Scored

[Ticky]

Hey,

I had some Oregon given to me the other day. A Mate is doing some renos & had to pull down an old shed.

Oregan 1.jpgSome of them are over 3m long, the rest are about 3m
Oregan 2.jpgThis section of my rack is all Oregon now, & the rack is full.
Oregan 3.jpgsome of it had to be stored on Paddy Shelf
Oregan 4.jpgAnd some of it, I have milled up for a job that I will be doing on Wednesday.

You gotta love old timber... It's all new on the inside.



Steve

[NCArcher]

Nice

[enelef]

nice score - got to be happy with that lot.

[Robson Valley]

Oregon. . . . might that be what we call Douglasfir up here? (Pseudotsuga menziesii).

[chambezio]

Mr Robson Valley
Yes you are right. What you call Douglas Fir we call Oregon. I am guessing here But I am confident it got called "Oregon" because that is where it was shipped from. In Sydney Harbour there is a Bay called Canada Bay because the ships bring in timber were unloaded there way back when Australia going through its establishment period.
What we would buy as "Oregon" would probably have Hemlock in it as well as other species that are in that group.
We now have very good and plentiful access to "Radiata Pine" but I think that it too has other sub species incorporated in it.
I have come across some timber used as packing cases that I suspect is your White Pine and Long Leafed Pine.
That chart you submitted. a little while ago, on botanical names and leaf shapes was fascinating (to me anyway).
We visited a park in the middle of a little town. It had growing somw very weird trees that had the oddest shaped leaves on them(did not take a photo). I took a small branch with me to show a nephew who is an arbourist. As soon as he saw it he told me where I had got it and then told me its Botanical name. I can't remember the actual name but it made reference to "Hoop Pine".(......cunninghamei)(which is a native to Australia) so I said that to him and he agreed that it was a "cousin" to Hoop Pine.
As I said I found it fascinating just how species are called by their make up.
I noticed that you use Western red Cedar for your carvings. WRC to buy here is Very expensive and used sparingly

PS About 40 miles from here there is a forestry lot planted out in the 1920s, I think it was an experimental exercise because most of the trees have come to their "use by date" and are deteriorating. In it they have grown Ponderosa Pine, some Douglas Fir and about half a dozen others. When you walk into the forest it as dead quiet with only the wisp of breeze through the pines while in a native forest there are all kinds of birds as well as other wild life. Wild pigs seem to be the only big animals that frequent the Pine Forests.

[Robson Valley]

In a long musical effort called The Canadian Railroad Trilogy, the Canadian singer/songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot will sing a line about "the green, dark forest,. . . too silent to be real."
yeah well, it is green, dark and silent. Nearly desolate for big animals but an absolute Mecca for bugs.
That amazed me about Australian forests = you can't find any shade except the tree trunks.

I live in the ICH = the Interior Cedar Hemlock (biogeoclimatic zone) In the Rocky Mountains. WRC is lying about in chunks and logs all over the place. Free for the taking. Consequently, I've quite a wood pile in bolts 15 x 25 x 60cm = shake blocks. They are piled up to keep the dog houses from blowing away in the winter storms. Most useful. I have one dog house roped down with tent pegs, it hasn't moved this year.
I'm accustomed to breaking out any sorts of carving wood pieces that I might need . . . . I forget that people have to buy it elsewhere.
My village (550) is high up in the top of the Fraser River valley about 2 hrs from Mt Robson (12,000+ft). Hence what I call what I am. This past week has been simply amazing for mountain beauty. I bought my home in 2000 and it was not any sort of mistake whatsoever. I'm such a newcomer that I still look up at the scenery.

Hardwoods of any interesting sorts cost the sun, moon and earth here. Crap like pine, spruce, fir/hemlock and (worst of all) Dougfir is cheap = interior stud walls and pallets. I can't think of anything that I'd want to make from Dougfir (sorry.) I got a line on a great amount of birch (Betula sp.). Nice hardwood, very nice carving wood, but basically featureless. Priced by the board foot ( 25 x 300 x 300mm) I will pay $0.85 and I get to cherry-pick the piles. Needs air drying, I will buy 50-100' in 3-4 months.
11P = sack time

[chambezio]

I find it amazing/fascinating the we hold things of value that in your case (Canada) calls WRC ordinary.
A quality hardwood flooring- Brushbox, Tas Oak, etc 90mm X 21mm Tongue and Groove over $5.00 per lineal meter
Oregon/DougFir 100mm X 50mm Sawn $9.00 per lineal meter
The freight from there to here must make it is so expensive.
It wouldn't be the Canadians/Yanks taking advantage of us colonialists.
On high quality windows and doors Oregon was the timber of choice for many years

[Robson Valley]

I think part of the price structure has to do with supply. WRC prices do rise as you get away east from British Columbia where so much of it grows. Fortunately, all the birch was harvested and milled locally. Some sort of housing project that went bust. Owner #2 has paid $1.50/stick (any length) and now has 500(?) sticks all piled and stickered to dry.
He claims it's too wet for what I want to do, doesn't plan to sell me any until maybe June (early summer here.)
He estimates that there is 10X what he brought home up the mountain.

The first of your Pinus radiata (Monterey pine) was a seed exchange with California. OZ needed an internal supply of pulp/paper fiber. All the conifers have far longer cell fibers than any hardwood on the planet, easier to pulp as well.

I can't think of a good use for Hemlock. Not even firewood. It will either just smolder or melt your stove. I've got a 2m x 16cm log for a wood carving, standing in my wood pile. It was free. Drying in a logging debris pile to be burned eventually. You just walk up to the pile, saw off what you want and go home.

What I despise about Dougfir is the splintering on the off side of cuts. Then all the "wicky bits" that stand up in finishing. I know to cut those off with coarse steel wool (sandpapers just shred the surface). I had a summer house (1912) built with that stuff and it was the consistency of aluminium by the time I needed to rewire the whole place, back in the 1980's.

Anyway, I'll be most interested to see what you make from your haul.

[Robson Valley]

If you haven't seen these pictures before. I don't know how to cross-link forum threads.

For some really bad Oregon/Douglas-fir:
Rogues Gallery = Winter W#ood Carving Stash the typo is mine and in the thread title.

For where I live and what I do:
Woodwork Pics = Chasing After Wood

[Ticky]

Hey Robson,

Have to agree, Oregon is not the nicest timber I have ever worked with, but I am not one to knock back free timber.

I need to extend my timber rack, so some of it will get used there , & I am not sure what will happen with the bulk of it, but I am confident it will get used over time. Oregon stands up to the weather far better than Radiata, so it has a few applications as outside / deck furniture etc.

Some of it will get used today.

Pics to follow.

Steve

[Robson Valley]

Gotta love the free wood.
Local guy was cleaning up in the forest, up behind his house.
Blocks of Western Red Cedar, cut as shake blocks but never sold.
Most 6" x 8" x 24", straight grained and knot free.
Pouring rain. Next thing I know, he's throwing them into my front yard
then zoomed off in his ute in the mud & rain. Bet I got 12+ pieces.
Today, it is -5C, 50 kph wind and drifting snow. Those blocks continue
to do a good job, piled up, to keep the dog houses from blowing away.


I would really like to know the technique for preventing the rear edge from splintering out
if/when the timbers are cross cut in a power miter box. How do you do that?

[Ticky]

Hmmmmmm Not the best pic I have ever taken, but...

A couple of Oregon Ponies



saw horse.jpg




1m x 750mm with a 15 by 15 degree splay

Steve

[Robson Valley]

Nice, Ticky. I don't have enough open shop floor to store them let alone take pictures.
My horses live outdoors.
How do you stop the end-to-end wobble? Mine seem so unstable.

[Ticky]

The tops of the legs are notched to carry the top rail, therefore, the bolts don't carry any weight, they only clamp the legs to the rail.
Every thing is cut at 15 degrees, but it is easy to get a bit lost when setting up for opposite angles.

I find it easiest to use a tenoning jig to cut the tops of the legs.

1. Cut a 15 deg angle on one end of all the legs, 90 deg to the faces'

2. Set the saw to 15 deg and using a tenoning jig, lean 1/2 of the legs forward & the rest backwards to cut a 15 deg cheek with a 15 degree step to house the top rail. This cut will splay the legs 15 deg out from the rail & 15 deg back.

3. This bit is tricky. Using a miter gauge, (Love my Incra) you have to remove the cheek. This is a compound cut, as the blade has to be set so the cheeks are flat against the rail and the steps are supporting the rail. the angle is 15 deg, but this is very easy to cut the wrong way if you are not careful.

4. finally, the bottoms of the legs get a compound cut to sit flat on the floor, splayed 15 deg out & 15 deg back from the rail.

I like to set the legs so they are level with the end of the rail, but this is a preference thing.

It's not a terrible idea to start with long legs, just in case you make a wrong cut. My finished height is 750 mm to the top of the rail.

I have also found that the plate glued & nailed to the top of the legs, adds stability & strength. I have often thought that housing the rail in this plate would be even better, but... they are only saw horses & I am a bit slack.

The take up a fairly small footprint for storage, hence the 15deg angle I have chosen, & I find they take up less room by standing them together on the floor than stacking them.

Hope this helps somebody.



Steve

Ill take a pic of the top of the leg later.