Thread: Silky oak

Hi Fella,

It's really hard to see the grain in the pictures - any chance of a closeup?

Thanks
RufflyRustic

Hi Fella,
It can tend towards grey sometimes, maybe its a natural characteristic of the Grevillea, or maybe its a staining from fungus like blue stain hoop etc will get if wet, or isn't milled quickly. The other type of silky oak, Cardwellia, has a more golden, almost reddish colour, whereas Grevillea, esp. younger trees can be a bit bland with mushroom pink/grey colours. If you aren't satisfied with it, maybe try some subtle staining with commercial products?!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

Hi Fella,

It's really hard to see the grain in the pictures - any chance of a closeup?

Thanks
RufflyRustic

G'day Fella,
How much character do you want!? That's a beautiful little slab, enjoy what it has to offer!!

Cheers,

Looks like someone's snuck a bit of dogwood into your pile.

Hi Fella!

The pieces you have shown are still fairly rough; have you tried smooth planing a sample to see what a finished piece might look like? Also, try some white shellac on one half of a smooth planed small board - and show us the pics...

Thanks for the closeup Fella - I'd say silky oak, but couldn't say as to the exact type.

As Andy said - it's got beautiful colour and wicked grain!! Weigh it today, then weigh it again in a while and see if there is any difference. OK being a slab that may be a bit difficult. Maybe a moisture metre will be useful for you.

If it's been slabbed less than a year, I'd say it's very likely still too green to use. As for what it's like after a year, I really couldn't say.

Nice pickup Fella - any ideas on what you'd like to do with it?

Oh another thing - I apologise if you already know this - watch out for borers in the sapwood. Turpentine is good, but you'd need a fair bit of it and it doesn't kill the eggs - that I know of

In the silky oak I've seen, the grey/white is the sapwood/edges. The heartwood can be a lovely light pink or even a red.

cheers
RufflyRustic

Think there are about a dozen species of tree with the common name of 'Silky Oak' :confused: .

You need to be sure what you're dealing with.

I'm sorry if ya got the rong impression about the size of the timber. the pieces are up to an inch thick and around 7" wide.

the pic i posted in post 4. i had hand planed the end to show the grain. i'm not sure what white shellac is, but the first pic is sanded then estopoled.

as for the dogwood...lol.cheers..was waiting for someone to say something!

RUFFLYRUSTIC: i would like to have a go at making a jewlery box for the missess. perhaps trying the though dovtails for the second time on all joins. this will have to wait untill i get my workbench made and a thicknesser though. i have tried to plane and thickness timber buy hand with the hand plane, but only having success with small 2x2 size pieces.
sorry i'm not familiar with the wood borers...do they still reck the timber while it's drying. i did notice some small black things fall out of the bark, about .8mm in size. is that them?

thanks for all your responses fellow woodies...well i'm getting there

Shellac is a finish used on timber, White shellac keeps the timber colour almost the same and you can get golden shellac as well which gives the timber a golden hue (funny that). Used as the primary finish in french polishing.
What Ruffly said about drying is probably the best way to go without getting a moisture meter and the rough rule of thumb is one year of drying per inch of thickness of the timber.

Hi Fella,

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/ubhome.htm have a browse here if you haven't already.

A jewellry box - lovely!! Good luck with the dovetails!

Jointing timber by hand is a pain, especially without a good workbench. have to agree with you that smaller pieces are much easier.

The woodborers are a beetle. They love the sapwood and leave trails of sawdust behind them. I've had a piece of silkyoak that I doused liberally with turpentine - yes it killed the borers, but not the eggs. One hatched and another hole in a board that I thought was free of them :mad: . That box is back in the shed now, not in the house where the little buggers can do more and worse damage.

Personally, I think the best thing is to cut the sap wood off asap, douse the board in turpentine, coat the ends to stop splitting, then sticker out to thoroughly dry. Even thought the boards are small, they still need to be stacked properly while drying.


Cheers
RufflyRustic

hey, i,m in melbourne, i just cut down our silky oak, we only found out it was wen we got it cut down, but its been in a front yard for a good 30+ years, so its bigger than the double story next door...

we where wondering if any1 would by it? i see that its considered highly for its grain...
we just want to know if we should bother trying to sell it to someone?
how much could we get for it?

thats all...thanks

curious

I'm thinking 'hijack'!

They're very common so won't be worth much.

Try Bowerbird. Or maybe Rare Woods in Abbotsford.

If no luck, offer for free on this forum or to a local woodturners/workers club.