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  1. 5th March 2016, 12:45 AM #1
    Willy Nelson's Avatar
    Willy Nelson
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    Default Giant Sugar Gum Tree for Wood turning Blanks

    Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen
    Just returned from two weeks of LSL

    Firstly, a freak cyclone ripped through a local town here in WA. the swathe of destruction was bizarre as I live 20 minutes away, we had no inkling of any wind or rain, yet they lost hundreds of trees and were deluged.
    The first call I got was an invite out to the golf course where hundreds and trees were down and we could take our pick, everything from massive pines (cough, spit), marri, Jarrah, banksia, Sheoak and many others.

    The second call was a 400 acre property who had a heap of trees down. Unfortunately, they were all cut up by tree crews and in the 40 deg had split, except for the trunk of this massive Sugar gum. I have taken about a ton of turning blanks and left the rest for a mate (pictured, who is a professional turner). Sugar gum can be reasonably bland, very similar to Marri, but without all the gum veins.

    The pictured slabs are not cracked, they are subtle gum veins. Oh yeah, spot the Mallee Burl in the background.

    This timber is heavy, bloody heavy, can't wait for it to dry

    I have turned stunningly curly sugar gum for pens, twas nice to turn

    Cheers
    Willy
    Jarrahland
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  3. 5th March 2016, 07:07 AM #2
    Christos's Avatar
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    If this turns out to be a work in progress it should be interesting.
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  4. 5th March 2016, 08:09 AM #3
    artme
    artme is offline Skwair2rownd
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    I've had a little bit to do with sugar gum down in Leeton where it was planted along roadsides when the
    irrigation area was set up.

    beautiful tress but dow there int is inclined to get a bit scraggy. On our last visit - just a few weeks ago-
    the trees had all been trimmed and/or lopped. They were sporting new growth and I imagine in a couple of
    years will look a million dollars.

    I use some of the wood for firewood and it is an excellent firewood. Also had a piece here that I used for
    construction. Dense and tough stuphph!! I would like to turn some but have none left!!!
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  5. 5th March 2016, 09:09 AM #4
    BobL
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    Willy the reddening bark with the symmetrically round trunk like that looks like Spotted gum?

    The (few) sugar gums I have milled tend to have a more irregular shaped cross section?

    Nice looking wood anyway!
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  6. 5th March 2016, 07:51 PM #5
    Willy Nelson's Avatar
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    Hello Bob
    Truth be known, I have no idea either way, other than what the property owner told me. He was an old cocky, I had no reason not to believe him.
    Cheers
    Willy
    Jarrahland



    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    Willy the reddening bark with the symmetrically round trunk like that looks like Spotted gum?

    The (few) sugar gums I have milled tend to have a more irregular shaped cross section?

    Nice looking wood anyway!
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  7. 5th March 2016, 09:53 PM #6
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    Get stuck in & rough turn some incase it decides to warp & crack.
    Cliff.
    If you find a post of mine that is missing a pic that you'd like to see, let me know & I'll see if I can find a copy.
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  8. 5th March 2016, 10:43 PM #7
    BobL
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    My limited experience with fresh sugar gum is that it has yellow, pinky and purple streaks in it - like this.
    .

    Spotted gum is more cream - beige - brown. Like this
    Small young tree tends to be right coloured
    Bandsaw mill finally comes good-box1-jpg

    Big Mature tree can get towards chocolate brown streaks
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  9. 5th March 2016, 11:08 PM #8
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    dai sensei
    dai sensei is offline Wandering in search of timber
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    You never seem to short of timber mate

    Quote Originally Posted by Willy Nelson View Post
    ... Oh yeah, spot the Mallee Burl in the background....
    I see a decent burl, but are you sure it is a mallee?
    Neil
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  10. 6th March 2016, 06:33 PM #9
    Willy Nelson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dai sensei View Post
    You never seem to short of timber mate Timber is money in the bank. Now I have a decent workshop, I will be going through more, unfortunately, I am close to being full.

    Oh yeah, Just been offered exclusive access to a hundred acres of burnt out forest



    I see a decent burl, but are you sure it is a mallee?
    Once agin, I am not sure, but that was what the landowner told me. Burl is Burl!!!!
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  11. 6th March 2016, 06:35 PM #10
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    Bob
    Thanks for the photos and explaination, it must be spotted Gum. Having said that, I was given some super curly Sugar Gum from Derek Doak, it looks similar to your spotted gum All tree should carry some form of ID
    Willy
    Jarrahland
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