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Sheoak sawing mission.

Started by Ianab, August 21, 2017, 01:08:26 AM

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Ianab

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.



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.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

longtime lurker

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.
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

swampbuggy

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
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

Ianab

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.



Next piece up would actually pass as a saw log.



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.



Ohh, and Blair's firewood logs. Make our little Sheoaks look good  :D



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.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

grouch

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. :)
Find something to do that interests you.

Ianab

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.


This is a better looking tree.



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
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

grouch

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.
Find something to do that interests you.

Ianab

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.



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.





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.



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.  ::)
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

grouch

From the way that engine bogged at one point, it sounds hard *and* dense. Is that wood also abrasive to blades?
Find something to do that interests you.

Ianab

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.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ianab

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.



Quartersawn grain.



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.



And yes it's HEAVY.  :D  I was sawing solo, but had the use of a tractor which made life a lot easier.



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.

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ljohnsaw

So Australian Pine is really an Oak variety?  But has pine-like needles?
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Ianab

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.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

grouch

Your last photo above makes me want to do some woodworking. Very nice boards.
Find something to do that interests you.

Ianab

Well Harry wanted some live edge coffee table tops. Think this is "live" enough?  :D

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Ianab

Here's hoping I can get these to dry into something usable.  ???





And some of the weird figure in some of the boards.

Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

grouch

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.
Find something to do that interests you.

Ianab

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.  :-\
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ianab

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





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.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Kbeitz

Wow... I did not know that they could bite and I picked them up before...
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Ianab

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.
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

78NHTFY

...just wondering, can ya eat a Weta?  :D :D Does it taste like Grits?  ;D All the best, Rob.
If you have time, you win....

Kbeitz

I might try a drum stick well done...
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

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