Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Nothing like a wood question to get me to pop up , I've been on holidays and ignoring the phone to be with the trees . My vote is light colour fast grown Blackwood. I've cut mountains of shimmery light colour Blackwood like that out of the Otways . It looks really familiar All the best Pete Curly ti...

G'day all , it's been a while . I'm puddling around with the idea of actually building an instrument again , rather than handing all the fun over to everyone else. Laminate is definitely part of my preferred build style . Just wondering if anyone has found a good ready made bag that I can order dome...

That red gum was reliatively mellow . Still short fibred, interlocked and figured ! But reliatively mellow and even to work . I'd be confident personally so long as you've got good tools and they are sharp . I agree generally though , red gum can be pretty ornery!
Thanks
Pete
Curly timbers

I did a shared job in macro last summer where we bought in about 80 tons , 3 semi trailer loads . There were some of the best logs I have seen in the species , some 8 metre dead clear logs . My interest in the job was mostly home wood for my own house and yard building though I've gotten out plankin...

G'day Michael . Bring the board up when you come to get the other bits . I can buzz it flat no worries , no cost . It'll take about 20 seconds on the big barker buzzer !
Thanks
Pete

Awesome work to you bob , it's a great legacy you've created .
I usually just retire with a whisky , you're retiring to make the stuff !
All the best with what comes next , sounds like a mighty fine plan to me .
Pete

Geez Rod ,
That's gotta hurt .
I can see how you'd be feeling like reassessing . Only thing I could add is that if your anything like me it's possible to do ok or f up just anything you try so a new endeavour isn't necessarily the answer. Your work is awesome . Hang in there mate
Pete

In that quick trial I haven't added any tannins , it's simply a reaction to the tannins present in the timber . A 2 stage process might improve results and it's a good prompt . A couple of local wattles A.pycnantha and A.mearnsii are both traditional tannin species with up to 40% tannin content in t...

Over the last couple of days I've run a trial utilising a strong solution of steel wool in vinegar on various timber species to test their reaction to the mix , along with depth of penetration . Gidgee , Blackwood in both high and low density samples , vic ash , messmate , red gum and satin box were...

G'day Ross , I'd be pretty certain that you would only achieve a shallow penetration of whichever dye or reactive liquor that you are using . Perhaps if there was something that reacted with the heartwood extractive that dyes my hands yellow when I'm wet milling Gidgee you may get better results . I...

Sorry to say that was when I looked a whole bunch brighter and fresher too . Don't know what I was getting up to with that mushroom either ....

Sounds like a bloody hippy to me !

Geez Steve , I'd be really happy with that as a start , that much figure showing at the end is really promising . I find 600 is about the cutoff for much recovery . Sometimes you might squeeze sets out of smaller logs by allowing roll in the lower bout but you never get much and the faults are right...

Thanks for the feedback , I tend to run Blackwood sawn to 50 or 60 mm on a one year turnaround . It's probably the easiest timber to dry that I deal with , it readily lets its core moisture go without adverse moisture gradients . The year tends to be 9 or 10 months air dry with the remainder in a de...

I put this whopping great Blackwood across the mill today , creatively named P10 . I'm Pete and this was the 10 th tree I cut this summer past ( got to 16) . If only they were all this good , huge , round full of colour and figure . A proper metre diameter and 1900 long in the first Log , 2700 in th...

Ditto to everyone else Martin , I love it .
As an aside I got a fiddle Blackwood in big enough to quarter double bass backs out , there's a challenge !
Pete
Curly timbers

Hmm , there's a heap I can't answer in your post and a fair bit more that I'm just vague as to exactly what you mean . The little I've got something to say about is regarding how the timber will behave under autoclave conditions. Aside from the pressure the conditions sound similar to a commercial h...

That topic had me thinking about the weight of Blackwood , so i fished a stick out that I remembered as being at the lighter end of stuff I've handled . It cubed out to 438 kg a cube which is probably a bit high considering the factory humidistat is reading 80%+ this week . Ive also cubed drier dist...

G'day Jim , I agree with the comments earlier about Blackwood being variable . It has a huge distribution range and also grows across quite diverse habitats . The stand genetic variability is very high and distribution genetics as well . I've supplied a heap of Blackwood from wetter districts wholes...

I'm sorry to hear of that Steve , your quite obviously a busy man and make use of whatever free time you find sharing it generously with this community . It's an unfortunate truth that some small percentage of the broader community have a completely different idea of what is reasonable . I operate i...

It looks lovely Peter , I agree that King Billy and Blackwood get along beautifully together , good news for the maker as they're both pretty mild to work with . It's great to hear your work taking that sort of leap . I've heart mandolin player mates talk with that sort of passion for a good mandoli...

I'm really glad you loved the timber Jon , you've certainly got an eye for the good stuff !
My next project is how to get timber legally out of New Zealand where I'm currently holidaying ......
Thanks
Pete
Curly timbers

That's a beautiful batch of work there Frank . Great attention to detail and a well harmonised overall aesthetic . As to your mystery soundboard my best bet without any other prompts would be cherry .Cherry dries pretty poorly , if that's what it was you will have noticed a fair bit of degrade in dr...

G'day all , Merry new year , hope the hangovers aren't too nasty ! I found myself with a few hours free this morning and thinking better than to do one of the usual endless work chores , I fished around under the bed for the parlor guitar I'd started for the missus birthday . Minor issue being that ...

I've got a fair quantity of satin box coming through at the moment . About a half cube of quarter sawn guitar cants come in just this week from the Otways . It's very strong and long fibred , has a close , even texture and appears to be quite stable once dry though is pretty splitty in drying . The ...