POS MS880 Design

[tdi-rick]

Nah mate it's not. Our plantation timber being pine with some Blue gum and Mountain/Alpine ash etc. Non plantation being Mountain/Alpine Ash etc. All very easy timber to deal with. Our usual means of harvesting is by machine with the use of chainsaws virtually non existent that I'm aware of, in our region at least.

Further to what Al said, the only fella's to go out and manually cut timber are the pro fencing contractors, pro firewood cutters, arborists, oh, and Matt
Most all rural fencing uses at least one timber post to three steel (star pickets)
These timber posts are ripped and split from much larger logs.
In the flash areas where Thoroughbred studs dominate all the fencing is post and rail and most of the contractors erecting this sort of stuff go out with Lucas mills and cut their own.

 

[MCW]

Further to what Al said, the only fella's to go out and manually cut timber are the pro fencing contractors, pro firewood cutters, arborists, oh, and Matt

I was talking to one of the guys at Stihl Shop Huonville (Tasmania) the other week and I always ask how they're going as far as their pro logger customers are concerned. This is pretty well the heart of Australian logging as far as chainsaws go and the place is basically dead. They used to sell a heap of 660's a year (over 60 from memory?), now lucky to sell a dozen he said. Most of the larger trees that can be logged are already dropped, and the rest is now mechanised. If it wasn't for firewood cutters they'd be shut.
He said that they used to have one tree feller with chainsaw per block (not sure how big that is?) but now he said companies are jamming 3 of them in the same sized block. His concerns are that somebody will get killed due to the close proximity of each other.

 

[BobL]

BobL and others here know alot more about cutting wood, and our conditions......but I have a fair idea on the end product being a carpenter and joiner.

Just for the record I'm not a faller, just a hobby CS miller. I mill mostly in an arborists yard in an industrial estate on the edge of a city. I have spent a lot of time on farms, and in the bush with my faller dad and his coworkers when I was a lot younger.

of course growing conditions vary around the country and there are numorus species.....one mate, botanist, once told me "common names are for ####heads" so there may be slight differences in actuall wood when people refer to common names.....but all in all they are tough....

Agree but some are not too bad. For example, Western Australian Marri is one that quite easy to cut, but I guess it's all comparative.

I once made the coment that some in certain parts take up carbon from the soil when growing, BobL commented that carbon forms life....true but they also add carbon to increase the strength/tougness of steel....I cant recall the exact example, but lets just say that some of the ground they grow in is terribly harsh by growng stndards and this effects the end result...

All green plants incorporate carbon into themselves from the carbon dioxide in the air and very little from the ground. The the comparison with making steel is not relevant - carbon incorporated into plants is an organic process, whereas carbon in steel is a physical/inorganic chemical process. Trees under stress pull up soluble silica - if enough of this is present in a tree it can precipitate making tiny grains of sand as the tree dies - this is what makes these trees hard to cut and is often what those sparks you see when cutting timber from the middle of a log comes from.

make it known we are not saying that out timber is tougher bigger stronger etc etc...just different....just like wwe dont have the beautiful firs and ceders of the PNW etc

Agree - Just having travelled thru the PNW in the last two weeks really opened up my eyes to this.

I also agree with and have experienced all that stuff you said about working with these hard timbers, bent nails, broken screws etc

And how do they look?
I'll put together a bit of a photo-collage to show the range of what's around - 5-photos just wouldn't do justice to the variety. Not even a collage will do that but it better nothing

 

[gallegosmike]

Us Aussies have said it before, and I'm gong to say it again.

Sorry, but you fella's in NA ('cept maybe in SoCal, NM, Az) just don't understand what our timber cuts like.
No matter how sharp the chain, the dust can be unbelievable, depending on species and area.

porky, we need a link to some of Matt's vids where he's cutting some Red Gum.

and i suppose you don't want to hear I was cutting some bloody hard, dense old dead Box tonight about 48"+ with a 7900 and 30" bar and it just ate it without an issue

Depending where I am cutting here in NM. Wood can be spotless clean to covered in gritty sand. The husky air injection system does work great for me. No dirt / wood dust ingestion in the carbs of all my husky saws. The OZ guys have it rough! Redgum dust looks like a saw killer!

 

[BobL]

. . . . . . . . . . I bet some of these woods are pretty exotic looking.

Here ya go.
All of these (except one) are native Aussie timbers milled by yours truly. Can you work out which one is not ?

 

[bartlanz]

here ya go.
All of these (except one) are native aussie timbers milled by yours truly. Can you work out which one is not ?

#11?

 

[BobL]

I'll say "Yay" or "Nay" after every about every 3-4 responses.

 

[husq2100]

beautiful work Bob....im still trying to figure out the exotic

 

[parrisw]

i'll say "yay" or "nay" after every about every 3-4 responses.

30?

 

[MCW]

Number 21 Silky Oak?

 

[gmax]

Number 3?

 

[BobL]

Number 21 Silky Oak?

#4, 20 and 21 are all WA Marri.

The amount of Kino present in Marri depends on the stress the tree is under. #4 was an old park tree which probably received very little water in summer. The other 2 was from a tree in a domestic garden that received a lot of water so it produced very little kino although I did find a big fat pocket of it I could fit my hand into on that tree.

The fiddle on that tree is kinda special. There is a new church in the Perth Suburb of Applecross where all the church pews are made from this stuff - it looks so good.

Marri used to be considered just a junk tree and millers used to leave them standing. More recently, as it still readliy available it has been flogged off to the Japanese for would you believe wood chips for making cardboard. Meanwhile boutique furniture makers cannot get enough of it.

 

[little possum]

Im with Gmax, 3 looked odd to me.

But they all look great.

I just think Id have to get a portable bandsaw to keep the risk down of ruining the P/C

 

[parrisw]

30?

?

 

[tdi-rick]

I know nothing about how our timbers look, yet I'm with Will, who really would have no idea on which one is the exotic. (#30)

 

[MCW]

#4, 20 and 21 are all WA Marri.

Hmmm. I was wrong. Got me stuffed then Maybe if there were only two options Bob?

 

[gmax]

Im with Gmax, 3 looked odd to me.

But they all look great.

I just think Id have to get a portable bandsaw to keep the risk down of ruining the P/C

Careful mate, that would be the blind leading the blind, the only thing I do with wood is burn it

 

[little possum]

It just seemed to not have the same grain characteristics that the others had. But thats my opinion

Number 11 looks different to me too. Looks like our kitchen table


I NEED a mill so bad Beautiful work Bob

 

[spacemule]

14 is the only picture of a crosscut, which is not milling. So, that's my answer.

 

[MCW]

I'll say "Yay" or "Nay" after every about every 3-4 responses.

Nay Yay???