Thread: Melbourne Supplier of Railway Sleepers

FWIW TS, the only old redgum sleepers I've found were salvage from railway lines and badly cracked with some fine gravel sometimes present; not saying there's not better, just my experience. New 'sleepers' for landscaping from Bunnies I've not found much better; green, cracked and twisted. Others on the forum have had better luck if memory serves.

Urban Salvage (urbansalvage.com.au) and Garnerwood come to mind as possibilities. Or timbersearch.com.au

Originally Posted by rsser

were salvage from railway lines and badly cracked with some fine gravel sometimes present

I have taken an angle grinder with a wire brush and have stripped all of the lose gravelly material from the two sleepers. One has a big split along its length. This will will split with hand tools and I will give it a solid clean again with the angle grinder. I have access to a metal detector so that should not be a problem.

Even with root and splitting large section of timber can be salvaged at little cost from these sleepers, I hope - it is an experiment in some ways.


RSSER I will chase up the names you have given.

Goodo.

Also consider salvage redgum stumps from house restumpers. Around 4" square.

Used to be able to pick them up for nix but now folk buy them for woodfires so $$ may be involved.

If you do find some though, give them a few months drying, having been in the ground and all.

Then there's always salvage redgum fenceposts [added: speak to your local fencing contractors]. Rectangular in x-section ... close to 5x3?. Sometimes you find some amazing figure in these.

Best of luck. Fortune favours the persistent ;-}

TS

Ring MGS Landscape Centre - Peel Street Eltham 9439 2309.

Was there this morning they have plenty of sleepers and bridge timbers of various sizes.

If you ring them you can find out if they have what you want, and how much they want.

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

I have been collecting old timber to practice with,

practice what?

Originally Posted by thumbsucker

but the boss saw me in a suit and the price went to $20)

Well that's no excuse. I always wear a dirty pair of jeans and grubby shirt when visiting salvage yards. My rustbucket 1982 Mitsubishi van with the big scratch down the side andcarpet covered in bark and sawdust also looks the part. Next tip is load your wallet up with small value notes and coins so there is no change involved, pull out less money than is needed and start counting out coins finally they often say "close enough mate"

Well there you go TS.

Just look and behave like BobL and your problems will be solved.
.

Originally Posted by rsser

Just look and behave like BobL and your problems will be solved.

Will I dare to

Given that I can buy NEW unseasoned 200x50 red gum in landscape grade at the moment from the mill for about $8 for 1.8m length......I've given up looking for much 2nd hand stuff.....

Landscape grade is fairly 'featured' and it takes an imagnitive soul to do much with them. In my case, careful selection and some finishing has seen some become a new verandah.

First grade unseasoned RRG on the other hand is quite nice and solid...and still surprisingly affordable....
200x50 in 1st grade is $880 per cubic which translates to $8.80 per lineal metre.
125x125 in 1st grade is $1000 per cubic which translates to $15.63 per lineal metre.
Only 'problem' is that RRG is hard to get in lengths over 3m these days...

Dried is another matter.......that 125 square is close to $100 per metre kiln dried

Thanks SBD.

But for furniture making, you'd need dried, or else dry yourself. Failure rate with RG is pretty high on the latter in my experience.
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Originally Posted by K_S

Ring MGS Landscape Centre - Peel Street Eltham 9439 2309.

I called them up and they have C to A+ grades, an A+ grades are $50 each however clean, and square at 8 foot. So this one is a

RRG is very unstable and is best old the older the better. I also know that RRG are being harvested incorrectly along the Murray River Basin in an unsustainable manor. I therefore cannot contribute to creating a demand for such a product. By using recycled timber I can give a second live to these beautiful tree's and get better timber at the same time.

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Add-The-Beauty-Of-Timber

Originally Posted by martrix

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Add-The-Beauty-Of-Timber

Thank you - missed it in my search.

Forest Red gum is supposed to be more stable TS. Not speaking from experience.

RRG is very unstable and is best old the older the better. So very true...in this case paitence is a virtue

I also know that RRG are being harvested incorrectly along the Murray River Basin in an unsustainable manor. Now here I will beg to differ...RRG is not under threat from logging...not at the moment. As tree harvesting goes, it is actually one of the best managed logging resource in the country. But the RRG is under threat from something far more sinister...and that is habitat change...we've changed the hydrology of the stronghold of the RRG (the Murray-Darling Basin) so much that most of the RRG forest is essentially doomed given the current human-centric frame of management. However, one thing MIGHT help. Just imagine if the RRG forests had a higher economic value than they do now....if the timber had more value than just as landscape sleepers. Then there'd be a viable economic reason to save not just the RRG but the rest of the floodplain that depends on a real hydrologic cycle as opposed to a human induced one....and not just steer all that water into wine, blanched almonds and other frivolities.

Rant over...........returning to cycnical reality.....<shrug>....no-one really gives a f$#K anyway.