Old railway sleepers

[slowlearner]

Spent the day with my Bro in law working on his house out the back of Kurrajong (west of Sydney). We spent a few hours cutting up old railway sleepers for firewood. Astonishing timber. Deep red colour. Super heavy, super dry and hard as a rock. Wondered for a moment if I could use it in guitar building. Is it too hard? What do you think? He said I can have as much as I like... and it certainly seasoned!

[rocket]

If you find a nice curly bit [ not very had to do with red gum ] you could book match it and you could make some nice headstock veneer with it .
Rod.

[kiwigeo]

Not sure what they used for sleepers in NSW but in SA redgum was used alot before concrete sleepers came into vogue. Some people have used red gum on instruments but I find the wood as hard as nails, the grain is rogue and the side sets I bought a few years back buckled bad time even though I had them stickered in a climate controlled workshop. Im not in any hurry to build a redgum instrument

[Trevor Gore]

Could be Jarrah. Apparently the London Underground runs on Jarrah sleepers. Moves a lot and is prone surface checking even when well seasoned, so be wary of that if you slice it. It also has one other unusual property - any figuring becomes less apparent after finishing rather than the other way round. Still haven't found a way round that. I used some figured Jarrah for trim on "the shed" guitar. The figuring looked a lot stronger before the finish went on.

[nnickusa]

Red Iron Bark, may also be red gum(?), is incredibly hard and heavy. Hard to work, and brittle in thin pieces. Used it alot in decking when I was building due to it's hardness, but it bent and dulled many, many a bladed tool, and snapped hundreds of drill bits.....

Burns beautifully, tho......

[rocket]

_MG_0053 (Custom).jpg (52.92 KiB) Viewed 13755 times

What's in a name? red ironbark isn't always red!

[rocket]

Not only but also,, black butt isn't very black either
Although some timbers like red gum and red ironbark are difficult to work and as a stand alone component pretty unstable, they can still be used as an ornate feature on an instrument such as a veneer.
Rod.

[slowlearner]

I might steal a bit and have a play with it and go from there. Do you know of any companies in Western Sydney who might have a big bandsaw to cut it into tops for me?

[Trevor Gore]

Hmm, that one might be difficult, Pete. Not too many shops will work "second hand" wood because of the extraneous stuff often buried in it. Can get expensive in TC blades. Probably best to try someone specialising in reclaimed timber. Just googled "reclaimed timber Sydney". Seems to be plenty of places.

[P Bill]

I have to agree with the others, limited use for me in luthiery or furniture. Even if new, seasoned hardwood is hell on machines. Your best chance with 2nd hand is 5 x 3 bearers. Long lengths and minimum foreign body. Not long ago I used 5x3 in lieu of 4x4 for posts on my verandah extension.

[bernieW]

Spent the day with my Bro in law working on his house out the back of Kurrajong (west of Sydney). We spent a few hours cutting up old railway sleepers for firewood. Astonishing timber. Deep red colour. Super heavy, super dry and hard as a rock. Wondered for a moment if I could use it in guitar building. Is it too hard? What do you think? He said I can have as much as I like... and it certainly seasoned!

Pretty old post, but I'd love to try redgum. It's been done before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuB1haUoHuU

[routout]

Do it I found some Iron bark a while ago I thought veneers as well made a couple of slide fret boards just a 16 x 100 mm wide board ,I haunted a small wood place a while ago sometimes picked up some figured Black-wood all good fun.

[sleake]

Hi All.

Not sure if this falls into the rules of the forum, but this company makes a few great products with resawn sleepers, doing all of the hard work for you.,

http://www.northernriverstimber.com.au/

They must blow through some blades in the process!

*edit - sorry just realized how old this thread is.