Redgum firewood in short supply, fines for illegal harvesting

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Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Did you have to use a tungsten carbide saw to cut it into lengths? When I was bout 20 and out on a beef road camp on the Diamantina with my Dad I used a truck to drag an old gidgee log into camp for the camp fire. Tried to cut it into firewood with a sharp axe. No hope. The axe left dents in the log. Ended up using the axe as a wedge and a sledge to split it up. Gidgee was the favoured firewood for steam engines. Many shearing sheds had steam engines dating form the early 1900's and steam traction engines were sometimes used to pull cable hauled tumbling tommies to make tanks at bores.

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No - but I've got three chainsaws and the tree was still "green". The two smaller ones don't like this stuff, but the larger Husky manages to get through it OK. Mind you, I tool a couple of sharp chains with me on the day and had to sharpen them both again when I got home. I've also got a lump of old gidgee fence post out in the shed - won't be attempting to cut that with a chainsaw. Straight onto mitre saw / table saw or bandsaw with that bit.

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Originally Posted by bob10

I make pens from Gidgee, made a boxed set for my daughters Uni graduation gift. A mate of mine goes to his uncle's cattle property once a year, and brings back a few branches for me. I treated myself to a TORMEC sharpening system, the best way to get the tools up to scratch. Love your work, BTW.

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Thanks Bob. I use the Wolverine Vari Grind system for sharpening - have an 8" grinder with a CBN wheel on it right next to the lathe. I also turn a lot of pens - mostly from hybrid wood burl / acrylic blanks that I cast myself, but also from gidgee, mulga and other local timbers and burls found around here. Also do a bit of casting Banksia Pods, Pine Cones etc in resin and turning pens and other things from them. I'm a member of a group called "Pens for the Troops" - we make and send pens overseas to serving members of the ADF every year for ANZAC and Remembrance Days. The bloke who runs the group lives in Sydney - he recently travelled Perth to Sydney on the Indian Pacific, and managed to pick up some lumps of old gidgee fence posts at one of the places where the train stops for a Bar-B-Que. They were using it as firewood.

A couple I cast and turned using York Gum Burl and epoxy resin.

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