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Thread: River Sheoak

  1. #1
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    Default River Sheoak

    Came across this dead standing River Sheoak yesterday
    Check out the compression and figure on the surface of the bole
    I reckon there would be some pretty wood inside that log
    This one was around 900mm d.b.h
    Log Dog
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  3. #2
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    Default

    Forgot to mention...
    I think this is Casuarina cuninghamiana
    Provenance Euramo station Mt Garnet
    Also came across a big Blue gum(?)
    As well as a Flooded gum (?)with a an amazingly formed 'barky sock' at its base
    It was big too
    Couple of more pics
    Log Dog
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  4. #3
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    You'd have your work cut out recovering any useful wood out of that river oak, log dog. The Casuarinas don't fare well left standing (or lying) in the round. Those cracks will run very deep, and there'll be even more than you can see at a glance, so you'd be ducking & weaving to find sound wood. River oaks tend to be a bit of a bland colour unless spalted. They can have jet black heartwood, which is as hard as nails & even more prone to cracking, but polishes up like Ebony.

    Always worth looking inside any log, I reckon, and if all else fails, the she-oaks make great firewood....
    Cheers,
    IW

  5. #4
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    I should have added some pics of the spalting effect I was talking about above. I've acquired a few logs of river oak over the years, two were just young trees with very pale, almost white wood, which made great legs & spindles for Windsor chairs. One large lot I got was from a tree that had been standing dead on the small creek just outside our boundary. Eventually, it blew over in a storm - right into my yard! Never one to reject a gift from providence, I promptly harvested the bit that was on my side of the fence.

    I was struck by the jet black heart wood & thought I had a bonanza of ebony-like wood for free. However, as I cut it up, I discovered dozens of internal cracks in the really black wood: Internal checks.jpg

    These internal checks didn't match up with the many external cracks, so I didn't manage to recover a lot of wood from the log. And despite taking great care, sealing ends asap & drying very slowly, the blackheart wood cracked even more in drying. I only managed small objects from it, but some were quite spectacular. These marking gauges are made from (L to R), bull oak, spalted r. oak & hairy oak. Crazy set 2.jpg

    Each nice in its own way, but I wish casuarinas were a bit less prone to cracking up!
    Cheers,
    IW

  6. #5
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    There are some quite magnificent river she oaks out in that country. I came across many during my surveying wanderings. Have a look at some around Watsonville on the Herberton to Irvinebank Rd, a couple of km's west of Watsonville. Even Davies Creek, Clohesy River etc between Mareeba & Kuranda.

    IanW is 100% right about it being a shame that the Casuarina's and Allocasuarina's all degrade, mostly badly, through the drying process. I've often wondered how they may respond to being stored in water before milling???? Anyway's any small recovery of the spectacular wood is worth the effort imo.
    Mobyturns

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