My Milling Holiday

[BobL]

Final Picks

We spent the last two days stacking slabs, collecting logs and slabbing a small sheoak in the proposed milling yard - a corner of the farm which is all gravel and Hud has been storing various logs in for several years.

As you can see the log collection in the milling yard is growing.

Hud plans to build an open shed to store lumber and slabs in that flat space between the Ranger and the garden shed. The garden shed is temporary tool storage. I has to be fixed to the ground otherwise the cows move it around.

The sheoak slabs turned out to be pretty rough so we stacked them on the remains of an old cart.

Hud says he might harness up his pet kangaroo to the cart and take them to market and see what he can get for them.

That's it - I have loads more pics but I think that is more than enough!

 

[BobL]

Are you going to get alot of nice grain in the slabs out of the dry wood? Looks like we could use a little of your sunshine in Pa... Last night here it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks for sharing, looks like alot of fun.

It was as you folks say a "Hoot"!

Some of the best grain is to be found in old (very hard) dry Aussie hardwood. Assuming there are no or minimal termites, an minimal dry rot and fungal growths the wood should be OK. This is a big ask. A friend of mine has slabbed a number of these old trees and he reckons his recovery is less than 20% but even so, on big logs it is usually worth it.

BTW it rarely reaches above 85F on the south coast where all this milling took place. Today I drove the 250 miles home and when I arrived it was 105F! Tomorrow the same is forecast.

 

[irishcountry]

Hey thanks for documenting all of that looks like you had a great time one of the last pics says it all with the big smile on your face!! Does you friend now share your love of milling?? I'm betting he does! Great job you guys are some hard workers got alot done and it look like it paid off some beautiful grains in that wood. I gotta say seeing all the sunshine sure makes me wish I was on vacation there my kids didn't have school today due to the temp. has to be -20 (with wind chill) to call school off and I got the recording at 5:00am this morning!! By the way do you guys ever run into dangerous stuff when your in the brush like snakes ect. maybe I watch too many TV shows and it doesn't happen as much as you'd think I know you guys have some real poisionous ones not to mention spiders ect. just curious?? Great pics and nice vacation!! Thanks again for the pics irishcountry

 

[petersenj20]

These pictures are awesome Bob. Spectacular wood. That's my idea of a vacation instead of going to some tourist trap and blowing all your money. If I could only talk the old lady into the same.
I'm sure those evenings made for some good times winding down relaxing with friends and knowing you had accomplished all that work.

 

[stipes]

So true!!!!

These pictures are awesome Bob. Spectacular wood. That's my idea of a vacation instead of going to some tourist trap and blowing all your money. If I could only talk the old lady into the same.
I'm sure those evenings made for some good times winding down relaxing with friends and knowing you had accomplished all that work.

Thank you again for the pics Bob!!! That one pic and the big ,,I mean BIG log tells it all!!!

 

[BobL]

Cheers Guys.

Yeah, it must seem odd to most people that 5 days of hard physical labour, covered in sweat, dirt and sawdust would be fun, but it came pretty close to the two weeks I spent this time last year at the guitar making school. I must admit I am very tired as I haven't done 5 consecutive days of physical labour since 2002.

We worked most days from about 10 am to 9 pm so the beers and quality local red wines tasted really good at the end of the day. Sandi was amazing. She worked all day with us and then would cook up a storm for dinner everynight. Then we would drink and chew milling fat well past midnight.

I found two more photos I though you all might find amusing. The week before the milling part of the holiday we spent in a caravan park close to the ocean on the south coast with 3 other families. Having my van with me with all my milling gear in it and of course my portable workbench I took every available bit of free time to tweak and sharpen.

Here was out setup. We were in the campervan in the middle. If you look closely you can see my portable workbench out the front with my 60" bar on it.

And here is the view while working at the bench.

 

[BobL]

By the way do you guys ever run into dangerous stuff when your in the brush like snakes ect. maybe I watch too many TV shows and it doesn't happen as much as you'd think I know you guys have some real poisionous ones not to mention spiders ect. just curious??

There are heaps of poisons snakes in the area but first the thing to do when moving into an area is to start a saw and they generally move away. The worst thing we ran into was a nest of centipedes in the side of the big marri. Sandi found the big mamma but instead of killing it she scooped it up with a gloved hand and threw it into the bush. There are bull ants everywhere - their stings are not dangerous to most people but they still hurt. Sandi was bitten in two places on her neck - looked like a vampire hit - and three places on a finder when she went to brush it off. I had to stand near a bull ant nest to make a cut and was bitten on the soft inside upper leg. It stings very painfully for about an hour and then fades slowly - 3 days later I can still feel it.

 

[irishcountry]

Ouch!! Bad spot for anything!! Thanks for the answer keep it up nice vacation!! cheers

 

[dustytools]

Great pictures Bob! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dai Sensei]

We worked most days from about 10 am to 9 pm

That's a big day milling by any stretch, let alone on holidays. Glad to see a heap of good results though Bob. Wouldn't I love to get my hands on the feathered grain from the centre of that big crutch.

 

[Zodiac45]

Nice going Bob and great pix as usual. Thanks for sharing your vacation. Woke up too -21F this morning! It's brisk!

 

[BIG JAKE]

Thanks for the thread Bob! I enjoyed viewing all the activities, tractors/equipment, and comments on the centipedes/ants/cows moving sheds, etc. Nice peek into your way of life down there. Nice figure on the different wood types too!

 

[MJR]

105F is to hot. My last trip to San Carlos Mexico was 115F with 80%RH. You can not do anything that hot. This morning it was -19F. The hickory was doing its’ job well keeping the house at 72F. That Jarrah does look like red cedar. I wonder how it smells. That would be an interesting game. Get some samples of saw dust and see who can ID them by just the smell.

 

[BobL]

Cheers guys.

I agree that Jarrah does look like red cedar but that's about it. It's a moderate hardness hardwood and when it is dry it is a touch harder than than hickory pecan. Some pieces are straight grained but mostly its interlocking so it is impossible for the average Joe to hammer a nail into. The sawdust smell when green is a combination of peat and eucalyptus, the later is not surprising as it is a eucalypt.

Here is a link to a small commercial sawmill that does some serious jarrah slabs.

 

[MJR]

Just one of those slabs at that mill would kill my little LL24. The power drag saw looks fun to run for a LITTLE while. My 20" red pine and norway's don't seem so big now...

I am wasting time till it gets above 0F before I start milling today. It has just been mean cold here lately. I am looking forward to my first black fly bite of the season.

 

[820wards]

Great photos Bob. Looks like everyone chipped in to help. I was out today preparing some Blue Oak for milling when I finish mine and when my son pulled the bark off the tree it was loaded with small scorpions. When a sticker bush poked him through his pants, he swore it was a scorpion. Down came his pants to make sure. Should have had the camera ready.
jerry-

http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=87215&stc=1&d=1232264845

Chris
http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=87216&stc=1&d=1232264942

 

[BobL]

Great photos Bob. Looks like everyone chipped in to help. I was out today preparing some Blue Oak for milling when I finish mine and when my son pulled the bark off the tree it was loaded with small scorpions. When a sticker bush poked him through his pants, he swore it was a scorpion. Down came his pants to make sure. Should have had the camera ready.

Cheers Chris, yeah it was a bit like that with the bullants. The bush floor vegetation contained lots of waist high prickly shrubs (another good reason the wear chaps) that poke right through the unchaped bits of clothing. After I was bit by the bullant every little prickle had me jumping out of the bush looking for more bullants.

 

[woodshop]

Once again Bob, thanks... I truly enjoyed this. I agree, even at only 20% recovery some big logs are worth tackling because you still often get some great looking wood. If I was a commercial logging crew and my men and equipment were costing me $300/hr, another story, but guys like us here on AS can take the time to salvage great slabs from logs the commercial folks wouldn't touch because it just wouldn't pay.

 

[dancan]

I'd rep you for the time and effort you put into this forum but AS says I have to spread it around so it coming !
Keep up the great posts !

 

[BobL]

Cheers Guys,

Guess what? - it's Australia Day (public holiday) on monday so this evening (friday) I get to go back to the Hudsons for 2 whole days! It's a long 5 hour drive but well worth it. I plan to instal an aux oiler on Hud's big mill and tackle some more jarrah.

Cheers