On the menu today was a Silk Oak. It's not an oak but you will see why it is called an oak in the pictures. The species name is Grevillea robusta and in it's natural setting it is a a medium sized (up to 60 ft) hardwood, native to the coastal rainforest from northern NSW and south-east Queensland but is planted all over the world (including Hawaii) as a plantation timber. Interestingly it only grows to a decent height in mixed plantations because it produces growth inhibitors on other trees of its own species. Hardness is similar to yellow birch so for me it's a softwood and I really enjoyed cutting it up.
This is the first one of any decent size I have milled and has ~36 ft of millable trunk divided into 4 sections.
I started with the base section which is about 26" wide at the base and about 20" at the other end.
The tree lopers yard where I mill is next door to a limestone block factory which is not ideal - when the morning easterly blows it sends a white smog of concrete dust over onto the logs which is why you will see a hose in some pictures which I use to wash the logs down. The big logs behind the silky oak are Queensland Kauri Pines which should make interesting milling
Some close ups in the next post.
This is the first one of any decent size I have milled and has ~36 ft of millable trunk divided into 4 sections.
I started with the base section which is about 26" wide at the base and about 20" at the other end.
The tree lopers yard where I mill is next door to a limestone block factory which is not ideal - when the morning easterly blows it sends a white smog of concrete dust over onto the logs which is why you will see a hose in some pictures which I use to wash the logs down. The big logs behind the silky oak are Queensland Kauri Pines which should make interesting milling
Some close ups in the next post.
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