Called in on George (Robutacion)

[Dai Sensei]

Well I'm on my "hobbyholiday) spending 13 months (to start with ) travelling around Aus on my own sight seeing and calling in on various woodworkers along the way. I have a big camper on the back of my ute and tow a trailer with 1.5t of woodworking gear including a chainsaw mill that does up to 4' diameter.

Basically I do woodturning/penturning demos at various clubs and call in on as many members I know from the various woodworking/penturning forums that I know of (or they let me know they would like me to call in). I get to meet a lot of people and enjoy a cup of tea & cake or a meal with them along with helping out where I can.

I am near Adelaide in Australia where George comes from to see his famous lolly shop :biggrin:, his casting set-up and of course his timber piles :bulgy-eyes:

Well yesterday he took me on a tour of the workshop etc and then we did a bit of casting on a large lump of half rotten peppercorn timber I intend to turn into a lidded container of some sort.

Today we rigged up my mill and headed for his paddock of wonders :biggrin:. Started on what George describes as Fiddle Gum, a brownish gum tree timber with heaps of fiddleback (although you can't see too well in the photos), about 2' diameter and 6' long. I slabbed it into 4" slabs that George will cut up smaller on his bandsaw.

 

[Dai Sensei]

Then we were going to set-up on some lovely 120 year old olive hunks he had, but I decided as they were not that big (~2' dia) to just do them freehand with the 4' bar. The first one was fine, ~3.5' long, but the second was 4.5' long so proved a bit of a challenge as it was the end of the day and I was getting pretty tired by then. Wow what timber, that grain was amazing, plus a sweet smell to go with it all.

Tomorrow we intend to hit some huge 1/4 tree trunk chunks of redgum that will probably test the saw. Not that long, less ~4-5', but each 1/4 is over 3' wide

 

[Edward Cypher]

What fun. Enjoy.

 

[mark james]

Thanks for sharing - I liked the photos!

 

[PWL]

Good job guys! Beautiful wood.

Paul

 

[gimpy]

Nice, very nice.......after seeing Georges wood pile I may need to place a special order

 

[Ambidex]

Very cool Neil!! Wish I was there for the knowledge and fun, not to mention what looks like warmer climes than here.:biggrin:

 

[TimS124]

The olive looks very nice. Thanks for the photos showing it all.

 

[Dai Sensei]

Well today we hit the one of the redgum lumps and scored 6no 4" slabs. It was a very old tree with unfortunately heaps of sand/dirt and even some stones at the bottom end (it was an old trunk) so milling was slow and painful, heaps of zig-zagging with blunt chains , but the grain was pretty good

The slab pictured above also had what I though originally to be old mud, but at a close look, is timber but what looks like brown coal . Very light and brittle and still took the edge of the chain .

Cheers

 

[Dai Sensei]

It wasn't long after we headed back to the olive to do a bit more freehand milling.

One log George took a slice off of a branch that I quickly pounced on. As soon as we got back to the house I cut it round on the bandsaw and then put it on George's lathe to rough out a bowl ready for drying. It ended up being ~280mm dia x 25-30mm thick. Splashed a bit of water on it to show the grain

I'll seal it tomorrow and then leave it to turn in the future when it is dry, say Darwin

Cheers

 

[SDB777]

You running a older Stihl 088 there?

Nice timber, and I envy someone that can 'journey for 13 months" to do any kind of stuff like this! Very cool you stopping by to cut timber with folks along the way.


When you want to stop by here?






Scott (I can find you some big timber) B

 

[mark james]

I am so envious!!! (In a nice way) . To be able to travel, play, turn, meet friends old and new... WOW - Enjoy.

The rough-turned bowl looks horrible... I'll PM my address and you can be done with it! :biggrin: I'll pay for shipping!!

What a great way to spend time with friends (old and new).

PLEASE continue your travel log Dai Sensi! This is excellent - the pictures add a lot.

Hopefully George is not sore about the Fish post!!!

...Wifey and I spent 8 days many moons ago in your area - WE WANT TO GO BACK! Still remember the Fairy Penguin Parade! And the Linga Longa Hotel in Cairns...That may be... oh, 1986'ish...

We did some diving off of Cairns... 2 hrs boat ride from the coast to the barrier reef (Most N Americans do not realize how far out the barrier reef is in Australia). Dove from bottom to top on a "balmy," (Aussie term). Fascinating... Giant clams - 3' across and took 30-40 seconds to close (had to expel water)... but if a foot/flipper stayed in...

Say Hi To George - my latest pen is a hit at my school... "No Way, thats not from Astralia..." "Well, that's Australia, and yes! Mr George scooped up Kangaroo poop and made this blank especially for me... Just kidding kids... This is Truffle Wood..... " They love the stories! Thanks George; and Thanks Dai Sensei.

Take Care.

 

[Ambidex]

Well today we hit the one of the redgum lumps and scored 6no 4" slabs. It was a very old tree with unfortunately heaps of sand/dirt and even some stones at the bottom end (it was an old trunk) so milling was slow and painful, heaps of zig-zagging with blunt chains , but the grain was pretty good

The slab pictured above also had what I though originally to be old mud, but at a close look, is timber but what looks like brown coal . Very light and brittle and still took the edge of the chain .

Cheers

I'd be happy to send some refurbished csaw blades for oh..lets say..a slab of each?? George, I'm about to retire and have always had aus on my bucket list...any chance you need somebody that can run a cs and not talk unless talked to? Plus I'm about to be single again so there won't be any sheilas telling me what to do:biggrin:...can't wait for the reply!!:tongue:

 

[Dai Sensei]

You running a older Stihl 088 there?

Nice timber, and I envy someone that can 'journey for 13 months" to do any kind of stuff like this! Very cool you stopping by to cut timber with folks along the way.


When you want to stop by here?






Scott (I can find you some big timber) B

Just a Stihl660, wish it was a 880, but I push it to the limit (slowly ). My mill can handle the 36", 42" and 60" bars I have. The one I am using here is the 42". I rarely use the 60" luckily and listen carefully to the revs at all times to ensure I am not stressing out the saw too much.

I'd love to visit USA, one of my sons lives and works in Seattle, but like most of us the $'s don't come easy anymore. This trip has been good as someone is in my house back home paying all the bills.

 

[robutacion]

Hi peoples,

Thanks Neil, for taking the time to share some of your "tribulations", with you George's visit...!

I was great to have met you personally, after some years communication through the Australian Wood work forum from which, I was banned from, before I joined to IAP.

We (me, wife and the 2 pet dogs) were pleased to have you here for a few days and show you around my "nest", that has been shared many times buy photograph.

It was never panned as such but, some of the logs you slabbed for/with me (even though I have my own 36" chainsaw slabber), have been eye-balled many times for slabbing before but, I still have lots of those woods processed into smaller chunks to finish up later, trusting that, leaving that big, they aren't so easy to steal, even though the paddock is padlocked.

Your visit and your willingness to put your chainsaw milling into action, made me think that, the time has come to let you enjoy, some of George's treasures, first hand and face to face. Opening one of those old Olive wood trunks, is in my view, a privileged that only a few of us have, in our like time so, I was happy to have something special for you to slice up.

As for the dirt, rocks, sand and toughness dealing/handling some of my woods, well...! that's nothing new, and something that I have shared with everyone, many times. I may have a never easy job to bring these timbers back to life but, the results are most rewards, as far as I'm concerned...!:wink:

I/we just got myself, a lot of extra work to do, finish cutting those slabs/chunks smaller, and bring them home, to be store properly and under cover, I just have to spend a few days re-arranging my sheds in the house to accommodate all that wood but, I'm most grateful that you helped us with that stage of the job, that needed to be done, sooner or later...!

I hope you enjoyed our hospitality and that you can take some good memories from your time here, we certainly enjoyed to have you here...!

Any time you are in the neighbourhood, stop by, you know where we are...!

Cheers
George

 

[Gofer]

Neil you are making me want to make the not so quick hop over to OZ to see our good mate. I have seen many similar pics over the last few years and heard many story's about the supplies in the paddock. As for George's Lolly Shop there is little possibility that any of us could enter it and leave empty handed.

I look forward to seeing some of the results that come from the fun and supplies you already showed.

Bruce