Marri

[BobL]

Yesterday was the start of my summer holidays so Today I got a mid week milling day when SWMBO was off playing with horses.

Today's menu was a Western Australian Marri (Corymbia calophylla) which is in the same family as the Lemon Scented Gum (Corymbia citriodora) that I have been posting all those pics of recently. I've milled Marri a few times before but never posted any pics .

This log is one of two main upper branches. Its about 14 ft long and 2 ft at the widest part.

I left the 64" rails on the mill and dropped back to the 42" bar so the 076 with a sharp chain just mowed through it leaving a significantly washboarded surface. I also only touched up the chain once, halfway thru milling the log.

The log was curved so to deal with the bent end I did this.

The boards are just tek screwed into the end of the log.

No two trees are alike as it always has red gum veins that make interesting patterns. Some people call it Red Gum but then again they will call a lot of other trees "red Gum".

The brown stains are sawdust impregnated resin that is blood red as you will see later on.

More pics in next post.

 

[BobL]

Here's a couple of close ups

Here you can see this tree has some fiddle in it.

Huge numbers of these trees are use for woodchips for paper making but now it is the trendy thing to make furniture from it so big trees have begun to have some value.

In this one you can see one of those big red resin reserviors.

The fiddle was especially fine in this slab.

And this is why the Marri is a member of the Bloodwood family. Everyone does this as kids so yah got it do it one more time!

I have 3 more of these babies to tackle including the main trunk which is about 36" in diameter.
Cheers

 

[Trever]

Nice!!

Good pictures and like your setup! I have some old Black Walnut that will be introduced to my rig next year (150 -200 year old blow down). Have a blessed day.

Trever

 

[AndyR]

Are you sure you didn't cut yourself BobL?
Love that curly/fiddle figure.

Thanks for sharing the pics!
Andy

 

[glennschumann]

Beautiful work again, Bob. Thanks for sharing.

Please restrict your search for beautiful grain to the local flora, not your own fauna. That last picture had me convinced that you were looking for your own fiddleback...

 

[irishcountry]

Beautiful wood that would make a nice bookmatched top for a Les Paul sweet. Those are some really convincing special effects provided by mother nature very gruesome!! thanks for the great pics!! Irishcountry

 

[BIG JAKE]

opcorn: Nice figure on that wood Bob. Better to mill than play with horses! I see why they call it bloodwood. Are you going to sell the wood or make something out of it?
Also noticed the GB bar. I was gonna try one of the GB titanium bars from baileys but they backordered it into oblivion-bought another Stihl bar. How do those hold up to husky or stihl bars if you had to make a guess?

Nice work!

 

[woodshop]

The fiddle was especially fine in this slab.

Wow... that's some of the nicest fiddleback curly stuff I've seen. Looks like nice even curl all the way up the log for a good ways. If it looks that nice rough sawn like that, imagine what it will look like finished to a polish. Can't wait to see a piece of that cleaned up Bob.

 

[Trever]

Book matched

Bob,

Have you thought about book matching a slab? I bet with that beautiful figure it would look great!! Have a blessed day.

 

[BobL]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. This little tree was a joy to mill, kind of like a Xmas present after slugging it out for the last month with the Lemon Scented Gums. The fiddle was the cherry on the top with every man and his dog coming over to take a look at it. Everyone wants a piece of course!!!

. . . . Are you going to sell the wood or make something out of it?

This one we're keeping.

Also noticed the GB bar. I was gonna try one of the GB titanium bars from baileys but they backordered it into oblivion-bought another Stihl bar. How do those hold up to husky or stihl bars if you had to make a guess?

I haven't used any long Stihl or Husky bars although a mate has a Stihl which he has a given a hiding to and it seems to have stood up to his abuse. All my Stihl bars are short (25") and I haven't used them much. I have 4 longer bars, an Oregon and 3 GBs but as I usually only mill on weekends I haven't been using them for that long to really judge long term performance.

Have you thought about book matching a slab? I bet with that beautiful figure it would look great!!

Yep - tis all in the grand plan.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. This little tree was a joy to mill, kind of like a Xmas present after slugging it out for the last month with the Lemon Scented Gums. The fiddle was the cherry on the top with every man and his dog coming over to take a look at it. Everyone wants a piece of course!!!


This one we're keeping.


Yep - tis all in the grand plan.

Yeah, those blasted Lemon Scented Gums! opcorn: BTW I never saw fiddle that nice that I recollect! Always enjoy yer posts Bob

Keep hard at it eh!

 

[RPM]

Nice slabs.....summer holidays eh!......summer is a long, long ways away from here (currently -15 C and windy).

 

[BobL]

Nice slabs.....summer holidays eh!......summer is a long, long ways away from here (currently -15 C and windy).

Well it should be summer here and it reached 95F last Sunday and we have another 95F forecast for Xmas day but right now (it's my designated milling day!) it's raining! (we normally get very little rain in summer). Oh well I can't complain, I've convinced my other half that our annual 2 week camping holiday should be 1 week of camping and one week of milling (well I do the milling bit). We're hiring a camper van for 2 weeks and I'm taking my van with the milling gear and heading 200 miles down to the south coast for a week by the ocean and then to a nearby property owned by some friends of ours that has about 150 acres of forest and I'm giving them milling lessons. Should be interesting?

 

[irishcountry]

Now that sound like a vacation!! Have fun and enjoy how can you not enjoy that!! Happy vacation irishcountry

 

[aggiewoodbutchr]

Nice pics.

 

[woodshop]

... We're hiring a camper van for 2 weeks and I'm taking my van with the milling gear and heading 200 miles down to the south coast for a week by the ocean and then to a nearby property owned by some friends of ours that has about 150 acres of forest and I'm giving them milling lessons. Should be interesting?

I'll meet you there...

 

[Jacob J.]

Well it should be summer here and it reached 95F last Sunday and we have another 95F forecast for Xmas day but right now (it's my designated milling day!) it's raining! (we normally get very little rain in summer). Oh well I can't complain, I've convinced my other half that our annual 2 week camping holiday should be 1 week of camping and one week of milling (well I do the milling bit). We're hiring a camper van for 2 weeks and I'm taking my van with the milling gear and heading 200 miles down to the south coast for a week by the ocean and then to a nearby property owned by some friends of ours that has about 150 acres of forest and I'm giving them milling lessons. Should be interesting?

Do you parcel out land by the acre or the hectare there?

 

[BobL]

Do you parcel out land by the acre or the hectare there?

People generally understand both. Usually in the countryside you still see land advertised in acres.

 

[BobL]

I'll meet you there...

Here are a few panoramic photos of what the forests are like on the south coast (I was born down that way).

This is where I have been for a couple of days R&R with SWMBO, Karrivalley.

Those big trees are Western Australian Karri hardwoods - they are about 150 ft high. The very best examples can reach 290 ft

About 15 miles away is an old swimming hole.

The tall trees on the left are Karri, the ones on the right are mostly Marri.

 

[masiman]

Those big trees are Western Australian Karri hardwoods - they are about 150 ft high. The very best examples can reach 290 ft

People stateside always say they do/make/grow things big in Texas, but I always think "you haven't been to Australia!"