Thread: Spotted gum advice.

There are others much more experienced with timber drying than I am, but with the boards under the house, they may have dried too quickly, given your latitude and that it was summer. Rule of thumb is an inch thickness per year for drying, so a 2" board should take 2 years roughly.

Looks like you'll have to rip that board either side of the split. Spotty is great timber!

It's normal for especially small/narrow SP logs to split like you see there.

It looks like they have just dried too quickly. I can't tell from the photos if they are exposed to direct sunlight or how much air/wind can get to them.

You will never prevent splitting but you can reduce it by
- keeping the slabs (especially the ends) out of direct sunlight
- keeping the slabs out of direct constant breezes/wind.
Even something like a couple of layers of shade cloth over the stacks can make a difference but preferably stacks should be under cover and exposed to reduced air flow.

Also you need to improve your stickering.
1 sticker every <400mm.
Stickers all directly above each other.
stickers right on the ends of every slab.
Some weight on the top

"Drying under the house for six months" means sawn in summer - not good. Initial drying would have been too fast.
Split material appears to be mainly quarter sawn slabs - probably sawn too close to the heart.
Log ends need to be sealed as soon after felling as possible.
Small dia logs can have tension issues which manifest themselves during sawing. A piped log helps to relieve the tension so dont pass up a log with a pipe up it.
Under the house is fine, once the log has done a slow initial dry but to start the drying process the house maybe acting as a wind tunnel.
As Bob has already mentioned, careful stickering is a priority.

Great thanks for the info.
I’m unsure how to slow down the drying process without having a controlled environment.
If I stack in shed the temp is hot then cool with no airflow , under house it relatively cool with a limited airflow.
Living and learning I appreciate the info. I got plenty of Spotted gum to play with and 4 acres on my land across the road so will put your tips to work. Sure is a waiting game though

Cheers


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Probably start with some slabbing now in the cooler months. Put it under the house, and see what you can do about reducing the airflow around the timber. Take it from there next year.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Probably start with some slabbing now in the cooler months. Put it under the house, and see what you can do about reducing the airflow around the timber. Take it from there next year.

Yes I’m going to slab as soon as this rain goes away. The weather this year has been out of control and slabbing in between weather events has been hard as the rain just won’t go away long enough.
Thanks for the advice it’s greatly appreciated


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Have a read through this thread, taking note of sticker thickness, spacing and sticker placement on the ends.

My feeling from your first pic, is stickers too thick, not enough of them and none on the ends

Stookie

Painting the ends of the logs is absolutely the right thing to do (lots of thick paint), but it unfortunately it has hidden the end grain. If you have slabbed the whole log, you will have included the heart (centre of the log which on that size will be about 150mm diameter. This portion is no good for anything except firewood after it dries and even then Spotted gum is not a premium wood as it has to get very hot to burn well. In fact I seem to recall that I have seen it used as a fire door! If that heart is in some of the slabs, it will be the reason they have split. "Spring" is a problem with Spotty as rustynail has mentioned. You can slow the drying by some basic covering of the stack with some shade cloth. Traditionally the thickness of the stickers was reduced down to, say, 10mm to 12mm instead of 19/20mm. Put some heavy weights on the top of the stack to hold the top boards and make sure you have adequate space beneath the stack ( min 450mm) for air drainage.

Needless to say, everything needs to be level and stickers directly in line.

I think you may have seen this one already:

Bandsawing a Spotted Gum - Page 6 (woodworkforums.com)

and another one:

How Not To Air Dry Timber (woodworkforums.com)

Regards
Paul

Thanks that’s great info

I have assumed that the widest slab right across the heart is the best one given it’s width. I’d though a few of them together would give me a great tabletop. Goes to show assumption is the mother of all screwups.
I had noticed that the first slabs and generally the last seem to stay together well.
I will get onto changing the size and uniformity of my stickers too.
I’m using a husqvarna 359 and a skip tooth chain on a chainsaw mill 28”
It’s got me going but after seeing some bandsaw pictures I’m sorely jealous. The chainsaw can be bloody hard work.
Thanks again it’s great info and I’m off to read your links now too.

Cheers


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Don't let the rain put you off sawing. Best time to saw is when its wet. A cheap gazebo from BCF and into it.
Some small aperture lattice on the windward side of your underhouse storage will help slow down the drying process.
Wide slabs in spottie is not a good idea. By the time they are dry they will be all out of shape. Not an easy timber to season.
Not too wide and not too thin is the way to go with this stuff.

Great thanks. I had thought about cutting the wide slabs then ripping them slimmer and then glueing together when ready to work with them.
I got some stringy bark here too but I’m gonna need a bigger chainsaw [emoji1]

Is that any better to work with ?


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Stringy is pretty easy going but all eucs require care to get a decent outcome. Its just that some are harder than others to dry.

Also don't assume that a log that's been down a few years is seasoned at all apart from the ends, I've talked to millers about logs decades old that were still very wet when milled.

Originally Posted by lostwax

Also don't assume that a log that's been down a few years is seasoned at all apart from the ends, I've talked to millers about logs decades old that were still very wet when milled.

I’ve put all my preconceived ideas about wood in the bin.
What I assumed was logical is totally wrong.
It’s a whole new learning process for me.
I have alot of timber from various species some I’m unsure of as my identification needs more experience.
I’m having fun learning and I’m enjoying it.
I’m soaking up a lot more information from advice on here pointing me in the right direction


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