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Thread: Surprise!

  1. #1
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    Default Surprise!

    Mrs Fletty works at a school for kids with disabilities. It is in a beeeautiful and historic rural location and it is a place that cycles regularly and unpredictably between frustration, sadness and joy. Unfortunately in these days of political correctness and OH&S, kids with reduced reflexes and reactions don’t coexist well with old trees that regularly drop branches?
    About a year ago, a large and very old red forest oak had to be cut down due mostly to the damage caused by the disturbance of its roots by new building work. It was NOT a popular decision and to reduce the anxst, I ‘volunteered’ to make a piece of furniture from the timber in memory of this once mighty tree.
    Well, I should have followed the removal, slabbing and storage of the timber more diligently as it has been quite a challenge to find it in the tree removalists yard? Nonetheless, it has now been found and was delivered this morning....

    CA526C24-CEB4-43CA-9C70-DBE2E1A4D4D8.jpg 3A79A026-E9BC-44ED-9FAA-1EFD3A2E7637.jpg

    I overcame the shock and disappointment by replacing them with unbridled optimism just as the school staff do on a daily basis?
    I dragged one piece into the shed....

    33DFC103-A7EB-4D5A-85EA-757614BFFA62.jpg

    struggled it through the thicknesser, sanded 240, 400 and 800 and..,,.

    89040BBE-F527-4E1D-8038-A21D3E0D54B9.jpg

    To say I was amazed is probably an understatement but, now that I’ve glimpsed the possibilities, I’d better start designing this memorial to a tree?
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

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  3. #2
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    That's gold!
    The person who never made a mistake never made anything

    Cheers
    Ray

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    crowie is online now Life's Good, Enjoy each new day & try to encourage
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    Top marks Alan on doing such a beautiful job on the timber as per usual....
    Cheers, crowie

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    Talk to AlexS, he may have some pictures (for inspiration) from when the Botanic Gardens did a similar project 15 or so years ago.
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

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    A few nice boards and legs for a bench seat, sans metal.
    Pat
    Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain

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    Fletty, when you said "forest red oak", my brain translated to 'forest oak' or Allocasuarina torulosa, which it clearly isn't from the pics. Did you mean "Forest red gum" (E. tereticornis)? Looks like that's what it could be, in which case my admiration for your impulsive generosity increases severalfold!

    After helping Luke make his bench from a few slabs of the stuff a couple of years back, I'm still walking wide circles around the remaining few bits. 'Tis lovely stuff though, once you do get those surfaces tamed, and whatever you make, it will be around long after you & I have shuffled off our mortal coils ......

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Fletty

    Do you have any pix of the tree before it was felled?

    Nice looking timber, but probably challenging.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

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    Quote Originally Posted by IanW View Post
    Fletty, when you said "forest red oak", my brain translated to 'forest oak' or Allocasuarina torulosa, which it clearly isn't from the pics. Did you mean "Forest red gum" (E. tereticornis)? Looks like that's what it could be, in which case my admiration for your impulsive generosity increases severalfold!

    After helping Luke make his bench from a few slabs of the stuff a couple of years back, I'm still walking wide circles around the remaining few bits. 'Tis lovely stuff though, once you do get those surfaces tamed, and whatever you make, it will be around long after you & I have shuffled off our mortal coils ......

    Cheers,
    Hi Ian, sorry for the delay in replying but, as soon as I saw the common name of ‘bastard box’ as well as forest red GUM for the type, then I knew for sure that I did have E tereticornus .... and I have been in denial ever since. The blokes who cut it down, and hence incurred the wrath of the largely female staff, also cut down its ‘sister tree’ nearby and both showed rings for about 400 years of age but both also showed a blackened and burnt ring at about 50 years indicating what must have been a BIG bushfire? I’m still trying to work out how to cut it with minimal waste and I’m currently searching the web for a beam saw.
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

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    Apologies up front Alan, but your heading of "Surprize" has been playing on my mind since seeing it and up until now I couldn't work out why....
    THEN I REMEMBERED
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TnkJ8_BmSI

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    Quote Originally Posted by fletty View Post
    ........ both showed rings for about 400 years of age but both also showed a blackened and burnt ring at about 50 years indicating what must have been a BIG bushfire?.....
    Sorry to disillusion, but it probably isn't anywhere near 400 years old, old china. You do get 'annual' rings in some species like Huon pine in Tasmania, and maybe in some other species that have very distinct annual growing & dormant seasons, but most Eucalypts just grow whenever conditions are suitable, & you can have multiple 'rings' in some years, so it could be anything from a hundred or so up. Still a bit more ancient than you or I are likely to get, of course!

    I guess I don't like to see wanton slaughter of a nice specimen, but if a tree is a threat to life & limb, it has to come down, doesn't it? It's a little-known fact that trees are a renewable resource......

    Cheers,
    IW

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    Quote Originally Posted by fletty View Post
    I’m still trying to work out how to cut it with minimal waste and I’m currently searching the web for a beam saw.
    I take it that you mean somewhere that has a beam saw to do cuts for you? They would seem a little large for your shed....
    Regards, FenceFurniture

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    Quote Originally Posted by FenceFurniture View Post
    I take it that you mean somewhere that has a beam saw to do cuts for you? They would seem a little large for your shed....
    No, not one of the large fixed beam saws but a chainsaw based beam saw OR rob a bank and get a Festool sword saw? The ideal would be a chainsaw with a slabbing jig AND a beam saw attachment?
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

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    An Alaskan Chainsaw mill?
    The kerf can be 10mm or more.
    Wouldn't rough milling on a bandsaw be better, say 5mm oversize and then joint and thickness to true dimension?
    Pat
    Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat View Post
    An Alaskan Chainsaw mill?
    The kerf can be 10mm or more.
    Wouldn't rough milling on a bandsaw be better, say 5mm oversize and then joint and thickness to true dimension?
    Unfortunately (?) they’re too heavy to lift. I’m thinking of using a beam saw or chainsaw mill to reduce them to at least half of the current cross section (a quarter would be better) and then get them inside for bandsaw, jointer and thicknesser?
    a rock is an obsolete tool ......... until you don’t have a hammer!

  16. #15
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    Cut to 50mm over length . . .
    Pat
    Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain

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