Thread: Meet the Gidgee family.....

[QUOTE=Bushmiller;

As we have a king size bed I have considered placing the gauges in the middle as pride of place, but I think the other side of SWMBO's nature would come rather quickly to the surface and that's ugly. While she is not totally opposed to wood in the bed, I don't think it would fit in with her interpretation. So for the moment the IW gauages keep going from pillar to post as I decide each spot is totally unsuitable.
[/QUOTE]

Should keep the cutting gauge away from the wood in this situation I reckon

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Cliff I have heard of the tree and I did consult our friend (Mr G) for info, but have you or indeed anybody else out there made items from it. I am guessing that like gidgee it normally only produces smaller timber, although I did see a reference that Dead Finish could grow to 450mm dia.

I feel sure Ian would be able to do justice to some of it so long as there is room in his stockpile .

Regards
Paul

Sorry to take so long to reply, I could see that you & a couple of others had replied but for some strange reason, everytime I came back to this thread, mine was the last post. I deleted it & now I can see all the others.

Anyway, this is from a PM I sent to another member who asked me about it.

Some photos of bits I have sent to other people here.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/member...s/dead-finish/

This is what TTIT (member here) says about it.
Dead Finish

Powderpost (member here) is a turner & he loves it for lidded boxes 'cos it takes a thread very well.

The stuff I get is heavy, it starts out very red, almost purple when first cut it but then changes to brown eventually.
Overall the tree is smaller than Mulga but the trunk is much thicker.
Mulga tends to branch very low & grow as a multi trunk tree.
Dead Finish can grow a decent trunk of more than a metre before it branches out.

The reason I like Dead Finish the most is that it is easier to get a decent big bit out of it & it seems to be more stable than Mulga. Mulga is a bugger for splitting even 2 or 3 years after you have made something out if it.
We also get Gidgee & Boree from where i get this stuff from (behind Longreach) but it is fairly boring stuff.

I have 3 & a half logs more than 300mm in diameter & a hollow trunk that is about 400mm in diameter in the shed.
The trees that have been damaged by termites have the best colour but, unfortunately, the least amount of usable timber.

The stuff that I have cut up is mostly pen blank or (short) tool handle sizes. I do have a couple of bits big enough for lidded boxes & as soon as I can spare a day I'll be off over to powderpost's place to get a refresher on turning threads.

There are a couple of bowl blanks lying on the floor of the shed but they will have lots of character. (read head splitting ability)

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Sorry to take so long to reply, I could see that you & a couple of others had replied but for some strange reason, everytime I came back to this thread, mine was the last post. I deleted it & now I can see all the others.

Cliff

I had exactly the same problem. I could see that my reply had gone through from my profile and references but could not see any posts after your post #30. Very weird. I was just about to question my sanity, but I knew that was a complete and utter waste of time .

Thanks for the references and information. Very interesting timber. I think these type of timbers are all the more interesting because they are not commercial.

Thanks too go to Fence Furniture and PacMan, whose advice was to be expected .


I did think of a correction to my entry at the end. It should have read:

"So for the moment the IW gauges keep going from pillow to post as I decide each spot is totally unsuitable ."

Regards
Paul

Thanks for that post on Archidendropsis, Cliff. Just one of the several trees (from widely different genera!) I've heard called "Dead Finish", so good idea to check your local names before rushing for the chainsaw if you are offered a tree with that name. If you & TTIT hadn't given it a wrap, I would have been scared off by its specific name - "basaltica" makes it sound like tool-munching stuff.

Touchwood (an appropriate invocation ), I haven't struck your problem with Mulga splitting, though what I've used was always dried reasonably carefully. I've seen lots of branches and full section slices that dried intact, so I assumed you didn't need to be all that concerned, but I will be more careful in the future, just in case.

It sounds like A. basalta would be excellent raw material for small tools & handles, and would probably make superb screws for clamps, if it isn't brittle. Now that you've whettted my appetite, I must keep my eyes open for some. Damn! I've just reduced my pile of bits & bobs as part of a grand plan for tidying up & rationalising my wood stash.........


And Paul, those gauges are meant to be working tols - they have a magic ingredient that turns them to dust in 3 years if they haven't been used to make something you'red proud of.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

And Paul, those gauges are meant to be working tols - they have a magic ingredient that turns them to dust in 3 years if they haven't been used to make something you'red proud of.

Cheers,

Ian

You need not have any concerns there as I do not suscribe to the traditions amongst some of keeping them for display only. Anything I own is to be used. Nevertheless, I still have to keep them somewhere and as the value and preciousness of the object increases my concern for their "home" rises exponentially.

I only own a handful of tools that are more than a simple workhorse. These few that have transcended into art form require a special home. They include my HNT Gordon planes, a Lie Nielsen No.7, soon some planes and chisels from the forum group buy and a pair of IW marking gauges .

Regards
Paul