Western Australian Rock Oak

[BobL]

Last week I had some holidays and took a day to drive 85 miles with a mate into the countryside to slab and pick up an unusual type of Casuarina - a Western Australian Rock Oak. Actually there are plenty of these around but they are usually small and scrawny and most millers don't like them because they are . . . . "Rock Hard" - hence the name.

Here is the tree. It was still mostly alive but had fallen over onto a fence and the property owner was going to cut it up for firewood. I could sense immediately this log was going to be hard. This tree was under extreme stress and would have sucked up a heap of silica in the process making it even harder than usual.

Even though the tree was fairly small many of the branches were potentially suitable for turning so we took a fair bit of the small stuff back with us as well.

Here is what we had to work with. It was about 9 ft long and about 14" wide at the base. A long to drive for such a small log but I'll let you judge the worth later.

Heres a bit of cutting action. Bright pink-red fine sawdust.

Did I say how hard this stuff was. It was probably the hardest stuff I have ever cut. Each slab was taking around 20 minutes so thats about 5 inches a minute! AND I had to sharpen the chain after every second slab. I tried square ground chain - that went blunt even quicker. That's why few people bother to mill it! It's nominally about 30% harder than DRY Pecan but as I said above this tree had extra silica in it so it was even harder.

Part of the take home stash. All those little branches will turn up an absolute treat if they don't crack too much.

It's a long time (years) since I had done any milling in the field and even it was very pleasant even though we were on the edge of a paddock.

Next post some grain close ups.

 

[BobL]

Rock Oak Part II

Some grain close ups - unfortunately no water nearby to really show its true beauty.

The previous two pics show the finish from the the square ground chain.
The next one shows the finish made by the full comp regular semi chisel.

One more thing this timber is 71 lb/cuft when green and 56 lb/cuft when dry so even those little slabs weighed a fair bit.

Hope you enjoyed the story.
Cheers

 

[dustytools]

Nice pics of some more beautiful wood! You have been a busy man here lately Bob. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Zodiac45]

Amazing stuff Bob,

You really do have some beautiful species of wood down there. Hot and dry climate seems to foster harder denser wood it seems?

 

[Trigger-Time]

Did I say how hard this stuff was. It was probably the hardest stuff I have ever cut. Each slab was taking around 20 minutes so thats about 5 inches a minute! AND I had to sharpen the chain after every second slab. .

Bob, love the pictures....as always

How many time's per slab, did you have to refuel?

Do you have to back saw out of log to refuel? or do you
have some gizmo (90 deg elbow) to refuel while in the cut?

Will 075/076, out mill 066/660? reason I ask, I have most of the
parts to build a 076.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[BobL]

You really do have some beautiful species of wood down there. Hot and dry climate seems to foster harder denser wood it seems?

Yeah, 75% of the rain falls in 3 months and the rest of the time it's hot and dry. Most of this dry country timber is real pretty.

Bob, love the pictures....as always

Pics were taken by Steve - I think I got him hooked on milling.

How many time's per slab, did you have to refuel?

With these slabs I was getting all the way through on one tank of gas with a fresh chain and about 3/4 of the way through with the second pass before refueling. I was taking it easy as these hard timbers just kill the chain and bar if one pushes too hard. I'm prepared to take an extra 5 minutes per slab if needed so I don't destroy everything. I have the aux oiler on max flow (~20 mL per minute so thats about 3/4 pint of aux oil per slab and 3/4 pint of on power head oil). If one just pushes harder, slabbing up just a couple of these small hard trees and the bar needs dressing and you can see the chain visibly wearing.

Do you have to back saw out of log to refuel? or do you have some gizmo (90 deg elbow) to refuel while in the cut?

I can get about 1/3 of a tank of fuel into the tank with the power head on its side so that is generally enough for me to finish the cut. I've been thinking for some time about making up an elbow but I would have to cut the gas cap threads on a lathe as they do not appear to be a standard size.

Will 075/076, out mill 066/660? reason I ask, I have most of the parts to build a 076.

It's hard to say as it's been a while since I milled with an 066 and I'd really need to mill with them both on the same log with the exact same mill/chain setup. These saws have about the same HP, but the 066 seems to cut quicker in softer woods which is probably the superior chain speed. In harder woods the 066 seems to bog down a touch easier, maybe reflecting the superior 076 torque. It's probably just a matter of technique. One thing that bothers me is that even with top grade earmuffs the 066 hurts my ears way more when using it WOT for more than about 10 minutes so I HAVE to use earplugs as well. With the 076 the muffs seem sufficient even though I wear plugs as well for added safety.

 

[Trigger-Time]

I've been thinking for some time about making up an elbow but I would have to cut the gas cap threads on a lathe as they do not appear to be a standard size.

What about drill and taping or JB weld an old gas cap for elbow

One thing that bothers me is that even with top grade earmuffs the 066 hurts my ears way more when using it WOT for more than about 10 minutes so I HAVE to use earplugs as well. With the 076 the muffs seem sufficient even though I wear plugs as well for added safety.

Part maybe that 076 muffler is on bottom when milling

Gary

 

[BobL]

RE; What about drill and taping or JB weld an old gas cap for elbow
Good idea but I already have the ally tube for the elbow, just have to get of my backside and get on with it!

RE: Part maybe that 076 muffler is on bottom when milling
Yep, makes a big difference - also sightly different rev range, 076 is lower and I'm slightly deafer at those RPM, (actually I'm legally deaf so I have to protect what hearing I still have - too much 70's rock music according to the Audiologist.)
Cheers

 

[Dai Sensei]

Great looking stuff Bob.

Can't say I've heard of Rock Oak. The tree looks a bit like Black Sheoak, but the timber is a lot redder, almost the colour of Rose Sheoak. Is it Allocasuarina huegeliana?

 

[BobL]

Great looking stuff Bob.

Can't say I've heard of Rock Oak. The tree looks a bit like Black Sheoak, but the timber is a lot redder, almost the colour of Rose Sheoak. Is it Allocasuarina huegeliana?

Yep that's it. Here are a few facts ;http://www.fpc.wa.gov.au/content/species/arid/rock_oak.asp

 

[hazard]

Beautiful wood. The joy of milling any scrub tree along a fence. You never know what you are going to get for grain and it is usually impressive.

I mill with a stihl 066 which I do have to say is deafening.

Is that wood fairly stable for drying since it is so hard?

Chris

 

[BobL]

Is that wood fairly stable for drying since it is so hard?

I believe it is still susceptible to cracking on drying - but once dry it is supposed to be reasonable stable.

 

[woodshop]

You're not fightin' fair Bob... teasing us with all this unique wood found nowhere else in the world. Thanks for introducing us to this stuff. Wish I had some. I didn't see a Latin name on that website for this stuff, is it a true oak or do they just call it an oak for other reasons, maybe shape of the leaf or something like that. Says there was once a lot more of this stuff but it was cleared off... I cringe at all that beautiful reddish rock hard wood going up in smoke.

 

[BobL]

You're not fightin' fair Bob... teasing us with all this unique wood found nowhere else in the world. Thanks for introducing us to this stuff. Wish I had some. I didn't see a Latin name on that website for this stuff, is it a true oak or do they just call it an oak for other reasons, maybe shape of the leaf or something like that. Says there was once a lot more of this stuff but it was cleared off... I cringe at all that beautiful reddish rock hard wood going up in smoke.

I agree all going up in smoke, - I pity the settlers who cleared a lot of this land by hand - I'd hate to be tackling this stuff with an axe.

As Dai Sensei said, its called "Allocasuarina huegeliana". It's called an oak because it's a relative of another related tree called "sheoak", but they don't look like oak at all.

 

[BobL]

This afternoon some, some 15 months after this Rock Oak tree was milled, I decided to resaw some of the bigger pieces on my bandsaw and see what it looked like.

Here's two pieces of about 4 x 5" and one of 3 x 4"

This is very hard stuff but the Bandsaw with the 1 TPI blade managed to cut it OK albeit slowly.

The MC was around 20% so it has dried off pretty quickly and doesn't appear to have cracked at all compared to its cousin (Fraseriana) which checks very badly.

Grain looks real nice

If you look at the colours of the timber when it was first milled you will see a lot of purple/red/rose. This seems to vanish as it dries. There's just a hint of purple/rose left in this piece but I reckon when it dries it too woll go.

I'll let it dry for at least another year. I have in mind a few Wood Work hand tool handles or maybe a hand plane.

Cheers

 

[billstuewe]

I am impressed--keep up the good work.
I bet you would see sparks fly if you sawed this stuff at night--I see them the most when I saw our Live Oak.