Thread: Where can I find timber sheet or planks about 0.5 cm thick ?

I only stock Paulownia. It is only treated to neutralise the natural enzymes in the timber to stop it staining and allows it to keep the very light colour of the timber. I have planks that were 25 mm thick and then resawn to approx 10 mm for the purpose of allowing them to be dressed down to 6 or 5 mm. If this would help have a look at my web site for more details including prices.
paulownia-timber-sales.com.au

Whitewood

Bandsaw mills can cut to size for you.
How much do you want?
Greg

Ahh ok, thanks for the advice people. I'm making a home made worm farm and want some thin timber. I don't mind if it rots over time, I just don't want any chemicals in the wood. I'm, aiming at 0.5 mm thick for the sides. I don't want it too thick, because I want to make it as light as possible.

Probably only need a few planks. Probably in total about 6 metres x 10 cm wide x 0.5 cm thick. I could then cut to size. Not sure what sizes they come in. I guess I should find a timber mill. Bunnings did not appear to have that thickness. The thinnest plank they had was about 1 cm.

Paulownia has no natural oils like gums and many other timbers. It is very high in moisture content but it is basically water. As the timber is kiln dried to 11% there is very little of this left . I feel that the treatment used to neutralise the enzymes would not harm the worms. Paulownia would be ideal for your purpose. It is less than half the weight of Pines and takes a very long time to rot. You could use it at 10 mm thick and save on dressing it down. Any timber that is 5 mm thick will not be very stable. You could make a small box of Paulownia as a trial and only put a few worms in it initially.
Whitewood

Originally Posted by LMagic007

Where can I find timber sheet or planks about 0.5 cm thick ? Prefer a natrually durable wood untreated.

I'm in Melbourne VIC.

Appeal to one of the forumties in your area to run it through the thicknesser for you. You can buy pine panel board from Bunnies which is 12mm thick and quite cheap. I think from memory its about 130mm wide. They sell it by the length for a few dollars. Would probably cost you less than $10.Would take someone a few minutes to run it through the thicknesser.

OK will consider that. Thanks. With the power of Google I worked out out what a thicknesser was. Never knew such a machine existed. I'm not a tradie. If I can get pre-cut planks of 0.5 cm that would be preferred if it saves me money, but this thicknesser could be the next best option. I presume it shaves the wood down to the desired thickness.

how about some hardwood fence palings?

Originally Posted by LMagic007

OK will consider that. Thanks. With the power of Google I worked out out what a thicknesser was. Never knew such a machine existed. I'm not a tradie. If I can get pre-cut planks of 0.5 cm that would be preferred if it saves me money, but this thicknesser could be the next best option. I presume it shaves the wood down to the desired thickness.

If you can get someone to cut 5 mm rough sawn off a log that is the best and cheapest way to get your timber. If not there is not much to be gained by buying 10 mm thick RS planks and dressing it down to 5 mm unless the 5 mm thickness is crucial to the project. There is no monetary saving and the thicker timber will last longer. Also saves you buying a noisy thicknesser.

Whitewood

Thanks guys. Now that fence paling idea might be an option, if I can get untreated raw fence palings. I would then want to sand the wood down to make it smooth.

I need the approx. 5 mm thickness to save weight, which is important for this project. I'm not so concerned about durability at this stage. I basically want it to be as light as possible, but also strong as possible, appreciating there is a trade off between the two. This is a prototyping exercise, rather than a finalised design build, so I might do several builds before I settle on a more permanent design.

I'll dress a 1 metre length of 10 x 150 mm down to 5 mm and strip it into 10 mm widths strips. You would end up with 13 or 14, more than enough for your project. The timber would cost $10.00 plus P & H $7.70 and postage would be actual cost but approx $12.00. PM me if your interested.

Whitewood

Hmm this is evolving to beyond what I initially expected, however as you're in this business, I might as well provide more detail on my wood cut requirements. You've got me thinking a bit more now.


The guy at Bunnings said Cyprus Pine might be ideal for my project, because it's naturally durable with no chemical treatments. He reckoned you could burry it in the ground form 10 years and it still comes out ok. I bought a few Cyprus Pine pickets last night to experiment with. Love the smell of that stuff. Lovely wood.

I'm looking for untreated timber. Can you get hold of this Cyprus Pine ?

Cypress Pine is regarded as a hard wood and has natural qualities that makes if termite resistant. I'm not sure if it would tick all the boxes for your purpose.

I'm not concerned that you have not taken up my offer. I would make about $9.00 on the deal. This would be to cut off a plank, dress it to 5 mm, strip it on the band saw to 10 mm, parcel it, take to the Post Office and send you an invoice. Not much profit for about an hours effort.

I made the offer because Paulownia ticks all the boxes for your purpose. The treatment is to submerge the timber in a swimming pool size tank of water overnight with a small amount of chemicals to neutralise enzymes that are on the surface of the timber. It is then air dried to 80 % before being kiln dried. Given that the dressing would remove any of the original outer surface of the timber there should be none of the treatment chemical left.

I don't really care if you don't use my timber I just want to place on record that it is a clean and safe timber to use and not like treated pine..

Whitewood

Whitewoods offer sound great,looks like it would do the job for you

From post 4 of this thread

Originally Posted by LMagic007

Probably in total about 6 metres x 10 cm wide x 0.5 cm thick.

Whitewood, why are you offering to rip thicknessed boards into 10mm wide strips if the OP wants 10cm?

Op unfortunately mixes metres, centimetres and millimeters which can help to confuse.