Lots of wood to move...!

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robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
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Hi peoples,

I mentioned some time ago that I was going to get me, someone, to help me cut and move most of the big woods/logs I got 1n 2016 from the "closed" McLaren Vale firewood processing plant. After a long time looking/searching I finally managed to find a bloke is name is Waldo the same age as me but half my size that live in a nearby property and he is willing to get paid in exchange for some working hours here and there, mostly on the chainsaw (his own) but also loading and unloading it at my place/yard, Waldo will also be helping me to slab any of the bigger logs that I have had in the paddock for many years, mostly nice Macrocarpa but not only, some large Red Gum stump, already cut into quarters and one very interesting log crotch with multiple limbs in all directions, I'm not absolutely sure what the wood is but I will find out.

I forgot to take my camera with me when we first started to cut the logs into pieces I endup taking a few pics when most of the logs were already sliced up and this is how it looked like, 001.JPG002.JPG003.JPG004.JPG

You can see the area where most of the "carnage" was done, lots of shavings...!

There is a far mix of woods on that pile mostly woods that became part of my timbers list in 2016 and that is the rest of the many tonnes I got from that firewood place during 2016 and 2017 most of which I doubt I will ever find again so this may be the end of the stock that will last for a few more years or for as long as I will be around.

As I said, I rarely slab logs as I don't really have much use for them in that form, the ones I made endup all being cut into shorter pieces but my thought behind the idea of slabbing a few logs is mainly due to my curiosity in seeing what sort of grains I will get out of these very interesting log/crotch, after the chainsaw milling is set up and we in the paddock, I will slab the bigger stuff before it all rotten away, so lets see that intriguing crotch/log, 008.JPG011.JPG

I have a few very large and old Macrocarpa logs that were from the main trunk base from some Macrocarpa tree that Bill the old local timber mill owner (closed down just over 2 years ago) cut and stored in his yard for one day, 40 years later they were still there. I can see lots of signs of curl and compressions, I expecting that wood to look identical to the Macrocarpa root that I once sliced up and the grains were simply amazing so here they are,006.JPG009.JPG010.JPG

There is also a large Olive root that I got also from the McLaren Vale firewood place that I already cut a few chunks out of it but that I'm considering slabbing across the root bottom after turning it in upside down position from the way it was buried on the ground, these slabs will be full of inclusions (not forgetting the mud, sand, rocks and whatever else I got in there), lots of cleaning but still there will be lots of chains blunting and stone damage, no doubt about it, so here it is,007.JPG

The other Macrocarpa logs that I have stored for slabbing are the ones Merissa an I cut from a couple of adults (80 years+)Macrocarpa trees only a couple of miles out of town here, that was is 2007-8, they are 3 logs in total one is shorter the other two are about 9' long and here they are,019.JPG020.JPG

The last one to slab will probably be one or 2 quarters of the large Red Gum stump Merissa and I cut and brought home and 2010 or so, 017.JPGafter all these logs slabbed between 2"1/4 to 4"1/4 I will decide how to proceed from there, I will not be surprised if I endup getting a few slabs that I will not cut into pieces but instead make some tables with them or sell them to someone that will do the same thing, will see, my higher bet is on the multi crotch piece, what is yours...?;)

To be continued...!

Cheers
George
 
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robutacion

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That multi crotch piece will definitely be interesting , both to cut and to see the figure . Not sure of the scale of it . What is the diameter of the main trunk ?
Hi Wayne,

I've got some measurements today to answer your question, the trunk from where this crotch was cut from is 21" in one way and 31" on the other but I cut a couple of ends to see what the wood was, just from the chainsaw cutting I could tell it was a super dense/hardwood that turns out to be Live Oak but I'm starting to wonder if I should slab it, every limb is cracked deeply, the "butt" is also cracked as hell so, I have doubts that the wood inside will be all cracked and spoiling what I was expecting to get if was from some other wood such as Camphor Laurel or similar (soft and solid).

You can see the type of cracks I have on that wood so, I may just rip it in half before I do anything with it, now that I have a 44" bar I can reach further. 011.JPG

So, we managed to bring all the wood we cut up before between yesterday and today (Saturday & Sunday), I am exhausted and very saw from doing all this work but I wouldn't have been able to have this all done without the help of Waldo, he earned every dollar he charged, no doubt.

My old Kodack camera seems to have the wrong date on the recent pics I took, is about 2 months behind and when I tried to correct the date and time, it wouldn't let me get into the date and time settings so I don't what else to do, I may need to find the Manual and have a look for instructions.

Anyway, I took some pics of the empty area where the wood was and was cut/piled, 010.JPG not clean but I haven't seen the ground in most of that area for some years, I have to clean that up a bit and pile it up for burning when the time is right.

I was lucky that I was still able to use the back fence to bring all the wood in, all that vacant area is now full of houses but the lot that will be next to that side of the fence has not yet started construction, therefore we could drive the vehicle right next to where the wood was going to go for now,003.JPG008.JPG

We covered the area the wood was going with wood pallets to keep the wood off the ground for whatever the time it will stay there, the idea is to when I have the chance to grab one piece at the time take it to the bandsaw, remove all the waste wood and then store it under cover, it is going to take me probably months to go through it all but its OK, I have a large heavy-duty plastic to go over it all to prevent getting more rain/wet so, in my own time, bit by bit I will do it. These are some of the pics of yesterday just after we started bringing some wood in, 001.JPG005.JPG006.JPG007.JPG

Today we brought in the rest with some pieces of firewood in the mix that I will be splitting soon as we are going through some serious firewood in these cold days. All the wood is in, the back/access fence was put back and tomorrow I will cover the wood with the plastic. 012.JPG013.JPG014.JPG015.JPG

The third pic is the firewood and the last pic are some chunks I cut from the large crotch log from a Red Ironbark tree, I have already cut and processed some pieces of this crotch piece and the grain is just amazing, good for book-match but not only, those will be the first pieces I will tackle and I can't wait. I have some special stuff amongst all those chunks and I will put them to good use, no doubt...!

This will conclude the "exercise" to bring all my better woods home but I still have some goodies in that paddock for later. ;)

Cheers
George
 
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robutacion

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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Too bad about the cracks in the live oak . Would look great though with cracks filled with coloured epoxy . I suspect most of that `firewood` wouldn`t make it into my fireplace .
Well, my friend, all options are still open for that interesting and big crotch log and if I had the working space and money I would be getting into making river type tables, they sell well when done well, there are a few folks in the Adelaide area that got into that sort of work, the reason why my resin supplier was running out of stock far too quickly and the factory (Barnes) wasn't able to keep up so they change suppliers from someone in Brisbane that is capable to make large quantity of this epoxy slow setting resin.

I have thought many times in making them, I have made a few small table tops (coffee type or smaller) because I don't have any equipment that can plain anything over 10", large tables tops or complete tables are where the money is, only rich people can afford them, they vary from $10,000 to $20,000 sometimes even more but when you see the size of those monsters one can appreciate the amount of work, resin and wood volume in one of those finished pieces, from 1" 1/2 to 3" thick to 3' to 4' wide and about 10" to 15" long some with resin pours that exceeded 100 litres, with prices about $30.00 per litre on 30 litre drums, obviously these guys buy the 200 litre drums for prices that I don't know but still, preparing, pouring, drying time, space to put them while setting between 3 to 5 days or more, all the equipment to route, sand and finish these tables, you need to have a big shed divided into areas where pouring and drying rooms would have to be out of action for days, have good air filtration but also be accessible for forckliffs, or any other winching equipment that can handle such weight, the way I see it, the whole process of slabbing and handling big heavy slabs multiple times during construction is enough to put me off but don't get me wrong, I would love to be able to create this type of work if I could...!

With that said and the crotch in question, I have thought in using the chainsaw with the 44" bar without the milling frame, role the crotch on its side and slice it longways through the middle that was I can exactly what I have inside and if I feel that is worth to slab the 2 halves, at least get 2 x2" slabs from each half/side or 2 at 2" and 1 at 4"+ the outside edges will have all different thicknesses but they can be used for bowls and anything else. The length of the log is not much, I didn't measure it but I would say about 6' or so, when I get the weather to get better and I can have Waldo (the new friend helper) to give me a hand again, I will deal with the crotch log the one way or the other and I will show it here for you guys to see and give me some ideas/comments and then go from there, do you guys think that is a good plan...?

PS: I got the large plastic covering all the wood "mountain" I think just in time as the weather changed again to rain but at least the wood is safe and covered...! ;) šŸ‘

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

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Joined
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Messages
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Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
What a terrible problem to have, too much beautiful wood to move. Wish I was closer to help with this problem.:)
Yeah, isn't that a terrible problem to have...??? ;)

I run into this sort of problem every so often, not as often as I once did but nevertheless, isn't the amount of wood to be moved or handled but the amount of weight I have to carry that my spine doesn't like and bites me like a bulldog, when the dust settles and I can move again that's when I start to enjoy each piece and I have some "beauties" in this lot...!šŸ˜²

If you were closer I could at least ask you to give me a hand cutting and moving the wood and off-course you would be taking home a few nice chunks for you to play with, with that said, I have to say that, one would be surprised on what they can find if they follow the chainsaw sound or, talk to some of the tree people and places where they take it to, including the local dumps...!

Cheers
George
 
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