Got a break in the weather and started on some Sheoak (called Australian Pine in the US). First tree is pretty ugly, but it was the first on line and had to go to make space to take out the others. Got it down without breaking any fences or gates, so that was a good start. We got the tops cleaned up and will break it down into a few short logs tomorrow. There are 3 other trees that look a lot nicer, and actually have a respectable saw log in them.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Sheoak01.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503291176)
I have read that Australian Pine seems to give band mills a hard time, but the little chunks I've sliced up so far seem OK with the swingblade. It's a lot denser than the cypress and cedar that I'm usually cutting, but still cuts good.
And I am out in the country, in spite of the large building in the background. It's an old dairy factory complex that's now used as a fertiliser store and truck repair shop.
There's a couple of different casuarinas and they're all "sheoak", but the stuff I've milled had a fair bit of silica on it... soft enough wood but hard to keep an edge up to it. Stellite is better at edge retention than TCT in wood carrying a lot of silica if you've got enough to justify swapping teeth out: it won't be as sharp at the start but it'll stay halfway sharp longer.
It also seemed prone to end splits and warping during drying, so some care there may be warranted.
Gets some good colour though, and plenty of medullary ray oak grain.
I have cut my share of Australian Pine in Florida. From experience I try to cut it when the log is a green as possible because as the log dries it gets harder. LL was correct in that it tends to warp a lot and planer blades don't like it too much. Green Heart cuts the same way, slow speed, lots of water. Its a great wood for trailer decking as it resists rot quite well. I have also cut Australian Silky Oak. Its a great looking board with great features but the sawdust can be toxic like poison oak/ivy. Made me break out for 2 weeks. I have not tried to cut either on the Lucas because mine is set up for slabbing. Did your chainsaw stay sharp when cutting this tree down? Tree service guys in my area hate it because it dulls a blade quickly. Dan
Got called in to work today to sort out a clients system as my workmate was stuck at home with a dug up driveway ::)
But called in to the site on the way home and bucked / sorted what was left. A logger friend is also using the site, and unknown to us had arranged for a couple of dump trucks of firewood logs to be dropped off this morning. And I'd left the track 1/2 blocked off with this fallen tree. Owner was OK with that as you could get a car, bike, tractor etc past easily, but not an artic dumptruck ::). Anyway he was able to cut and push it out of the way, and being an actual logger, he cut it in sensible places, and didn't ruin anything.
Butt log is a bit ugly, ingrown bark and a piece split off where a big branch was. And it's too heavy for the tractor to lift. We will just roll it over into the clear, set up the mill around it, and see what we can recover. The next tree, in the background, looks a lot better, and actually has a couple of good logs in it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Sheoak02.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503376479)
Next piece up would actually pass as a saw log.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Sheoak03.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503376475)
This is a little chunk I cut up a while back and is drying in the workshop. I expect it will misbehave with grain this crazy, but If I can get it dry intact it will make something pretty cool.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Sheoak04.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503376497)
Ohh, and Blair's firewood logs. Make our little Sheoaks look good :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170822_121644.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503376538)
It's definitely a hard wood, and I expect it will dull chainsaws and the mill quicker than most. But both are easy enough to sharpen and get back into it.
Are you sure those are firewood? Looks like some art might be hiding in there, depending, of course, on finding the artist willing to pay for the cutting. :)
Quote from: grouch on August 22, 2017, 08:35:22 AM
Are you sure those are firewood? Looks like some art might be hiding in there, depending, of course, on finding the artist willing to pay for the cutting. :)
It's middle of winter here, firewood is what's on peoples mind, although this will be next years at this point. We have a line of Cypress at least that size, with some GOOD logs in it. Blair will probably take the majority of it, but I'm going to snag the best sawlogs out of that.
At least it was a nice day today, and we have a view where we are working.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170823_090043.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503467389)
This is a better looking tree.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170823_095233.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503467528)
And a short and unedited clip of it coming down. Still getting used to the new progressive lenses that seem to distort perspective as I look down. Makes it hard to judge how level the saw is. :-[ But at least I got the plunge cuts to match up this time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsOK8L_H1B0
My biggest problem with progressive lenses was figuring out that the ground was still the same distance away that it's always been. High-stepped for a while. :D
That video makes me jealous of the size trees you can mill.
Took the mill out today and started sawing.
Log didn't look any better rolled out into the clear, but at least we could get that forked section level to leave a live edge slab.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170824_100816.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503558704)
Yes this stuff is HARD, the mill needs a sharpen in this clip, so you can hear it bog down at times in the crazy grain around the forked part.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7PeBqGD1O4
We knocked off at this point as it was time to collect kids from school. Packed up the mill as the track is being used, and transporter with a 20 ton excavator arrived as we where leaving. The last 1/3 of the log is now light enough that Sharon's tractor can lift it, so we can flip it over and place it on top of another 1/2 sawn log and make a live edge slab for a small table top.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170824_131342.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503558751)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170824_134045.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503558739)
What we cut. Lots of shorts, because the log was just as ugly inside as it looked, but we got some nice Q sawn 6" wide stuff, and lots of assorted crazy grain.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/IMG_2785.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1503559259)
Don't think I'll get any more done tomorrow, I've been roped into some shed demolition and helping remove an old boiler. Don't ask what it's insulated with, but the plan is to bury it DEEP. Then I have some actual paying work fixing some computers. ::)
From the way that engine bogged at one point, it sounds hard *and* dense. Is that wood also abrasive to blades?
QuoteIs that wood also abrasive to blades?
Seems to be. Not fatally so, but more than the softwoods I'm used to. I suspect I'm going to be doing more sharpening and will need some more spare cutters by the end of the mission.
Janka hardness on this stuff is ~50% more than White Oak. Density and strength are similar.
Harry is a Japanese hand tool type woodworker, not sure how much he's going to enjoy this stuff. :D I've hooked him up with a stash of Port Orford cedar that will be easier to work with also.
Been chipping away at the Sheoak logs last couple of days.
First job this morning was stacking up what I'd sawn yesterday. Lots of variation and figure. The wood seems to have no distinct sapwood to heartwood junction. The sapwood is almost white, and it just gradually gets darker as you saw into it, going a light pink then brick red. Makes for a big variation between the various boards.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170827_084707.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503805746)
Quartersawn grain.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170827_090240.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503805714)
Close up of the big live edge slab from the log above. The spots is actually like a coloured "birds eye" figure in the wood.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170827_112946.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503806047)
And yes it's HEAVY. :D I was sawing solo, but had the use of a tractor which made life a lot easier.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170827_112939.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503805744)
And sawed up one of the smaller top logs. Slightly too big to get live edge with the 12" double cut on my little mill, but I only had to loose a couple of inches to get one live edge. Will see how these ones end up drying. ???If any of it's going to move like crazy, it would be these pieces.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170827_142847.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503805804)
So Australian Pine is really an Oak variety? But has pine-like needles?
No relation to Oak, or Pine. :D
It's hardwood, and heavy like oak, but the leaves look more like pine needles, and it's an evergreen. Hence the confusing common names.
Your last photo above makes me want to do some woodworking. Very nice boards.
Well Harry wanted some live edge coffee table tops. Think this is "live" enough? :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170829_121146.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1503987971)
Nice...
Here's hoping I can get these to dry into something usable. ???
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170831_095019.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1504139101)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170831_095507.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1504139072)
And some of the weird figure in some of the boards.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170831_094449.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1504139287)
From all those spots and knots, it looks like that tree is prone to making lots of branches and many of them fail and fall off.
Should make some beautiful pieces if it can be dried without too much warp and splits.
QuoteFrom all those spots and knots, it looks like that tree is prone to making lots of branches and many of them fail and fall off.
They aren't really knots. More like a coloured "birds eye" sort of figure. Quite unusual really, never seen a wood that looks like it.
Got out today during a break in the weather, and working alone I was able to drop, break down, and basically saw one tree in 4 hours. About 200 bd/ft.
One thing I think is going to work in our favour is the mills small dimensional cuts. I can see how the shrinkage this stuff has would rip a ~12" board apart as it dries. But I've been cutting a lot of 4x1 and other smaller sizes like that. The shrinkage across a 4" board is a lot less, and it has a chance of drying more intact.
We have cut some live edge slabs, but I suspect they will need a few butterflies and epoxy once they are dry. :-\
Still chipping away the Sheoaks ::)
Weather has at least been consistent. 9 days in the last month without rain.
But I go to pull some moss and ferns off a top log from the last tree, and got bitten. :o
Couple of big wolf spiders leapt out, but they aren't known for biting (luckily)
Bit more investigation found a whole family of tree weta. Harmless cricket like bug, but big, spiky, and able to bite. :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170920_110332.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1505988190)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20170920_110623.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1505988743)
Anyway, being a harmless native critter I took them and their clump of moss over and dropped them behind a tree we aren't cutting. Live and let live etc.
Wow... I did not know that they could bite and I picked them up before...
They aren't crickets, they are Weta. :D Peter Jackson scaled them up a bit for the last King Kong movie, but that's what they modeled the CGI on.
From Wikipedia
QuoteThe males have much larger jaws than the females, though both sexes will hiss and bite when threatened.
They are basically harmless, the kids school makes "bug houses" for them around the school etc. But they have an attitude if you cut down their tree. :D
These are the common and smaller Tree Weta. We have them in our gardens, and occasionally inside, but the baby ones are quite cute. The rarer Giant Weta are freaking huge things.
Wow... They do get big...
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39553/Giant_Weta.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1505996959)
...just wondering, can ya eat a Weta? :D :D Does it taste like Grits? ;D All the best, Rob.
I might try a drum stick well done...
Finally, a FINE day. 8)
Web cam view of where I'm working. Beside the white building on the left of the picture.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/snapshot_midhirst.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1506112569)
Web cams around the province.
http://primowireless.co.nz/info/primo-webcams (http://primowireless.co.nz/info/primo-webcams)
Beautiful Ian!
How come you're not sawing up on that hillside? Should be some nice trees around where the white stuff starts.
;D
Pesky rules around National Parks. ::) :D
The better trees are down around the lower parts of the park anyway. Snowline at the moment is above the tree line, only a bit of tussock growing up there.
Put some little piece of the Sheoak that I'd previously cut up with the chainsaw on the lathe to see what it looed like. This is how it looks with one coat of polyurethane :)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/IMG_3133.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1506646039)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/IMG_3137.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1506646067)
Hard to capture all the grain and ray flecks that are in it in a photo, but you get the idea. I think it's going to be worth the effort of milling.
I can see some of them in the part closest to the camera. Hard to get the light at the right angle to capture what two eyes can see when the part is in your hand.
Tried to get some sawing in today, but called a "'rain off". Seriously, 7 days in the last month when it hasn't rained. ::) Got the last tree bucked and a log log loaded in the bunks ready to mill. Then the rain set in again.
At least I had Lil there to record the event. :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20171008_122449.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1507459090)
We have a saying here. If you can see the Mt, it's going to rain. If you can't see the Mt, it IS raining.
We couldn't see the Mt. :D
I can't see the mountain either.....its raining here. :D :D :D
Had put some little off-cuts in the drying cupboard to hurry them along. Planed / sanded and oiled some today. Wow this stuff is HARD. Going to be rough on the planer, and may end up using the router jig on a lot of it.
Little piece of heart wood, 2x1 about 12" long with a bit of wood oil on it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20171017_165204.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1508215889)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Sheoak_crop.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1508215890)
Getting a bit of cracking and twisting with some of the pieces, but I think most of it is going to be useable for something.
Got a new toy today ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20171101_101216.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1509485242)
That's the first lot of Sheoak that was cut about 2 months ago.
The meter only claims to be accurate +/- 2%, but it seems about right. Measured a chunk of wood that was well air dried and been sitting inside for a week, and that read 14%. About what it should be in our climate, so I exepct the 19% in that will be about right. Thicker pieces are still 22-25%, which is again to be expected.
Put some of the Sheoak through the planer today, which is a whole other mission. :D
Want to make some live edge book shelves out of some of the wider boards. Had to take them a bit thinner than I wanted to get "most" of the warp out, These are the pieces I picked out for the end boards of the shelf. Good colour and figure in them. The shelf pieces are bigger, but not as well coloured, although they have pretty much every figure or defect you can imagine, all randomly spread across the boards. Curl, chatoyance, radial rays, bug holes etc :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/20180304_142112.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1520134157)
Sharpened the planer blades, but 0.5mm was all it wanted to take off in one pass (that's 1/50th of an inch) This stuff is HARD, ~2,000 lb Janka. For comparison, Black Locust is about 1,700.
That is some very nice looking wood! I bet Poston is green with envy to see all those $300 pieces he can make out of that stuff! The Mr looks a lot like our MT Hood over on this side of the shore. Climate I bet is similar though you probably average a bit warmer that is over here. One of the timber co's we work for here, has a retired head forester who has spent a lot of time over there in your backyard, he has said that NZ is a lot like the PNw and grows trees just as well maybe better than here. A lot of prior pastureland he said, has been converted to Douglas Fir. Grows like crazy with 100 years of sheep fertilizer in the soil, and lots of bd ft yield per acre, with the added benefit of a government there that is friendly to aerial application of herbicides and other treatments to maximize yield in short time. Quite the paradise you have there!! Thanks for the pics and videos!!
NZ has a lot of different climate zones in a small area, but California / Oregon would be the most similar. Trees from that area grow well here at least. Doug Fir, Radiata pine, Port Orford Cedar, Monterey Cypress etc
100+ years ago the Govt at the time realised that the local native forests grow too slow to be harvested commercially, and they were going to run out of trees. So they set up a some research projects about what trees could be grown better. There is a fantastic stand of Redwoods in Rotorua that were planted in 1901, along with stands of assorted other species. Redwoods didn't take off as a commercial crop as they seem too sensitive to microclimates. They grow great in some spots, but a few miles away the climate is different and they don't thrive. Radiata Pine was the winner, and Douglas Fir worked best for the cooler areas, mostly in the Sth Island.
Then in the 30s (Depression) they created work schemes to plant some large forests. Kaingaroa forest is 2900 square km (~660,000 acres) of mostly pine, and gets harvested on roughly 27 year cycles. My maths says ~25,000 acres a year just from that forest. Lots of other marginal farm land (too steep and erosion prone) has been convert from pasture into plantation forestry over the years.
So yes the Govt takes takes forestry seriously as it's a large part of the economy, but it's more like a farmed crop than traditional forest management. The remaining native forest is pretty much locked up in National parks and reserves now. There are some small private owned areas that can be selectively logged on a permit system, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the exotic forests.
My friend Harry who helped with the sawing sent me a picture of what he's doing with the boards he took home.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/Harry-Sheaok.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1541045714)
Crazy figure in every board, and hard as nails :D