A little Scenery and "Paperbark" wood

[Fla._Deadheader]

Here's where we are set up to saw. The temp is around 90+° and humidity about 75-80%. Wind is very light and variable. Just enough to blow the sawdust into yer eyes. :D
  These piles are about 50 feet high. The boom and bucket from the "Cat" backhoe, in the background, is on a "Plateau" that he builds and crawls up onto, to restack the brush and limbs for the grinder to transform into mulch. They sort out the logs and deposit them in the piles for us to saw. Pretty messy place to work. : :



  This is a pile of "Topsoil" that needs to be run through the screen sorter and then it gets sold. The piles are over 60' high.


 
  This is a tree that is the scourge of Florida. It came from Australia and is-was used to dry the Everglades so it could be developed. It caught on so well, it is helping to dry the Aquafir, where all the drinking water comes from in Central-South Florida. The bark is if many layers and it "seems" that the bark actually becomes part of the wood as the tree grows??



  This is what the wood actually looks like. It is similar in texture to Hickory, although not as hard, and the color is like a Tan "pecan". If it was pinkish like Pecan, it would make a good substitute. It is heavy, probably from the water. It dries on the surface to a faded white color??



  If you look close, you can see the "rings" of bark on the edges.

[Jason_WI]

Harold

Did that .055, 4 degree blade from Wood Mizer fair well with that aussy pine?

Jason

[Fla._Deadheader]

Don't know, Jason. Still haven't gotten it from Woodmizer????????????

[crosscut]

wow i never knew that wood was that pretty. making me want to go find some. to saw up great pics there. fla deadheader  

[Fla._Deadheader]

Don't know how durable the wood is, but, it cuts like butter  ;D ;D  We were paying so much attention to the bark hanging all over the log and being sure the log stops were low enough, we didn't catch the heart check, and we sawed the thing the wrong way ??? : : Still pretty wood. We can always edge the stuff and work around it.
   Mostly, we are looking at the "Weird wood-weird cut" niche market.  :D :D :D

[jwood]

hey  Harold   where are you set up? is it just east of Orlando near the union park area?

[Fla._Deadheader]

No JW. We are in North Vero Beach, about 1½ hours south from Orlando.

[CHARLIE]

Deadheader, you are DanG close to mine and Tom's hometown stompin' grounds of Fort Pierce. Our dad's family lived in Wabasso which is just north of Vero.

Now the truth about Australian Pines. They weren't brought over to dry up the everglades. Drying up the everglades didn't start happening until all the yanks started moving down. The Australian Pines were brought in and planted around orange groves and along highways as windbreaks. Then they found out that they were sucking up all the water that should have been going to the orange trees. And in the 30's or 40's they had a hurricane come through and blow the trees down across the highways (Their roots aren't big enough or go deep enough for the height of the tree). Miles and miles of huge logs laying across the highways. I bet that was a job getting those moved way back then! So anyway they quit using them around orange groves and along highways.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Thanks Charlie. Wasn't sure of the first purpose of bringin in the Aus Pine. I think that was the reason for the Melaleuca, though, Right??
  Funny thing, The melaleuca oil is an excellent antiseptic. There is an outfit that sells all types of oils, salves and cleaning products made from the oil. It works great on insect bites, jellyfish-man-o-war stings and burns . If ya burn yerself with a hot piece of metal, or sunburn, the oil and salve, when applied immediately, will prevent the blisters from forming and you will not peel.
  We have the boards stacked loose in our shop, which IS in Wabasso, and now it smells like "medicine" in there?? : :D :D :D