Rounds and more rounds...!

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robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
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6,514
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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
G'day guys and gals,

About 12 years ago, Merissa and I, we've started gathering as much wood as we could and one of its purposes to cut into bowl blanks, at the time I was doing a lot of bowls turning particularly green with green woods, I had also started my eBay store and my main focus was on bowl, platter, vases and other larger chunks of wood.

We brought home and stored under cover lots of the processed blanks that I was either busing or selling, 2 areas were used for that purpose, one to store the round blanks and the other to store the semi-processed logs and short slabs. We were salvaging everything, even stuff that would be more suited as firewood and many logs of the same thing not knowing if we were going to get any more of it.

Newer stuff was stored over the older woods/blanks until there could not fit anymore, I then started to enclose/built other areas to store my woods under cover/out of the weather, wood was coming fast and furious:eek::biggrin:

Off-course, after some time you couldn't remember what was stored underneath all the stuff and even if you did, good luck in finding an easy way to get to it was either forget about it or spend hours moving logs and then put it all back again only to need something else that was also under tonnes of wood, this was minimized more recently when I rebuilt an old storage area with some heavy duty timber shelving so that the semi-processed pieces of wood could be found and reached with ease, see here

These last couple of months, I decided that was time to do a clean-up and re-organise these 2 areas I mention at the beginning of this thread, the round blanks storage as part of my "lathe room" and the "corridor" which is an area between the back fence and the main shed, this space is open on both ends and certainly one of the best wood drying spots in my whole yard, wind come through like a narrow corridor reason of its name.

My oldest logs were stored there, 100% of my original Black Wattle logs were stored there 12 years ago, one side almost only this wood and the other a mix of Stone Pine, Macrocarpa root, Silver Wattle, Almond, She-Oak and a bit of everything in there, this storage area is the closest area to my bandsaw so, anything new that I would bring home to process straightaway, I would put in there, I have almost got to the floor (wood pallets) this means that, anything that shouldn't be there was made into firewood and anything else that was good, was semi-processed and stored in the new area so, I will be soon considering bringing a lot of newer woods stored in the open paddock, some of which I have to cut into manageable pieces, some are dry but wet and others still need some extra drying but that will be for another day and another thread/post.

PIC09883.jpgPIC09888.jpg


This thread is getting long and I haven't yet said much about the reason for this thread and there is sort the old stock of round blanks, re-cut what was good and make firewood out of those that developed large cracks or self-destroyed.

These were only a small percentage of what once I had in there years ago, lots of other woods were put in front of them hoping one day I would sort that mess, re-organise the space/area to suit my more recent needs.

Pic taken in 2007 A few extra blanks on new shelves 004_(1).jpg

I finished working on them and take them all to the "Lolly-shop", I may list some on the web-store particularly the small ones, the rest will be available to anyone local(ish) that come and visit or someone that is willing to pay freight costs.

Interestingly, the wood varieties are a lot less than what I've thought, they were mainly, Macrocarpa, Stone Pine, Sugar and Rose Gum, lots of Melaleuca, some Black Wattle and Yellow Gum, these are all at least 10 years old since processed the first time so yes, they are all "dry"...!:)

I only took one pic of the "pile" before I took them away, that was enough...!:biggrin:

002.JPG


Well, that's all for now...!:)

Cheers
George
 
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LR9788

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Sep 14, 2016
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Franklin, TN
What an excellent collection of wood. They are sure to make some very nice bowls. I would love some unique bowl blanks. Any idea on how you will price these with shipping to the us?
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
What an excellent collection of wood. They are sure to make some very nice bowls. I would love some unique bowl blanks. Any idea on how you will price these with shipping to the us?

G'day,

International shipping was one of the reasons I went from bigger blanks such as these to pen and knife handle blanks, even though I offer International shipping with a discounted rate of about 38% less than the general public would pay at the Post Office, some of these blanks weight about 10kg and that would represent a cost of AU$138.00 just for shipping with "Economy" option.

Shipping costs work like this, the first 250gr is AU$12.00 then an extra AU$4.00 for any 250gr increments after that.

Sure, small blanks of for example 6"x 2" would weight approx. 1kg to 1.5kg depending on the type of wood, most of these blanks I would sell for AU$10.00 or less + about AU$24.00 to AU$32.00 for International shipping and that spoil any good price I can put on the blanks, that is a very old problem of mine.

A decent size bowl blank would be 10" to 14" diameter x 4 " to 6" thick/deep, in some of my woods a blank that size will weight 10kg to 15kg, blank prices depend on the woods but for example, I can sell one of these larger blanks for about AU$30.00 to $40.00 to someone local that can pick-up a few, that is quite OK, posting one of these within Australia would also cost about $30.00, anything that fits in a pre-paid postal bag up to a maximum of 5kg will cost AU$18.00 a 5kg bowl blank will cost about AU$20.00 and that is not a big blank.

Unfortunately, this is the reality...!

Cheers
George
 
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Curly

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Nov 20, 2010
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Location
Saskatoon SK., Canada.
I almost had a customer for you George. I have a buddy that is coming to the area south of Sydney in January. He is an aircraft mechanic on a BA-146 jet converted for firebombing. He will return to Canada in March and will stuff the airplane with a bunch of wood. Unfortunately you are a long way away and he won't be able to get out to get some of your wooden gold. He'll have to shop around the area he is in.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
I almost had a customer for you George. I have a buddy that is coming to the area south of Sydney in January. He is an aircraft mechanic on a BA-146 jet converted for firebombing. He will return to Canada in March and will stuff the airplane with a bunch of wood. Unfortunately you are a long way away and he won't be able to get out to get some of your wooden gold. He'll have to shop around the area he is in.

Yes, Sydney is a long way away from me, shame for me missed opportunity but life goes on, I'm sure he will find places around Sydney that sell some of the Aussie woods, I wish him luck in finding the good stuff.:biggrin:

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
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Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Why is the Australian post so expensive? It seems cost prohibitive for anyone to send packages anywhere.

I wish I had the answer, it would be almost impossible for me to sell overseas if wasn't for the contract I have with Australia Post where I get lower/discounted rates, (about 38% less than the general public), the problem is, that contract requires me to process a minimum of AU$5.000 with International shipping otherwise the contract is not renewed and probably lost forever so, I need to produce orders for International destinations, the USA is where the majority of my orders go/were going as I notice this year a considerable decrease of International orders, particularly from the USA and that concerns me.

Many IAP members have experienced ordering from me over the years and the consense has been that a combination of fair prices, the discounted shipping rates and the fact that AU$ money worth about 25% less than the $USD, the total costs for any order of 2kg and under has been considered quite OK/doable and that may explain why International orders until quite recently (last year) were about 70% of my sales, that trend has now changed the other way around so losing my discounted rates contract with Australia Post, is now imminent and that will be a big loss to me/us...!

In respect to the high Australian international shipping costs compared to the USA, I'm not sure if that is totally true, our countries have different postal criterias the USA most common shipping option is the flat rate boxes, that system is now fairly costly also, for example, I get regularly Cactus Juice from Curtis, I get the 2 x 1 gallon containers that fit perfectly in the large flat rate box, each gallon of CJ weight 4.05kg so, the box contents is 9.010kg + whatever the box that in this case is not much so lets say 250.gr making a total weight of about 9.260kg, the shipping cost of that box is $USD99.00 which is about AU$140.00

Australia charges by weight so, that same box sent from Australia to the USA using the "Economy" option (cheapest) it would cost AU$130.50 and if I would use the Express Courier Internation which offers tracking and insurance that would cost AU$170.00

So, the dollar difference is not as significant as it looks what most people forget is that they see the $ symbol and forget that prices are in AU$ after conversion the values look a lot better if you are in the USA, off-course.

I hope my explanation makes sense and that makes you realise shipping costs between our countries are not as considerable as one may think.

There are good and bad things about both our country shipping criterias, you lose some, you game some...!

Cheers
George
 
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robutacion

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Messages
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Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Area is 2/3 of the USA with 15th of the population.

G'day mate,

Well yes, those numbers are fairly correct but the reality is very different in my view. Australia has vast areas of land that are totally inhabitable, even native creatures are scarce, I have been in some of those areas and I can tell you, I don't think humans of any colour could survive in such environments, Aboriginals have kept the hell away from those places and they are capable to survive in environments most of us would have no chance.

With that said, Australia has been a place where residents like to have space and be part of small communities, city people are different, they live and flourish in the busy city environment and rush rush life's, our main cities are bursting at the seams with people are living like sardines in cans, there is a certain number of our city population that don't particularly like the city life but they make the sacrifice based on their business and financial needs, they can not wait to get out and move to the country for that lifestyle that Australias are so proud of fight to protect so, population increase is not what most of us would like to see, it may sound selfish but is not, I sacrificed all I had as a young man to move to Australia, was not looking for the richest but looking for that country lifestyle and mentality that I read/studied so much about, in these last 30 years I've seen a crazy pollution increase even in small towns, to give you an example, the town I live on since 2005 and increased the polupation and housing estate to double and that is yet to stop, can I see the difference...? I sure can, do I think is a positive thing, hell no, bad things have been happening in this town recently that were never a concern a decade ago, how will it be in another decade or 2, I won't be here to find out thank goodness for that but I feel sorry for those that will and that moved up here because this WAS a small Aussie country town, it was but no longer...!:frown:

Is only so many people that can fit and live/survive in Australia livable areas, that limit is close to being reached and people in higher places are worried about, as for me, I'm old and I had a good time at the Australian lifestyle and mentality, I have been everywhere in this country and I understand what native Australians are trying to preserve, I'm honoured that I manage to be part of what makes the heart of this country beat, my thoughts and words are mine and mine only, others may have a different view and I'm OK with that...!:biggrin:

For all these years I wondered what made me want to become Australian and if any of my ancestors have had any "connection" to this country to make me this way, I never really found out any connection from ancestors and that has become not really important any more, I no longer ask why, I'm happy to just be...!:)

Wow, is 6:00pm (afternoon) and I haven't done anything else all day but write on the computer, emails, PM's and off-course answer questions here of issues that I have a lot to say as normal so, forgive me for that...!:wink:

Cheers
George
 
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