Recycling Redgum Wood
Australia has some of the most beautiful timbers in the world, many of them in the eucalypt family. However, while many are used for utilitarian purposes to show their beauty, for example as flooring or some furniture, many have been used for purposes that hide or destroy that beauty.
An excellent example of timber in the ‘abused’ group is red gum (eucalyptus camaldulensis). These trees are endemic to Australia with large populations in south-eastern Australia particularly along the Murray River and other waterways. With an estimated life span of 500 – 1000 years they can grow up to 45 metres (around 140 feet).
They have mainly been used for railway sleepers and fence posts with some application in furniture making. Having a Janka rating of 12 Newtons (english oak is around 5N) it is very hard requiring nails and screws to be inserted in pre-drilled holes. It is also hard on edge tools which require very frequent sharpening. For example, when I am turning red gum and other similar Australian hardwoods I am sharpening chisels and gouges every few minutes.
Despite all these difficulties the end result is well worth the effort.
Recycling – where do I get it!
As with most of the timber I have, my main source of red gum is in the form of discarded fence posts found on nature strips in suburban streets. Occasionally if am offered posts by friends and acquaintances who have replaced fences. I rarely, if every, buy timber unless I need something out of the ordinary when I might be forced to purchase it.
When I have acquired discarded posts or logs I need to process them. First step is to find any metal – there is always nails and sometimes other fittings. Because the posts are sold old and the nails generally are corroded they have a habit of breaking leaving bits in the wood that are difficult to detect with the naked eye. So, a metal detector is essential.
A power planer can work wonders in cleaning up the old, metal free posts.
Cut into manageable lengths waiting to be used.
One of the lengths milled into 15mm x 1200mm boards. Beautiful wood that should not be burned.
Things I have made
Below are some items I have made over the years using recycled red gum as well as other timbers I have acquired – all recycled or fallen trees, of course! There are many other items that I did not photograph for whatever reason but these do demonstrate the beauty of redgum.
My current project is to make several boxes for the chess pieces, all from recycled fence posts.
2 responses to “”
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Hi Ken,
I am back in Perth for a few weeks and have been working with some of the local Australian hardwoods. And, boy is it hard. I had a few offcuts from a salmon gum in my son’s shed, laying there for at least 2 years. I put a piece on the lathe and really struggled with it. Having said that the lathe is an old Ryobi, basic entry model, and by no means the best and very limited. Just now I’m turning an off cut of glu-lam from a beam and it is super hard. I have a greater appreciation for the pieces you are turning out now. They are truly beautiful and show skilled workmanship.
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Thank you, Owen (I presume I have guessed correctly)
You certainly know how to pick the hard ones. I do not know Salmon Gum (maybe it is a WA native) and my research shows that on the Janka scale of hardness it rates `15.8N whichi is pretty hard given that the hardest wood found so far is around 23N.
I work – both turning and woodworking – almost exclusively in Aus hardwoods with an occasional dalliance into European timbers eg London Plane Tree which are street trees in parts of Melbourne. I mostly use Redgum (Janka 12.3) from recycled fence posts but I have often used Grey Ironbark (16.3) Grey Box Yellow Box, Red Ironbark (all around 13.3). All these are very dense averaging 1000 – 1150 kg/cu m.
I think the secret is very sharp tools and patience. I would have my chisels and guages on the bench grinder (located pretty much at my right elbow) every 2 – 3 minutes. You cannot rush working these timbers as they can be very unforgiving. EG, grey box is prone to having internal splits that like to catch on a misplaced edge resulting in bits of timber all over the shed. Where I do detect any splits, grub tunnels etc I fill them with either 2 part epoxy or for narrow splits I use superglue.
However, despite all that these timbers, because they are very dense, polish beautifully so it is worth all the trauma. I usually finish by, in order, sanding to 1200 or 1500 grit, applying sanding sealer, then applying an abrasive wax paste, finishing with a liquid tung oil and carnuba wax polish ( 2-3 applications with the lathe spinning at 1200 rpm or faster). Gloves might be useful as quite a bit of heat is generated during this process. I use the UBeaut brand of polishes. It is an Australian brand and should be available in WA but I do not know if it is available overseas.
I don’ t think the standard of lathe makes much difference unless it is prone to erratic spinning. My lathe is an old cast iron beast made in New Zealand but it has a 1 1/3″ spindle which is very stable.
I am toying with the idea of creating a post on my experiences in making chess sets but it will be some time away – stay posted.
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