Thread: Milling & Seasoning Aussie Hardwood

Start thinking quickly....

Pergolas need posts & beams & bearers.
Look them up in a google search.

You have about 10 minutes after you cut it to use the bluey before it is harder than hell, it makes good 4"x4" posts for pergolas.


PS. Picture 4 is a cow, don't.... that is DO NOT cut her down.

Cliff, I've got a few ideas

I'll have them slabbed to 100mm, paint the ends, and stack for a year while I practice on my recycled workbench

Cliff if you want to make furniture from these timbers the best size is 30 to 35mm this is very heavy timber it will need to be stick out at 250mm centers under cover for 1 year min then put in kiln to dry I have been making furniture from these types of timbers for 20 yaers and milling and kiln drying for same good luck lets know how it goes

Originally Posted by dhurrang

.....on my recycled workbench

Mmmm, nice bar dhurrang, what is your real name 'cos poor old bovalino1 thinks it is Cliff.

PS. I wish I had a 250mm centre to stick out.

The Blue Gum will be used for the pergola (tuff stuff) and cut 4x4 (25%) and 4x2 (75%)

The Yellow Box , I'm told by the miller, can be used straight away. I'd like to use it for hmmmmmm... bookcases and a desk. So I'm thinking 19x600mm in whatever lengths I can get.

The Red Stringybark is the trick I guess. I want to get all the milling done in one go (save money etc) so I'm thinking of having it slabbed as well .. but ... I've read that I should cut to size and dry (properly).

Ok ... but can't I resaw the slabs, once dry, and size at my liesure without further twisting :confused:

Cliff ... I've fixed my signature ... thaks for pointing that out

David

Some chioces have been made now!

With the felling of the blue gum (see below) I'm going to stack and stick out (for air flow) all the timber milled (except for a small amount of play wood). I'll seal all end grains with a 50/50 mix pvc and water (to slow drying and hopefully prevent too much cupping/splittiing) until I'm ready to use it.

Bovalino, I will store it for some time but most of the timber has been dead for years. And .... I don't have a kiln I know timber will hold moisture for decades. One of the logs we cut (yellowbox dead & down 20yrs) still showed moisture in radial cracks.

Nothings perfect

Milling happens early next week and I'll post a few pics after

Hey Dave!!! You should be standing the other side of that saw cut 'cos the piece you are standing on is going to fall down when you get through it.

thanks for the "heads up" Cliff

The trick is to get down BEFORE the stick does

I'm still researching the drying process and have discovered that woodturners have some novel ideas. I love the soap (detergent) idea but haven't figured out how I'll submerge 5m3 of hardwood :eek:

I need a bigger dam

Originally Posted by dhurrang

thanks for the "heads up" Cliff

The trick is to get down BEFORE the stick does

I'm still researching the drying process and have discovered that woodturners have some novel ideas. I love the soap (detergent) idea but haven't figured out how I'll submerge 5m3 of hardwood :eek:

I need a bigger dam

Ummm - Well...
What's the soap (detergent) idea?
would ya care to eeelucidate for them uz don't know. . ?
Thankee
Jedo

Need to submerge large amounts of timber in detergent?

I supose youv'e been putting off cleaning out the the stock dip for some time now you have a reason.

Clean out the dip, fill with detergent and dip your boards.


bonus the pesticide residues :eek: will probaly keep the the bugs out of your timber too

cheers

The soap idea is mostly for turning blanks. along with boiling the wood, soaking it in PEG or alcohol (what a waste) etc.
For normal timber, coat the ends with some sort of wax or paint (to cut down the end checking) and stack it up on stickers (or fillets) with some weight on top of the stack to help control cupping and bowing etc.
I've sawn and dried some bluegum here in NZ, the wood is neat, but it sure wanted to twist up as it dried. Hold the stuff down and let it dry slowly

Cheers

Ian

Soundman ... we haven't had sheep for nearly 20yrs (yeah) and the sheep dip is now a garden (see below). Can't dig that up says the Minister for war&finance

Ianab ... I've read that some turners have painted/brushed the soap solution on. I thought I might spray on using a 5ltr garden sprayer. I'll also seal the ends with a 50/50 pvc/water mix. The bluegum was killed by mitletoe 10 years ago and the yellowbox ringbarked (bloody horses) 15yrs back.

The yellowbox will be milled 100x100 and 100x50 for exposed beams n supports in my cubbyhouse and used straight away. So if it moves, so will everything else. :eek:

The rest will be stacked

If it's been standing dead for that long then it's probably pretty dry already. It would still be nice to know what the moisture content actually is before you build with it. I'm guessing you will be OK, the wood should be dry enough now to use for construction stuff, and shouldn't warp or split like at can drying from green.

Cheers

Ian

Well ... as promised a pic of the milling.

The stack on the right is red stringybark cut 100x40

On the left Bluegum (pretty ) cut 200x40. Other sizes cut 100x50 and 50x50.

We've just started on the yellowbox and are cutting 200&100x50.

All have also had a slab (55mm) cut as well.

4 more sicks to mill tomorrow

than it's playtime