robutacion
Member
Off-course,:wink: I've got some wood last Sunday morning, in the way to my auto mechanics property, in the exact same spot as we did get a wagon full of She/Bull-Oak that the council guys cut, a few months back.
I know that we picked up all the wood they left behind after they chipped 60% of that they cut, as it was dead and full of termites. They sliced up some of the bigger logs for firewood and left them there for people to pick-up...! Interestingly, a month or so ago we noticed that the council was planting new trees in that triangle area in between a highway and a exit/access roads. They put a complete irrigation system under ground for these new trees and they left.
A couple of day later, I went pass in the same area and I spotted a long and dark log at one edge of this area and wonder how it got there, as I was sure that it wasn't there when I took the she/bull-Oak. Last Sunday, with a couple of chainsaws in the wagon, I've decided to get off the road and drive right to it.
I looked at it and a could tell that wasn't She/Bull-Oak, this was the full trunk of a small(ish) tree that has been dead for a long time. Looking closer, I saw that it was full of borer holes and also covered with plenty of dirt so I got thinking and come to the conclusion that, this trunk which belong to an Acacia of some sort, was buried underground and or covered with grass from some other time where they had it growing there.
Obviously, it wasn't visible when the latest council lot cut all the dead trees in that area, as they were all She/Bull-Oaks, the grass then was quite tall. The fellows that prepared the soil for the new trees, did mowed the grass before they started burying the irrigation pipes, in the process I'm sure, they hit this log and pulled it out.
We have had lots of rain since they planted the new trees, and that explain why this log had only a small amount of soil on it.
Anyway, we cut it up in 3 sections and when I did, I notice lots of colours within, as also lots of borer holes so I said to Merissa (my wife), "well, if I can't get any good wood out of these, at least we have some nicem dry and heavy firewood...!
"
Didn't touched it until today, and while sorting some of the burl pieces that were dropped in front of the work-shop, I picked up a small piece of this very dry and hard Acacia and took it to the bandsaw to rip a few pen blanks out of it, when I got a surprise at how the grain and colours where coming out.:biggrin:
Took a few pics of it, then finished slicing that small piece of wood giving me 10 pen blanks. Grabbed one and decided to turn it as a sample to get a better idea of how would look with a shiny finish on it. I certainly wasn't wrong and will be fair to say that, even tough I'm not sure if is the same species as my #36 in the list, which has not been identified properly, this piece produced some blanks that I haven't seen before, is this because the wood is a lot older and dryer that anything I got before from that species or is just another of the Acacia subspecies, one out of 1.200 +...!
I have no doubt that 70 or 80% of all the wood (logs) I've got of it, will be firewood but, if the 20% or so, is going to give me identical blanks as this one and or some of the other ones I have already cut then, I will be happy...!:biggrin:
Here it is...!
Enjoy!
Cheers
George
I know that we picked up all the wood they left behind after they chipped 60% of that they cut, as it was dead and full of termites. They sliced up some of the bigger logs for firewood and left them there for people to pick-up...! Interestingly, a month or so ago we noticed that the council was planting new trees in that triangle area in between a highway and a exit/access roads. They put a complete irrigation system under ground for these new trees and they left.
A couple of day later, I went pass in the same area and I spotted a long and dark log at one edge of this area and wonder how it got there, as I was sure that it wasn't there when I took the she/bull-Oak. Last Sunday, with a couple of chainsaws in the wagon, I've decided to get off the road and drive right to it.
I looked at it and a could tell that wasn't She/Bull-Oak, this was the full trunk of a small(ish) tree that has been dead for a long time. Looking closer, I saw that it was full of borer holes and also covered with plenty of dirt so I got thinking and come to the conclusion that, this trunk which belong to an Acacia of some sort, was buried underground and or covered with grass from some other time where they had it growing there.
Obviously, it wasn't visible when the latest council lot cut all the dead trees in that area, as they were all She/Bull-Oaks, the grass then was quite tall. The fellows that prepared the soil for the new trees, did mowed the grass before they started burying the irrigation pipes, in the process I'm sure, they hit this log and pulled it out.
We have had lots of rain since they planted the new trees, and that explain why this log had only a small amount of soil on it.
Anyway, we cut it up in 3 sections and when I did, I notice lots of colours within, as also lots of borer holes so I said to Merissa (my wife), "well, if I can't get any good wood out of these, at least we have some nicem dry and heavy firewood...!
"Didn't touched it until today, and while sorting some of the burl pieces that were dropped in front of the work-shop, I picked up a small piece of this very dry and hard Acacia and took it to the bandsaw to rip a few pen blanks out of it, when I got a surprise at how the grain and colours where coming out.
:biggrin:Took a few pics of it, then finished slicing that small piece of wood giving me 10 pen blanks. Grabbed one and decided to turn it as a sample to get a better idea of how would look with a shiny finish on it. I certainly wasn't wrong and will be fair to say that, even tough I'm not sure if is the same species as my #36 in the list, which has not been identified properly, this piece produced some blanks that I haven't seen before, is this because the wood is a lot older and dryer that anything I got before from that species or is just another of the Acacia subspecies, one out of 1.200 +...!
I have no doubt that 70 or 80% of all the wood (logs) I've got of it, will be firewood but, if the 20% or so, is going to give me identical blanks as this one and or some of the other ones I have already cut then, I will be happy...!:biggrin:
Here it is...!
Enjoy!
Cheers
George
