Slabbing on the river

[sigidi]

Doing a slab job for a fella,  in someone else's backyard. Their yard backs onto the Brisbane river. Its a bit of a way from the mouth, but still tidal and salt water there. With having mangroves right beside the mill site, I was surprised I wasn't attacked by mozzies.

When I get on site, I had heard about this log - as I do a bit of cutting for this fella and he had spoken about this 'Bluegum' for a little while, as it turns out, it was as big as he said it was  :D
The butt log...



Being close to 9m long it needed some trimming...



and some shifting to get it accessible and of course some discussion...



Once the discussion and decisions where made, and the logs rolled out so we could set up over them, (essentially we cut the but log into 3 sections - 3.6m, 2.8m and 3.6m.  I pushed the two 3.6m logs a little uphill and pulled the 2.7m a bit down hill) the three logs where staggered apart and I could the mill over each one in turn. We managed to get into it. Unfortunately the thin strip of real estate we had to work with, the easiest exit for the slabs once cut, meant the first two logs had to be slabbed uphill..



A little bit more effort than usual to slab through, but they where nice solid slabs, I think there where only two from the butt log which will split while drying, due mainly to the small pipe...

   

As most of you know, I 've got a model 10EFI mill so the slabbing attachment is 1.5m wide, you can see in the last pic, the log only just squeezed in  8)

The home owner wanted some material for a few tables in the family, so here is the beginnings of one table - 280kg (616 lb) timber toothpick, quite a challenge to get them off the log and onto the pile by oneself.



All the slabs are headed offsite...



to be air dried for a time, then kiln dried ready to be used very soon. So flipping them over and 'remaking' the log wasn't going to be needed as each slab is going to be unloaded at the other end to sticker and stack.

As the logs where so large and Bob isn't so big, they where slabbed where they lay until the mill bottomed out...



then the remaining bottom flitch was chucked on top of the third open log and more slabs sawn from it. We managed to get the first two logs slabbed and about 1/3 of the 3rd log finished.

           

I have to go back in the new year to do the remainder of the 3rd log, a 4th slab log and a handful of sawlogs.

[mesquite buckeye]

Super nice stuff.  ;D Where's the kookaburra?????? ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[thecfarm]

That is some slabbing. WOW!!!!

[BtownCutter]

Wow.  Thank you for sharing!

[ET]

Wonderful slab job Sidigi!  Is that "steel" strapping I see you used for holding the slabs together?

[ayerwood]

Awesome slabs Sig.  How thick are those?

[drobertson]

Not sure how it could have turned out better!  really nice work, real nice,    david

[TimGA]

Gorgeous, was wondering what is a Mozzie?
                                         
                                            Tim

[Red Good]

Mosquito ? The national bird  of a lot of moist places . I think . 

[thecfarm]

I just love the way you guys work in shorts. I'm not preaching safety. But just the feel of that sawdust against my bare legs gives me the willies.  ;D

[Nomad]

     Good looking work, and a lot of slabs!

[sigidi]

Gorgeous, was wondering what is a Mozzie?
                                         
                                            Tim

Yeah Tim, a Mozzie, is slang for Mosquito  ;)

I just love the way you guys work in shorts. I'm not preaching safety. But just the feel of that sawdust against my bare legs gives me the willies.  ;D

;) just too hot in summer mate

Not sure how it could have turned out better!  really nice work, real nice,    david

Hmmmm, where do I start.... best part of the job was I only had 2 days, 3 days tops for the job, took 5 days to get as far as I did  :(  *DanG chains, I had sharpened like a schoolkid and they cut like .... because of time pressure, set of new chains pumped up the output, best part of all as it came time to load the cut slabs on his truck - bobcat overheated, turns out the fan gearbox died  >:( - but some very nice slabs came out  ;D

Awesome slabs Sig.  How thick are those?

This bloke has a specific use for them and they are all 40mm thick, a little over 1 1/2"

[Peter Drouin]

That is a big job, big trees are a lot of work . You did a good job. 

[ddcuning]

Very impressive, you did an awesome job with those slabs. That wood is beautiful!

Dave C

[Magicman]

Lots of hard work, but that has to be a very satisfying job.  Very nice.   8)

[Sixacresand]

Impressive work.  Those are some nice slabs.

[boardmaker]

Very nice!

[manoverboard]

Very nice! That wood is beautiful!

[mesquite buckeye]

I'm thinkin' your shirts and pants have a nice permanent red in them now. ;D 8) 8) 8)

[Magicman]

Why is Blue Gum red?  Leaves, bark, or....?

[mad murdock]

Very nice looking specimens there!! Thanks for showing us 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

Most eucalyptus wood has a permanent red dye in the wood. When we milled up our red gum I had to pay to get my neighbor's truck paint buffed out because of all the permanent red dots on her blue paint. Any clothes I wear when working with it get turned red, especially If they get wet or sweaty.

[WildDog]

Great job, nice slabs. Fish or mud crabs for lunch?

[Nomad]

Hmmmm, where do I start.... best part of the job was I only had 2 days, 3 days tops for the job, took 5 days to get as far as I did  :(  *DanG chains, I had sharpened like a schoolkid and they cut like .... because of time pressure, set of new chains pumped up the output

     I'm sure glad you said that.  If you said you'd cut all that in a day I was gonna bury my slabbing attachment in the back yard! :D

[Seaman]

x 2