sutton046

This is a story which is still being written. It starts with a few logs, fresh from a tree. Please join me as the story unfolds. My neighbours recently decided to have a Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta) tree removed from their back yard. The top of the tree was dying, and the termites had moved in. When the arborists were cutting down the tree, they also found there was a bee hive inside it.    The last piece is cut from the tree.  It was a tragedy to see almost all of this tree going into the chipper. However, the Arborists let me take as much as I wanted, so I picked a few pieces I wanted, and wheeled them back home on my fridge trolley. After sealing the ends, I stacked the pieces under the Mulberry Tree in my front yard. The bunch of logs sections, waiting for me under the weeping mulberry in my front yard.   To help preserve the logs, the ends are sealed, to slow down the rate of drying.  I normally seal the ends with my favourite glue, Tit...

Browsing through the pallets and packing crate materials on the verge of a local import business, I spied a pallet which sparked my interest. This company imports machinery from the USA, so the wood is all US and Canadian in origin. However, this grotty looking pallet was not the usual lovely northern hemispherical softwoods I like to recycle. This one looked like it was made from American White Ash. I only know Ash after having made a Staircase from American White Ash, back in 2010. The blog post about the build is here: http://gregdmiller.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/building-staircase.html That was the first time I had worked with Ash, so I was able to spot it in the pallet. I chucked the pallet in the back of my ute, and drove away with it wondering what it would be like. The American White Ash pallet... so much potential... These pallet timbers are thin (about 1/2") and around 3 - 5" wide. Many are cupped, so when planed down and flattened you end up with a finish thickne...