Now this I can't explain...

[Ianab]

A couple of years back I took down a little tree for the Ex. It was a self seeded Eucalyptus, about 10 years old, but ~20" dbh. I posted about it back then.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,26131



As an experiment I freehanded a couple of live edge slabs. Bought them home, and stuck them in the shed (on stickers) and pretty much forgot about them. Because of the reputation these trees have I expected them to become bent and pre-split firewood.

Skip foward 5 years.  :D

Tidying the shed and pulling out these assorted bits of wood that are stashed there, and I find these slabs. Somehow they haven't warped, pulled themselves apart or really done anything nasty. So I loaded them under the mill and skimmed them to clean up the freehand mess.

Perfect 


The second one got a bit closer to the pith, and has a couple of small checks, but nothing serious or unexpected.


Some overgrown branch stubs as well, but that's "character".


What I can't explain getting a STABLE 19" wide board out of a 10 year old Hardwood tree. That just shouldn't happen outside the tropics  ??? In case you've never seen this wood, compare it to Oak in terms of density and hardness.  :P

Ian

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Wow...at first I thought it was  a Cedar tree.
Nice DRY slabs. 

[Ianab]

 :D

Nah, cedars won't grow that fast, even here. 

Ian

[Harry George]

Your lucky day, perhaps you should play the lottery
Very Nice

Were in left in a barn before you cut them? Sealed ends?

[Jeff]

Whatcha goona build Ian?  8)

[Ianab]

Were in left in a barn before you cut them? Sealed ends?

Didn't even do that  :D

Dropped the tree, hacked them out with a chainsaw, stashed them in the shed. Did pretty much nothing right. That's why I'm so surprised by the results. The slabs have been in the shed for 5 years now, so they are plenty dry and stable now.

Whatcha goona build Ian?

They might end up as low tables for Lil's Kindy. The hardwood should hold up to even 3 and 4 years olds :D

Ian

[Den Socling]

There's a gazilion Eucalypts. Do you know which this was?

[Left Coast Chris]

Ian, do you know what variety of eucalypts it is?    Years ago I planted some at my parents place and brothers place.   The two choices in seed I had were red gum and blue gum.   If I remember correctly the red gum was more desirable from a drying stand point.  Higher cross grain tension strength and less splitting.   They are now about twenty years old and similuar size.   My brother wants his down.   You have given me new hope that they may be worth the work to try and cut/dry.

[mesquite buckeye]

The red gums that grow cultivated in Tucson have MUCH redder wood than that shown in the photos and require special treatment to get anything worth having. They will put on 1" growth rings if they have space and water.

That said, the wood is spectacular. Quilted, flame and birdseye figure are the norm. Just figure on a lot of waste. I had the best luck predrying the logs for 6 months, then after that the best lumber came from planks 3" or more thick, that could be resawn after drying was done....

[Ianab]

There's a gazilion Eucalypts. Do you know which this was?

Ain't that the truth... They are also very hard to tell apart sometimes.  :P

I now have a handbook that "helps" to ID 200 of the more common species !!!

Because it's self sown I'm only guessing, but would say E. Regnans (Mountain Ash) as my best guess. The pale wood, fast growth and the look of the bark are all correct. They are grown here as a timber tree, so I guess seeds could have blown in?

I see they have a mature height of 90m (295ft) it's not the sort of tree you want to leave growing outside the neighbours front door.  :D

Chris. Not sure exactly what you have there. Maybe the "blue" is E. globulus which is a very tricky one to dry (without it tearing itself apart anyway) Letting the logs sit for 6 months as Mesquite has suggested is something that I have heard suggested before. The wood seem to "relax" in that time and behave a lot better when sawn. But I don't know the scientific reasons for that.

There are various "Red Gums" as well. They are the ones that are really prized by wood workers. They can show really spectacular grain and figure. I'd certainly try the "Red" ones on the mill and see what you can recover.

Ian

[WDH]

I think that you are just living right  :D.

[Left Coast Chris]

Our next trick will be to get them down.  They are on the edges of a 3/4 acre subdivision lot.   They do have the much more red wood but huge growth rings.    Likely we will be taking them down when the water receeds off of the back of the lot this summer.  We are in a very hot and low humidity area so Im tempted to bury them in the ground for awhile.

You are probably living right and living close to the coast must help alot also.  Good looking wood for sure.

[mesquite buckeye]

Our next trick will be to get them down.  They are on the edges of a 3/4 acre subdivision lot.   They do have the much more red wood but huge growth rings.    Likely we will be taking them down when the water receeds off of the back of the lot this summer.  We are in a very hot and low humidity area so Im tempted to bury them in the ground for awhile.

You are probably living right and living close to the coast must help alot also.  Good looking wood for sure.

If they dry too fast, they twist and shred, if they dry too slow they mold. The natural tendency is very rapid drying once cut. I had to cover and mist mine indoors for a couple of weeks just to slow them down. Then they got moldy, so it's all a tradeoff. Very tricky stuff.

[Ianab]

Would shade cloth help? Allows some air flow, but restricts it a lot, which makes a more humid environment around the log.

I did notice a little surface mould on those pieces soon after I put them in the shed. But it didn't go deep or stain them, apart from a little on the surface, which I've now trimmed off. Sanding would have removed it too. My shed is basically a garage with no door, so not exactly free air flow, but not fully enclosed either.

Average humidity is ~80%, so drying pine is problematic, but maybe it slowed this stuff down enough?

Ian

[mesquite buckeye]

Would shade cloth help? Allows some air flow, but restricts it a lot, which makes a more humid environment around the log.

I did notice a little surface mould on those pieces soon after I put them in the shed. But it didn't go deep or stain them, apart from a little on the surface, which I've now trimmed off. Sanding would have removed it too. My shed is basically a garage with no door, so not exactly free air flow, but not fully enclosed either.

Average humidity is ~80%, so drying pine is problematic, but maybe it slowed this stuff down enough?

Ian

The mold on mine turned out to be superficial, so not a problem in the end. Don't know what would happen if let go longer. I ended up alternating with covering, moisture, open, depending upon how it was going. Our climate is very dry, so you may have less problems. I just used plastic tarps. The shadecloth or not covering at all may work for you. Just watch like a hawk. It goes to cracks really fast. Also sticker at least every foot. Good luck.