ohh...
i just came across this, and there i was, about to make some wise comment about northern hemisphere timber, when i did the fast forward to here.
my condolences. the few threads ive read, and the few pics seen, this art martin guy was an old timer with the old knowledge. the talk of scarfing with an axe to almost planed flatness rings pretty true. that was what you did. took pride in what you did. your skills.
what a shame to read the news i read. oh well. has to happen to us all one day.
the fact people awknowledge our passing is what counts. shows you were a somebody
now, back to laughing! the first few pages of this thread just hammered home a small thought i had today...
HOW DID ANYONE POSSIBLY CLEAR AUSTRALIA? with an AXE?
we dont have oak, we dont have oregon pine. we have ironbark and cypress pine. we have 12 of the twenty hardest timbers. thats "commercially milled" hard, not "anything that grows and needs cutting down" hard, remember that.
and having tried splitting just an 8 inch length of unseasoned buloke this afternoon... my hands are still numb. it was only 6 inches round! it rings! it clangs! it does anything but split! its the hardest timber in the world!
as it is... its from a tree that fell around chrissy time. the lil baby 6 foot lengths, about 4feet diameter...my tractor wasnt lifting them by itself. needed 2 mates to give it some "assistance". at which it just did wheelies and the log rolled back off again! dragged em eventually. had to buy a new chain for the saw, mainly cus its last use seemed to be as a ditchwitch or a masonry saw or something similar... hmmmm?
i think im going to be buying a log splitter for the majority of this thing... i got 10 tonne to cut and split!
us kids have it easy. all too soft these days. bring back the cane! bring back rations! bring back the CHAIN GANGS! bring back necessity.
yeah
RIP dude.
another lifetime perhaps.
cus right now id love some advice on sharpening chains to deal with cutting ironwoods...