cutting up some small logs, one of which missed out on being cut up, 3 months later it was cut up and it was the best one.

    If u cut the rest up stack flat with spacers, under cover, I just use sheets of tin on top, this allows plenty of ventilation and some wieghts on top to stop/resist timber movement, some people strap them up or clamp the stack with cross pieces and threaded rod which they peroidically tighten up as drying proceeds

    Time will tell

    Peter.

  6. #20
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    I'll do some each way and let you know in a year which worked out best! I won't be able to do them all soon anyway. Thanks for the ideas on outside stacking - I'm out of room in both garages, packed to the rafters. If I come up for the Brisabane show I'll bring some maca with me, if you have room . My maca looks much paler than yours, this photo straight off the circular saw, but magnificent grain.

  7. #21
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    Yes it does look good, colour from what I am told has a lot to do with the soil in which the tree grows, minerals in the soil and the uptake of, also the amount of water it gets, so yours being on a farm were probably watered regularly and this seems to make the colour paler, mine may have been out the bush or in someones backyard and not watered.
    Macadamia is a native to Aus isn't it? I prolly should know, but...someone will.
    I'm allowed to have as much wood as I want so the boss tells me, so still plenty of backyard to fill up yet

    I got a book out of library today by James Krenov, an innovative well regarded designer woodworker, ( u may have heard of Krenov catches) having a quick read about processing logs into useful timber...ok I was just looking at the pics and reading the captions, one pic there of a small cracked split wheather beaten bit of stuff, he was saying that it is better to as a minimum split small logs straight down the middle and then leave to dry for later processing, think he was suggeting that the log is less likely to split in ways u don't want to... but i'll have to read the whole thing for a full on understanding.

  8. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by pjt View Post
    Yes it does look good, colour from what I am told has a lot to do with the soil in which the tree grows, minerals in the soil and the uptake of, also the amount of water it gets, so yours being on a farm were probably watered regularly and this seems to make the colour paler, mine may have been out the bush or in someones backyard and not watered.
    Macadamia is a native to Aus isn't it? I prolly should know, but...someone will.
    I'm allowed to have as much wood as I want so the boss tells me, so still plenty of backyard to fill up yet
    Yes Macadamia is native. It used to be called the Bauple Nut after the little town just south of Maryborough. It took the Hawaiins (Yanks?) to see the potential and they commercialised it in Hawaii.

    I have an old (50 years) tree in my place in Sydney. Must get adventurous next time it needs pruning.
    prozac

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  9. #23
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    Default Macadamia Logs wanted

    looking at recovering Macadamia Trees already logged, happy to provide free removal - from your farm.


    Please contact me - Richard Email: [email protected]




    Quote Originally Posted by timbertalk View Post
    Ok, I went out for my look. Unfortunately size was down, I came back with 10 trunks but biggest diameter only 10 inches (pic attached) . About one quarter of the trees are this size, rest 8-odd inches. I did 4 hours work for it too...
    Hey pjt, were those maca boards straight off the saw, or had you applied something? Looks very dark/purplish, and very nice grain pattern. Beaut bandsaw setup too, good thinking. I was going to use my chainsaw mill, but it is wasteful with 8mm kerf. Was going to cut the 'logs' straight down the guts, then take a 2, 3, or 4 inch board from each half. The logs seem too small to fully quarter cut as I'd end up with only 2-3 inch wide boards from it. I'm not so into making jewellery boxes. Any comments? If anyone wants some of these maca trees there are plenty there, I'll probably only take another load of the biggest trunks I can get (or maybe more for firewood ). You still interested in this size pjt? Thanks for the other thread too Cliff. Ken
    Attachment 98690

    Attachment 98691

    Attachment 98692

  10. #24
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    you realise you just posted here from a thread that was active 11 years ago?? Most likely no longer relevant.

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