Single lace sheoak slab

[Iron.and.bark]

Thought I better say hello instead of just lurking here

Been slabbing/milling off farms down here in south western Australia for a fair few years. Not to mention making generic bush/craft furniture as well. Pretty much specialize in w.a. sheoak.

Just a couple of shots of a piece of lace sheoak that is destined to be a table top eventually (can't bring myself to break it down).

Piece is approx 6ft by 3ft wide, should have milles with a 50" bar instead of 42" as was a really tight squeeze at the end.

 

[Jimbo209]

is that a 394/5 or a 3120 there

 

[BobL]

Hey I&B, good to see another Western Australian on this site. so welcome aboard.

For those outside this region finding a Western Australian Sheoak (allocasuarina Fraseriana) that big is getting increasingly rare.

 

[Iron.and.bark]

3120.

Normally I would use my solo 690 though as it seem to "labor" less but alass it is still on the work bench. Seems to have a tad bit more torque in the cut despite the 30cc difference. Also being lighter balances better in the Alaskan due to the lower powerhead weight.

Both are great saws, just my personal preference

 

[Iron.and.bark]

Hey I&B, good to see another Western Australian on this site. so welcome aboard.

For thotside this region finding a Western Australian Sheoak (allocasuarina Fraseriana) that big is getting increasingly rare.

Cheers BobL, been reading your posts for a while

This sheoak actually wasn't a very large one, which is often a characteristic of ones with lace in them (almost like an overgrown bonzai tree).

For those that want to know. The ray structure of sheoak is like opening a book. Any shape you can hold a book open at a sheoak will grow at. It will also twist on itself within that growth shape. Hence this piece is a mixture of lace and quartersawn etc. Makes marvelous craftwood.

*edit*

You have to know how to mill the timber correctly to get the patterns through it and to stop it splitting. Seen a lot that basically ended up as pen blanks

Not all wa sheoak looks like this slab. For every 1000 tree's you will get 1 lace and a piece like this is 1 in 500 lace.

 

[BobL]

Next time you cut pour some water on the fresh cut and then take the photos so the folks here can see the grain a bit clearer?

 

[Iron.and.bark]

BobL : will wood wizz it next week, taking about 5mm of top. Should reveal more color on dark part of timber since I milled as close to surface of slab as possible and outside had been burned by a bushfire on property. Alcohol brings it up better than water

 

[BobL]

BobL : will wood wizz it next week, taking about 5mm of top. Should reveal more color on dark part of timber since I milled as close to surface of slab as possible and outside had been burned by a bushfire on property. Alcohol brings it up better than water

I don't usually have that much free alcohol on hand