Hi woodworkers

**Ken Fabian** · 17th June 2013, 10:54 AM

Hi, the name is Ken and I make a bit of what gets called bush furniture, although I think it's more correctly referred to as stick furniture - ie made using small poles. I have lots of regrowth wattles and eucalypts growing on the bush block i live on, the kind of stuff that more often gets wrongly referred to as rubbish.

I jumped into the forum here with some comments about wood borers - something I am very familiar with and perhaps one of the reasons the wood I use is usually considered worthless. I've had good success using "borax" (actually that is a trade name for one of a variety of boron compounds) to treat the poles. I'd love to talk to some timber scientists about what I've been doing because experienced timber guys have insisted it can't be done, that sufficient penetration, even with pressure can't be reliably achieved; certainly I've never come across anyone using the treatment method I use. Given how abundant smallish wattles and saplings are, how fast growing and how pretty the stuff looks finished it seems like a useful and sustainable resource just goes unused. Whether it can be potentially valuable is a question, beyond the occasional sale of my hobby level production.

I'd also like to chat with people familiar with kiln drying - I don't know if what I use could be kiln dried or if it would be superior if it were; the acacia/wattle has a lot of splitting as it dries. Spotted gum, much less so but it can still be significant. Would a mini kiln drying setup for the small scale I operate on be both feasible and improve the quality?

Not the right thread to go into all this, but should give an idea of what I'm interested in.

PC080177.jpg

**DaveTTC** · 17th June 2013, 11:57 AM

Ken

Welcome aboard, love your stick furniture. As for your kiln etc, I can send you link for a guy who sells DIY plans for your own kiln. Added to that there is the option of solar kilns. I think bushmiller may know something about it. If you post a separate thread on kilns you may get a lot of input.

If you want to meet a few from the forum and some from other places who share a passion for Wood Working you may like to check this out.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f25/ww...2014-a-170839/

At this time it looks like we will have a variety of competent woodworkers there with skills in flat work, wood turning, carving and perhaps milling.
Opportunity to spend one on one with some of these and whoever else is there and willing to share there time and expertise.

The invitation for you and whoever comes - bring some tools, bring some wood (these are optional but desired if possible) you can sell, swap, work with it or just watch others.

Mandatory if you come - a smile, willing spirit, desire to have fun learn and enjoy yourself.

Would love to see you do some of your stick furniture down here, you'd probably sell some if you wanted to and there would be heaps of interest in what you do I am sure.

Hope to see you there, if cant make it we'll see you round the forum and who knows maybe at some other event

Take Care

DaveTTC

Turning Wood Into Art

**tdrumnut** · 17th June 2013, 12:27 PM

Welcome aboard Ken, hope you enjoy the journey, love that chair btw

**Ken Fabian** · 17th June 2013, 12:29 PM

Thanks for the welcome. I just had a quick look to see if the post was up. I will probably put up a thread about small kiln drying later - and links will be appreciated.

**DaveTTC** · 17th June 2013, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by Ken Fabian

Thanks for the welcome. I just had a quick look to see if the post was up. I will probably put up a thread about small kiln drying later - and links will be appreciated.

Here is the link

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f23/s...n-lumber-3103/

**crowie** · 17th June 2013, 06:06 PM

G'Day & Welcome to a top forum "Ken".
What a top looking chair, you should find a few forum members in Nth NSW.
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you keep showing off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork.
Cheers crowie

**Christos** · 18th June 2013, 08:02 AM

Welcome to the forum.

**Ken Fabian** · 18th June 2013, 11:43 AM

Actually glad I could get that pic up without problems - if it involved resizing I'd have struggled.

For those interested, this one uses a local acacia, species unknown. People just call it 'sally wattle' and sometimes (wrongly I think) black wattle or blackwood. It's not Melanoxylon, which I believe has a round flower. These have long flower spikes, 100 to 150mm long. Description of A. maidenii seems closer, but there's a lot of variation, so maybe not one species but several.

The seat slats and back get shaped and given a fine finish and it reveals some beautiful grain with wonderful contrast between the dark heartwood and pale sapwood. My other favourite is spotted gum which tends to have nice shapes from the way the sapwood grows over dropped lower branches and injuries.

Although not really suited to full outdoors (a few pieces here left out just to see what happens - about 5 years so far for a bench seat with only initial oil finish but not much longer I think) most probably ends up on verandahs with some weather exposure and I've ended up using marine varnish so that it stays looking good. Lots of coats, lots of work and the varnish is expensive but other finishes haven't been so successful; black mould discolouring the pale sapwood was a perennial problem with other finishes and it seems to take a couple of years for that less attractive appearance to weather to silver and go on to age gracefully.

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