Entertainment for Markus

[curly]

Looks like pretty stuff .
I mill a bunch of arid zone timbers and have a great love of the colour and stability of what's out there . unfortunately I've never got so far north . too much good timber on the way . The Gutta Percha looks like the real thing .
Any luck chasing any of the local ebonies up there ? A mate showed me a sample of an unknown Diospyros , said it was out of a coastal vine thicket somewhere near darwin . It was proper black in the heart and about 10" diameter .
Pete

[DarwinStrings]

Yep, I posted some pics of some I have that I think is D. Compacta but was a few years ago and can't find the thread. I just have some small bits useful enough for decoration though. You could probably find a good tree if you looked but then you have to cut the old thing down. I pick up the odd bit of bulldozer fodder.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

Does this look like the one you saw Pete?

Jim

black as.JPG (70.58 KiB) Viewed 16271 times

[curly]

Well now isn't that the real deal .
I might have to start in the north and work my way back some time .
While we are on it , have you done anytrhing with Crow's Apple ? It's one of the Owenia's . I have been chasing it's more southern sister Emu Apple with some good results . I ask cos Mr Gilet said the northern one had the closest tap to Brazilian he had come across in Aus wood . The Emu Apple made some cracking good guitars as a back and sides timber , for some reason though it was particularly good on classicals .
Like you say though , It's the big old trees you need . Not just that but the big old healthy ones ! I too follow the dozers . New fence lines are the ticket . I do also tip over the odd tree but I'm agonisingly selective about it . The longaevity of some of the arid zone trees are famed , it's a humbling thought that the tree you are thinking of cutting down could have been there when the bearded prophet was spruiking his wares .
Winter is my desert harvest time , it'll be me out preparing logs with the ute and trailer being followed by the crane truck , about 12 ton a load and then what I can fit on the trailer . Now the weather is cooling I'm looking north , time to get out of the stinky Blackwoods .
Pete

[DarwinStrings]

I have not heard of it Pete and can't find anything that says it grows up here, we have a Cocky Apple but it is Planchonia careya and I have never seen the wood. Sounds like you are much more serious about the wood collecting than I am.

Jim

[curly]

I was a serious wood collector , now it's full time work .
Last two days was 20 odd ton of Blackwood , today some big old figured Elms . A lot of days I'd sooner be in the workshop building than wrestling logs and machinery though.
But when you open up a good one , doesnt it make it worthwhile .
Pete

[Trevor Gore]

Crow's Apple, AKA Owenia Venosa. Yeh, it rings. I have a stick or two, but no B/S sets.

Jim, head for the rising sun and keep on goin' and goin' and goin'.

Distribution shown here, though I think Gerard was much further north when he came across it.

[DarwinStrings]

Nice, you could have a worse job mate. I know what you mean about wrestling machinery though. I have a Ironwood log I need to go collect but keep putting it off cause of the sun, sweat and long grass that surrounds it.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

Too far south east for me to go looking for wood Trevor, I have some contacts in Arnhem Land but even that is too far east.

Jim

[charangohabsburg]

So, knowing now the name, do you already have some plans on what to do with this nice piece of timber? I hope it will not go into some kerfed linings... (which seem to have triggered this thread).

[Nick]

Awwww Pete, that chunk of timber is just beautiful. Tell me that's just part of a fair sized log?

[curly]

Only ever got one small block of Crow's Apple from an old Qld. forestry sample . It said Atherton district , dry rainforest 1947 . Got a couple of bridge blanks off it and that's it . Trevor is right though , It's not even supposed to be up there . My experience in the field is that the distribution charts are often wrong , certainly different guides contradict each other . I don't have the guides in front of me but from memory there was another Owenia in the North West , common name was something to do with Walnut ?
The Blackwood in the photo was a big old collapsed gnarly monster of a thing , only yielded about 30 back and side sets . But crackers !
Today is milling Sth. Qld. Kauri for soundboards , and wrestling with machinery .
Pete

[Trevor Gore]

I don't have the guides in front of me but from memory there was another Owenia in the North West , common name was something to do with Walnut ?

Owenia reticulata, AKA desert walnut. You'll find it out in the north western suburbs.

[DarwinStrings]

Hmmm, not a bad idea Markus but I would be continually sticking my nose in the sound hole to get a wiff of that sweet Gutta Percha, maybe a fret board then I can just smell it as I play. With a bit of luck I may find a big one one day and get some back and sides.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

We do have O. Reticulata up here, tree to ten metres so will have a look at that one. The only other Owenia here ( from John Brock's book) is a small shrub so it doesn't look promising.

Jim

[Nick]

a small shrub so it doesn't look promising.

Jim

Miniature Uke Jim?
I'm enjoying this post even though I don't have a clue about Australian Species, thanks chaps .

[curly]

I've got Owenia acidula , the same Emu Apple as I've been playing with running up into the cape , possibly Arnhem land , O. reticulata only further west and O. vernicosa , another common name Emu Apple At it's best right across the north .
My experience of Owenia acidula is that the best trees are found in depressions between the sandhills , in sites with subterranean water . Sounds a bit obscure , but that's why you find them in the vicinity of the old farm houses , you could bore water where you find an Emu Apple . Best one I got was 800 mm diameter and 4 metres to a branch , with a strange lacey birdseye . More of them please .
I dropped the Kauri's today , went out for a load of Ancient Red Gum . No photo's yet but one of them was all out ebony black , the rest more silvery purple . And stinky , you pull them out of the mud , just like a bog oak or ancient kauri . Don't know if I'd use them for musical timber though , they are pretty volatile , at least in drying ........
I hear that the average Territorian drinks 200 litres af beer annually , is that true Jim ?
Pete

[Bruce McC]

[quote][I hear that the average Territorian drinks 200 litres af beer annually , is that true Jim ?
Pete/quote]

Come on Curly don't hijack the post

[DarwinStrings]

I think you will find those sort of statistics are not so reliable Pete as the statistic collectors only come out of their air-coned offices on the cool days when people are not drinking so much.

One of those little electric guitars for my key ring Nick

Jim