# Look what I found in the land of OZ...!



## robutacion

Hi peoples,

This was somehow an unexpected find last weekend (Friday 8/10/10), when I was at my auto mechanics property to cut some of the Gums he planted when the house was built, about 14 years ago.  Is usual, people plant more trees than what they need, some will never develop well and others endup being planted in the wrong place so they had to come out.

This was the case here, and in exchange for a 20 litres drum of pure Olive oil from the Olive trees that he also planted at that time, I've agreed to cut the bad stuff out.  We started on Thursday, and about 11:00am I got bitten by an ant that crawled inside my right boot, that I never heard of, the "Itchy Bull-ant" a monster about 3/4" long, black in colour with a light colour spot on the end of its abdomen.  

It hurt like hell and I have been bitten by many other nasty ants and many other nasty creatures but, this one gave me an unexpected reaction that by 11:30am I was struggling.  Extreme body heat, swelling all over, particular my face, which felt that has been plasted in wax, all skin very red and white spots all over, and an uncontrollable itchiness that made me strip almost to the bone...! 

The wife run to the mechanics house, asking for vinegar as a starting point of relief, when she come out with him holding a packet of tablets.  He guessed well what has bitten me as he has been on the recipient end of those bites a couple of times at that same location (obviously is a nest there somewhere, underground...???) so, we spoke a little to confirm the suspicions and he gave 2 little tablets (Phernergan 25 antihistamines) which it took forever to react (about another 30 minutes or so) by then, I was really stressed out with Merissa rubbing vinegar all over me.

I suppose, I got a little more relaxed when I was told what had bitten me and what reactions I would expect to the next 72 hours but, none of them would require a visit the the emergency room at the hospital 60km away...! 
Anyway, I lost a fair amount of time before I went back to what I was doing but I was feeling completely energy drained and fighting to not scratch myself, as I later found out that, those tablets do that to you...!:frown:

All my plans for the day were "up the creek" and one of the trees that I was suppose to cut down was this ugly Platypus gum, that was planted too close to the house and certainly too close to the septic tank so, it had to go but, I never had the chance to get to it on the Thursday so on Friday, we went back, me feeling pretty unwell, to finish the job as all the wood would stay there as firewood, I would only take anything that I felt was special, and was nothing I cut the day before that I didn't have already too much of it.

The interesting thing about this ugly tree, I mean ugly because a normal Platypus tree is very nice with a very low and dense canopy but this one, had divided into 2 trunks from the ground level up and looking at the base, the limbs were all unbalanced making the tree look more like a wild shrub, in fact the tree was diseased at its core, dying from the inside out, slowly . It had nice green loan all around, I could see that my mechanic did use the fresh loan trimmings to put all around the trees so, when I was shown that tree and have marked it with a cross to be cut down I didn't see anything out of normal.

On Friday when I started preparing to cut it, I pushed away all the mulch around the tree base, when I notice this large bulge about 5" off the ground,  one one side of the base, about half of it and bulging down towards to steep side of the ground.  I knew that was a burl but, I never seen a Platypus burl and this area has plenty of these trees, as I have cut a fair share of them also and burls don't really grow much in this area, regardless of tree type so, I got the tree all cut down, right to the last foot in preparation to the burl removal.

I had to go very low to get as much of the burl as I could, the position was not good and I didn't wanted to dig the loan around it, messing up the yard so, I decided to brush it all up as much as I could with a wire brush, and sacrifice a brand new $60 bucks chain (was new on Thursday...!) to cut at soil (rocks, sand, etc...!) level.  Of-course, the chains was pretty much gone after I finished but, I manage to get it very nice sliced (maximum yield possible).

I don't know how much more is underground, I believe it could be a considerable amount and I'm thinking in having a conversation with my mechanic to explore the possibility to dig it all out, messing up his front house loan, pretty bad.  If the answers is yes, with the promisse to clean the mess up and leave it as neat as possible (that's the plan and the only way I will be allowed to get it!),  it will have the be done by hand, no machinery (I know that much) but and unless I find a strong worker to work the pick and shovel, we may have to have a go at it and that isn't very recommended for our damaged backs...!:frown: 

So, at this time, the mechanic has no idea that I got a portion of a burl from his yard, no idea about my digging plans but, I got to slicing the burl portion I brought home, yesterday.  All cut into pen blanks (oversized) longs and shorts and today I will stack them up into a drying tower and "try" to forget I have them for a few months...!

This means that, some time from now, I "may" comeback to IAP with a thread about Australian Platypus Gum Burl pen blanks...!:wink: What you're reckon...???:biggrin:

This is my story and I stick with it, as always, only this time I'm still scratching like mad...!

Cheers
George


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## David Keller

Congrats on the find, George.  That stuff looks really interesting.  If you get access to the root stuff, don't forget about your good friends here in the USA that don't have platypus gum burls!:biggrin:


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## robutacion

David Keller said:


> Congrats on the find, George.  That stuff looks really interesting.  If you get access to the root stuff, don't forget about your good friends here in the USA that don't have platypus gum burls!:biggrin:



Don't worry, even if I don't get the root, I have about 100 blanks out of it and at least 50% are top grade so, all my friends in the US, Canada and elsewhere in IAP are covered as you guys will have first priority, before they go to my eBay store.  Any half a dozen or so for me is enough, and if I'm to turn all the half dozens pen blanks I've got from all species and others I've got stored, I would making pens non stop for the next 10 years...!:wink::biggrin:

If I get the root I just have to make sure, I spray the area with some ant poison, I have no desire to be bitten again by those BullBastards...!

Cheers
George


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## DurocShark

That's cool. Nice and unique. =D


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## thewishman

That looks like nice stuff! Glad those ants aren't in the U.S. - they sound like nasty buggers.

Your story alone should make those blanks more valuable, you should get a premium for your pain. An extra buck a blank should make your itching feel a little better.


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## robutacion

Hi everyone,

*DurocShark*
Unique...??? hell yeah, it may be just a burl material but try to get some Platypus Gum Burl, anywhere in the world...??? pretty, pretty, difficult...!:wink:

I suppose, this is what drives me, regardless of broken back, physical difficulties, and a brain that still thinks that I'm 21, while the body is far too damaged for my age of 52 but, and as I was saying, the odd chance to find something "new" not always of great value, is my driving force or I should say, my batteries...!:biggrin:

*thewishman*
Value for pain, you wish...!, never works like that but, is certainly "comforting"
to get something special out of the experience...!

Unfortunately, Australia has an unimaginable number of nasty creatures that don't mix well with humans and one shouldn't forget that cutting trees is certain locations, stirring the soil around them, handling all the grasses, bushes, shrubs in the process, is in fact asking for troubles...!

No counting, going through piles of dead wood on the ground trying to salvage wood, we get the snakes living under it, some spiders as big as crabs, some spiders that you hardly can see but they are deadly and many other creatures that jump on you in those circumstances...! All part of the job, some would say and, yeah sure, it may be but, how thick is one skin and how many life's does one have...??? Well I have to ask, as I reckon I should be some distant relative to cats, I've certainly used a few life's...!

I'm going to comeback to my mechanics place, in a day or two, apparently he has some more trees need taken care of...!:frown:  I will then have a better look at the root and take some pics.

We, wife and I, we are still taking antihistamines tablets, me with the body itch and swelling that doesn't want to go away and poor Merissa, she never gotten bitten by the ants but she got caught with a nasty skin irritation from contact with a particular spider web material, that is nearly as dangerous as the spider itself.  These spiders live in some trees and built their nests in the little crevasses in the trees bark or flaws.  These nests are in fact food deposits (pantries) where they take their insect or other kill closing the nest (hole) with a white thick web.

That web material is extremely powerful if touched by human skin, the irritation will take a few hours to develop but when it does, is not a pretty thing.  Merissa, even tough using protecting clothing and good working gloves, she got a caught when she was cleaning up the small leafs and other small stuff from the ground (loan) as this was the very same Platypus tree that provided the burl and put it into the trailer, near her.

A couple of times, she had her hands full of "rubbish" to throw on the trailer and the wind, blow half of it on top of her, some got inside the shirt ( face, neck and chest area) and with it was some of that white web stuff.  By the time she got home, we knew that she had a skin irritation but, we didn't know how bad it would get the following day... pretty bad...!

We may have all the medication, creams and whatever but some stuff only clears up after the intake of powerful antibiotics, and we both sure have taken a fair share of them, and continuing...!:redface: 

You just cant be in the rain and don't get wet, huh...???

Certainly and thankfully, pen making hasn't offer these sort of risks but, someone has to get the raw material, huh...???:biggrin:

Yeah, OK...! don't say it, we already know...!:wink:

PS: I'm adding a couple of pics of the burl piece where you can see those white spider web stuff, stuck to the bark after I used the air gun to clean them up a bit.  This stuff is very light weight, flying in the air quite easily...!

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

Well, I said before that, I would try to put these burled blanks away and forget but, I just couldn't help myself and had to turn a couple of blanks as samples.

None of then are the best blanks I cut from the burl but I wanted to see how they looked finished with the green wood colours and then, take some pics and then watch them change, how much, not sure yet but that we will find out...!

One blank has a mix of burled heartwood and sapwood, the other is from the edge/joint of the burl and the normal wood which has this rose stripes colours with some eyes showing here and there.

Anyway, making samples out of green wood is very easy and 8 coats of CA, and the finish look like a million bucks...!:wink: shame that it will wrinkle as it dries...!:frown: 

I wish that I was in the US so that I could buy one of these new hight-tec infrared dry cell wood drying kilns that are now being built there under the Japanese inventor "umbrella, that dry wood up to 3" thick in about 8 to 12 days, down to 8%MC.  They make them all sizes the smallest being 3 cubit feet...!:frown:

Cheers
George


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## DurocShark

That's some beautiful wood. Will it keep its color after drying do you think?


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## thewishman

robutacion said:


> Unique...??? hell yeah, it may be just a burl material but try to get some Platypus Gum Burl, anywhere in the world...??? pretty, pretty, difficult...!



That should make it MUCH more valuable! Hope you can market it for enough to make the suffering worth while. 

There are plenty of wood sellers that would charge an arm and at least one leg for something that rare. Check out how much some rare wood blanks are sold for here - there have been $20, $50 and over $100 natural (not engineered) blanks sold on the IAP.

If you can include your story of harvesting the wood (please take some pictures of the digging and cutting) they should be worth a very nice price.


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## Padre

George, maybe you should go back and find that ant and cast it in clear resin....... kind of reverse justice!! LOL.  And didn't anyone tell you not to operate dangerous machinery after taking medicine?  Be careful!! 

That wood is gorgeous.  

And another trick for the itching I learned:  on the body parts where you can, soak them in hot running water, as hot as you can stand.  At first the affected areas will itch like mad, but then it will dissipate.  After about 30 to 40 seconds the itching will go away, and will stay away for a couple of hours.   The hot water drives the histimines away from the site and relieves the itching.  A doc friend of mine told me about this, and when I got an extreme reaction to cocobolo, I tried it, and it worked!


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## penhead

George,

In a post above you stated "...hight-tec infrared dry cell wood drying kilns..."

Sounds very interesting, but my Googling skills appear defunct today, would you mind providing a link to some of this...would be appreciated.

Thanks..!


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## robutacion

penhead said:


> George,
> 
> In a post above you stated "...hight-tec infrared dry cell wood drying kilns..."
> 
> Sounds very interesting, but my Googling skills appear defunct today, would you mind providing a link to some of this...would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks..!



Absolutely mate, I was expecting that same question from someone.

I did found this new kiln system on Youtube, and when I contacted the US manufacturer for the possibility to buy all the accessories and built the box myself, being made of wood would be something that I could do easily, after I would know that insulation is used in between the inner and outer walls but unfortunately, they don't sell the accessories only as it is some secrets with its construction that they are not revelling. 

At the moment they are having a special on a particular size, which would be a great investment for someone like me if I didn't have the freight issue but for you guys in the US, these kilns are a dream coming through...!

This is their web site and in it you will have all the videos that appear on YouTube so, enjoy...!

http://www.egreenstone.com/Greendri.php

I have had one of the electrician technicians on one of the major electric stores in the area, looking at the site and trying to identify what sort of infrared lamps they are and the best this guy could tell was that, they are expensive and look identical to those use in dry saunas...!

Cheers
George


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## phillywood

George, on thread no. 7 you said about the danger of those webs and you used the blow gun to clean them. Did you guys not know about those webs before this time that they would create those rashes that your wife got or is this the first time you discovered it? And, is it possible that those spiders only like this kind of wood.
About that nasty ant, is this the first time you saw it, or is this the first time that one got away form you and crawled into your boot?

Also, on your blanks who do you determine that how much to turn them round that when it's finally all dry and good for blank it's still the right size?


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## Mr Vic

You be careful with them ants there George. I thought noting of the little zit like bumps I got from fire ants. Then one day I got a single bite. Got this tingle up my neck, my lips felt puffy, eyes were swelling and by the time I got to the emergrncy room (5 minutes away), at Ft Rucker Al, I was having a hard time breathing. 

Talk about service...Any way after hundreds of shots to de-senitize, I still carry a shot kit on the off chance I get bit. The were iomported from South America and hve spread across the southern US. Just did a google and looks like they made it down under in 2001.


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## robutacion

Hi peoples,

*DurocShark*
Is near impossible to be sure what the colours will be exactly when dry, normally the reds and yellows will darken but, I have seen green wood colours that went the other way and got brighter...!
This is one of the reasons why I turn the green wood as samples and put them in my "watch shelve", to follow daily its changes...!:biggrin:

*thewishman*
Well, only because I have never seen or heard of this type burl in Australia or anywhere in the world, doesn't mean that is that rare...!  Like most of my woods that not many people have heard or seen them before, not because they are rare but, just because they don't have commercial value due to its amount, size and final yield Vs plantation or large and commonly available trees and burls.
I have all the process documented so far, as I do always, including pics of mine and Merissa's "nasties" reactions that are not for public view, sorry...!
Is all about "validation" and or "authentication" of a product/material, as recently has been fearlessly discussed in other threads, I make no silly excuse to justify any prices that I may or not request on a blank sale, nor I believe these blanks would be in the category of what I call and see as "significant value", I may charge a buck or so more as a result of their "rarity" or lack of supply but, that will be it.  I have other woods that are as rare as this one and none of them sell for more that a buck more than my most expensive blanks, the *gems* that are not advertised or listed anywhere but some here, have had some in recent times...!:wink:
I'm no business, remember...????

*Padre*
Don't you worry mate, I have already put a side a pair of long plies and a small glass jar, for that same purpose...! I can not guarantee that I will get the one that bit me (1:1,000.000.00 odds...!) nor I would have any way to determine it but, I will be glad to capture a couple of them and make them forever incapable to bite anyone.

Hold on..! I could glue a few dozen, in some painted tubes and have them casted in clear resin, huh...??? how rare and valued would that be then...???:biggrin:

I take lots of medication every day that are very suited for operating machinery, and some times they get the best of me as I just don't get near them, fortunately I'm still capable to make those decisions or how far I'm prepared to go.  Driving was the first one to surrender, I don'y like nor I want to drive any more than absolutely necessary, Merissa has been doing 95% of the driving for a few years now...!
But, you are also absolutely right, chainsaws (and not only) are extremely dangerous tools to operate regardless, it does help to have the experience behind and have all the proper protective gear while operating them, minimising the risk of a bad injury but, struggling to have enough energy to hold the chainsaw into place and many other reactions that I was under after I got bitten and after I took the tablets, is indeed a very risky business and something that I do not recommend to anyone...!:redface:
I have had many difficult working days, no doubt, last Thursday was one I will never forget...!

Thank you also for your advise on the hot water for itchiness, I was actually aware of it and tried it before but, I don't get the same positive results as I get with the vinegar...!

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

phillywood said:


> George, on thread no. 7 you said about the danger of those webs and you used the blow gun to clean them. Did you guys not know about those webs before this time that they would create those rashes that your wife got or is this the first time you discovered it? And, is it possible that those spiders only like this kind of wood.
> About that nasty ant, is this the first time you saw it, or is this the first time that one got away form you and crawled into your boot?
> 
> Also, on your blanks who do you determine that how much to turn them round that when it's finally all dry and good for blank it's still the right size?



You really have to experience Australia and not always the "bush" to understand that is never as simple as that.  Many species of spiders live in the trees (bark, holes/ leafs, etc, etc...!) some are harmless some are deadly.  Even the harmless ones can inflict a very nasty irritation to some/most people if they walk on you bare skin, they may bite but are not poisonous, you many feel no reaction, or you can have a minor reaction that we here get pretty used to, everyday...! ( a few hours or a day minor irritation!).

On the other hand, we have an enormous number of creatures living in trees that can cause you some grief, spiders being on the top of the list.  There are so many that is impossible to tell which is which, and the worst part is that, they can live/be in the tree bark (particularly "flaked/paper" tree type bark) unnoticeable, the same goes for some of their dangerous webs , which you most times don't see or notice them as they are inside the bark but, when you are cutting the tree and slicing it into logs, you not only disturbing these creatures as you are also exposing their nest material by "tearing" apart large portions of the soft bark in the process, you then have the pick-up those logs and put then in a trailer, wheel-barrow, etc, and take them away with a repeat handling of those loges again when downloading.

I'm not going to try to describe to you, every single step in detail and how easy is to get caught in one of those steps.  Most times is more a matter of luck than good management not getting bitten, infected or hurt in the process, that is the way it is, for people like us!:frown:

The air blowing of the webs is done after 2 steps are done, one is to spray the whole log with Baygon or similar powerful bug spray, then I use a spray bottle filled with WD40 fine oil to soak any webs I see in the holes, only then (10 minutes or so later) I use the air gun to blow them out.  By then, the webs are saturated in oil and therefore unable to fly loose in the air or harm you in any way as the oil takes all the reaction the dry (intact) web creates...!

In regards to these type of ants, I have seen them before since I moved to SA, as one more of dozen of ants species I see nearly every day but, I have never heard of the name "Itchy Bull ant" nor I was ever bitten by one, again more by luck than anything else.  The one that bit me, I can't tell if I was stepping on top of the underground nest, or near it or if it did crawl inside my boot or if felt down from the tree that I was cutting, while I had probably my leg and foot on an angle allowing the outside boot to open slightly.  It doesn't really matter how it got in as some of these ants are very vicious and will attack you immediately as soon as you disturb them or get too close to the nest.

Most of the samples that I make, never became a pen, instead they are kept as samples and displayed as such but, 99% of the samples I make would be perfectly usable for a pen as they are normally only turned until the wood just gets round, so that I can sand and finish it as I would in a pen.  Some of the green wood samples do move (twist, bent, shrink, etc.!) while drying but most of that movement is less than the other blanks cut square and left to dry, this is due to the multiple coats of CA or the sealer and varnish, prevents the wood from moving as much, like a hard protective film over the wood.

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

Well, well, one exact week since that nasty ant got me good, and we went back to the same place today, for some more trees cutting and I can inform everyone that I got a few goods news.  Firstly, I got another small burl from the tree next to the other one that produce that nice burl slice.

I have also permission to dig those 2 roots out if I want...!:biggrin:

I got my pay back with those ants by, finding the nest and collecting 9 of them before the situation would get out of control. The property owner was shown the nest and tomorrow, it will be poisoned good and proper...!:tongue:

I've got a couple more nice bits from what we have cut today but the biggest surprise has come in the end of the day when I was talking to my mechanic about the possibility to get the big root out and maybe the smaller one, and in the conversation I took him to the place were the burl/root is and explain what a burl is and how it develops, when he looked at me and said, "Oh, I've got one much bigger than that, and is on one of the trees that I want you to cut next time..."

I asked him to show it to me and I nearly got a heart attack when I saw that monster, already half exposed...:biggrin: It is another Platypus Gum one of many that he had planted about 17 years ago, as he confirmed today, I though that was only about 14 or so years ago.  Platypus Gum is the slowest to grow and the heaviest trees of all gums and probably most trees in existence.  The green wood feels like lead and is seriously dense, even the smallest of the branches are extremely heavy, leafs and pods are amazingly heavy also...!

At 17 yeas of age, is only a small tree compared with other Gum species planted all around, and this one is pretty much the same size as the one I cut last week and that produced the burl slice.  I have never seen anything like it, Platypus producing burls is a rare thing but growing something like this and God know how much more is buried under ground...!

Yeah, I know...! you all want to see the pics huh...??? be patient I've got plenty for you , of everything I spoke about in this post, even some that may scare you, taken with the help of my USB microscope (300xzoom...!)

What a great way to finish our days work, we were totally exhausted but when we were shown our "Christmas present" we forgot all the pain for a few long minutes...!:wink: Next week, if everything goes according to plan, that "monster" is coming home with us...!:biggrin: I'm over the moon,about it...!:wink:

OK, times for pics...! note that the majority of them have comments written on the pic so, don't miss it...!:wink:

Enjoy...!

PS: Is a question made on one of the pics, what do you reckon...???

Cheers
George


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## DurocShark

Beautiful tree, ugly ants.

I'm in for a couple if you ever start selling those burls.


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## Buzzzz4

Wow! Those look nasty! I'm thinking those ants would look great around a pen similar to the scorpion pens. 
That wood is beautiful! congratulations on the find. The first one closest to the front in the pics above looks amazing! If you'd like to part with it, I'd like to work something out with you.

Congratulations on hard work paying off! I've always wanted to visit Australia. Some day I'll make the trek, you make it sound so appealing


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## Gofer

That is some beautiful wood George, can't wait to see how it looks when it is dry.  You can keep the ants, that ugly little critter sounds like it is more trouble that I am comfortable than it is worth.

Everyone complains about the cold, but I will keep the cold rather than have all the nasty little creatures running around OZ.

Bruce


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## robutacion

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on the situation on the large Platypus burl shown on pics, when I was bitten by the ant.
We have returned to the location yesterday (Thursday 22/10) to continue cutting some more gums down, we found nothing of interest on the 5 trees we cut, but this was all done only a few yards from where the big burl is so we started to do some work on it.

First was the amazingly heavy canopy that we cut down, leaving the trunk up to the first fork, approx 4' from the base,this would be used as a leaver the pull the root-ball out when disconnected from the ground.

We spend a couple of hours of it yesterday and I've never seen a so small tree with so many humongous roots, going in all directions and in layer after layer. The shovel only did the first couple of inches of soil the rest has been done with a jack-hammer, and some small gardening spades, small amount of soil at the time...! 

We went back there today again with plans to finish digging it out and get it into our trailer, using the winch we have on it (trailer) but, we got our plans all stuffed up when after another 4 ours digging and cutting roots with a small chainsaw, we attempted to make the initial pull of the burl using a hand winch and another much larger Platypus gum a few yards away.

I could swear that we had a big enough hole and enough roots cut to pull it out slowly, gaining access to the roots underneath and then expose and cut any other roots that we can see but we know they are there.

A new 6mm steal cable used to attach the trunk let in the burl to the hand winch attached to the other bigger tree, did snap in half when a considerable tension was applied but the root didn't move at all.

Second attempt using a proper 16mm tree rigging rope I attached it to the bur trunk together with a tree pulley so that I had a 3:1 ratio at the hand winch point.  I have used all the travel I had in the hand winch (approx 4') and you could nearly play guitar, on the 16mm rope, that's how tensioned it was.  We left it fully tensioned and went to dig some more.

We did another hour or so of slow of terribly difficult dirt digging, fighting with all these roots some small some big that all cross with each other, making near impossible to dig or remove the dirt even using garden spades.  We were getting pretty wet as the light rain we had when we started, did become quite not so light afterwards and by about 5:00pm we had more than enough and we decided to leave it there together with most of our tools and comeback some other day, maybe Sunday if we manage to get some of our strength back.

I knew that wasn't going to be a 5 minute job but, it certainly is becoming a lot more difficult that I anticipated.   We've got already 8 hours on it and I can predict another full day to get it in the trailer.  The size of this bur is getting more "obvious" as we go and I can say that what is left to dig and cut is not any burl any more but the cob web of thick roots still attaching it to the ground...!  I would calculate this full root-burl to the in the vicinity of 0.5 tone (500kg)...!!! 

Attached are some pics some yesterday (couple of hours work) and today about 6.5 hours...! You can see also how we have it set-up with the winch and the larger tree as this pics today were taking just before we left with the rain getting pretty heavy...!

PS:  I know that this has been a hell of a fight with that burl but, I know that I will win in the end regardless, she is coming home with us the one way or the other, even if we can't move for a week with body pains...!:redface:

Cheers
George


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## ctubbs

Not to be ignorant, but what about a back hoe?  Can you not get one in the area?  Over here we can rent one for about 200 / day.


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## thewishman

My word, George. That looks like back-killing, frustrating work! What a great find - looks like the world supply of platypus gum burl just got much bigger.

When you get done playing around with that thing :biggrin: I'm going to have to buy a few blanks.


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## robutacion

Hi everyone,

As promised, the burl did come home with us Sunday late afternoon but not the way I/we wanted and worked so hard for.  After last Friday we had a day off to recover some of our hands numbness and body pain, we were tyred from Thursday and Friday's work so we returned on Sunday morning to get the job done.

I was running out of space and angle to keep cutting the roots with a small chainsaw so I've decide to buy a reciprocation saw with some special blades.  I looked for a compact machine (short as possible) and with the handle rotation as an option as this makes a big difference to get the machine in tight spots.  I found one and I got a couple of "demolition/rescue" type blades, they are the only thing that would allow me to cut through all that soil/sand and rocks.

We kept digging like possums, garden spade by garden spade and after another 6 hours of back and neck killing work, we got to a stage were we were running out of time and options, as the root wouldn't move with a 4.5 tone of winch pressure on the tree trunk, our knees, hands backs and necks were very saw and, the more we did dig and cut roots, the more we would uncover, and this time they were thicker and full of rocks in between.

We had used chainsaws, crowbars, jack-hammer, screw drivers, old knifes, normal spades, small garden spades, pick, handsaw, pruning saw, small axe, and the latest tool the reciprocation saw and tough the machine did cut roots that I didn't have anything that could do it, in the end and about 3:00pm (afternoon), we had enough of it so I decided to clean the outer burl skin with a wire brush, get the bigger chainsaw and start slicing it into manageable pieces, as it was, was no point in continue as the roots left were all the "tap" roots also know as the tree eye roots which means, they are and work like a molar tooth with its normal huge 3 roots but, this time the tree had more than 3 roots left and they were right down from the centre of the root system.

Someone mention about hiring a bob-cat to get it out well, I'm glad that I didn't even tough the terrain was too steep and would destroy a well establish garden, from the top part, where I dismantle part of the fence so that I could use the aluminium ramps that I have to get the quad bike in and out of the trailer, the idea was to pull the whole root burl and the part of the trunk I left on it, into the trailer, using the winch I had set-up on the tree and the other winch I have set-up on the trailer.

A bob-cat wouldn't have enough reach to work from the top and after the way I saw how these Platypus trees develop their roo system, I can guarantee that the only machine I know with enough traction and power to rip that root off the ground, would need to be a D9 or a D10 bulldozer.  A strong enough chain and some pulling force have done the job, at a cost that would probably double or triple the value of the whole burl.  Actually, would be much worse than that, as I later found out.

Anyway, I destroyed another $60 chain slicing the burl down, actually the last  8 to 10" closer to the ground was the problem, becoming a bigger problem making the last horizontal cut, that was a killer...!

I asked Merissa to take a few pics from the beginning of the slicing so that I had a step by step illustration of the "event".  By 5:30pm the burl was all cut up and on the trailer, I had the reconstruct the fence that I drop down, which endup being a waste of time as we didn't need to pull the fence down if we knew that the burl would come up in one piece so, while I was doing that Merissa had the daunting task to shovel all the soil back into the hole and trying to remove the many inches of soil that landed on top of flowers, without to destroy them all, something that was nearly impossible...! 

Was a long day and by the time we got home, we were to bugged to take any of the wood off the trailer and any of the tools off the wagon so, we left everything there for today which we endup not doing, just too saw...!

We only unhooked the trailer from the vehicle so that Merissa could go to the post office and check our mail, after that, we didn't touch anything...!

I did tough download the pics we took from Sunday and "some" of those are going to be added today, the rest maybe tomorrow...!:wink:

What was inside of that thing...???:biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## Fred

Looks like way to much work for most peoples back, etc. Although the treasures inside that burl will more than pay for all your misery.

Keep at it and post pictures of the 'treasure inside!'


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## nativewooder

*Burl blanks and Critters*

I hope you recover soon and can avoid any more bites!  If you get adventurous, some of those critter down there would really give you some one of a kind cast blanks, but not if you have to take a chance!


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## robutacion

Fred said:


> Looks like way to much work for most peoples back, etc. *Although the treasures inside that burl will more than pay for all your misery.*
> 
> Keep at it and post pictures of the 'treasure inside!'



I really wish that you were right but, I don't think so...!

I'm not saying that it can't be used, but certainly not the burl material, colour and yield, I was expecting after I found the smaller burl on the Platypus Gum at the front of the house.  Cutting that first slice has giving me one of the biggest disappointments I have for a little while.  The "core" of the burl is rotten (smells pretty bad too) and the colour isn't as expected.  

From what I can see, this burl was formed by the tree as an attempt to survive as its core has died/rotten away, no where else was any indication that the tree was dying, apart from a very small spot at the very centre of one of the trunk forks where I left for leverage.  This was at the very centre of the pith and about 1/2" or less in diameter, showing a yellow colouration and normally dying wood looks.

None of the many roots we cut through did show any signs of rotting, all very green a moist, reason why the whole thing never moved with the winch.  The 50% of the burl body (inner part) is gone, and any of the brownish colours I see, are soft wood with plenty of spalting at the edges, the solid "orangey" colour shown on the other burl slice (from the other Platypus tree) doesn't show up on this one, in fact, I wonder if all the rotten area, brownish in colours was indeed the heartwood of the burl...???

Slicing it in 4 pieces all around the main trunk, has left me with the "core" of the burl, is this case also the core of the tree (as pic attached), most of it rotten and smelly.  Is interesting also to mention that, and one of my pics show that clearly, the last cut made to separate the tree/burl core from the tree root, in this case the "tap" root(s), was made a few inches higher than the slices all around it, this was mainly due to the number of rocks jammed in between the tap roots but, looking closely, the tree core at the cutting point is green/not rotten, this indicate that the disease has developed at the very heart of the core, a few inches from the main nutrients supply (tap root).

Not all roots are used for "feeding" many of them are simply "stabilizers" stopping the tree to be ripped off by strong winds, etc...! Each tree/plant species have different root systems and this one did prove to be one of the toughest I've seen...!

None of the pics taken on site of the burl inside are clear enough or indicative of how it really looks like, this did became a little clearer when I unloaded them on to a wooden ladder to wash with the water pressure gun.  Even then, and while wet I took a few more pics but, they come up with too much glare so, I cut a few pieces on the bandsaw (from the burl body and tree/burl core) just before and took some more pics, which show a little better what is in it.

This is obviously all very green, and I would expect colours to change as it dries, the lighter colours may darken and the effects of the burl wood may become more obvious...???
I'm going to turn 3 samples today and see how they will come up, as green wood samples, I have also a few pieces that I've cut from around the spalting and other "crazy" colours and things that have happened to this burl, there are areas in it that certainly don't resemble anything I've seen before, is this going to be a good thing, well... I bloody hope so...!!!:wink:

OK, lets see some more pics, then...!:biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

Hi again...!

Before I get into the turned samples, lets have a look a bit closer of the grain and colours of most of the burl mass.  There are some transition areas between green burl and spalted, there are solid to work with, while other areas are just rubbish to be cut off.

I've prepared a 1" slice of the burl, and gave it a coat of Floorseal, it did obviously soak in, as the wood wasn't sealed but wet instead.  The idea was to have a better look at the grain formation of this burl, while there are many small areas with the typical burl eyes, so far most of it look curled/rippled.  This may all change as it dries, will see...!

I'm considering also, instead of cutting all into oversized pen blanks, rack them and put them to dry, to leave most of it sliced into 1" slices, and selling then like that, identical to some of the pics, but possible in various shapes, triangle(ish), square(ish) and rectangular(ish)...!:wink:

I particularly like the slice idea and I have been considering to adept the same concept in many other woods I sell, this is particularly important to provided an accurate exemplification of some woods grain formations when sliced through the logs, which changes completely when ripping them into 20mm or so strips, regardless if straight or angled cut.

Another great advantage I see with the slices, is that you get all is included within that piece/slice, and you can cut it anyway you feel like it, or even used it for something else, than pen blanks...! 

Anyway, a few more pics of this burl...!

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

*Platypus Gum Burl samples, ready...!*

OK peoples,

Here they are, the pics from the 3 samples I made from 3 different areas of the burl...!:wink::biggrin:

All finished with CA, 8 coats and a little polish...!

Again, some blanks are not totally green as they were cut from the edge or around the dead wood, I did put them in the microwave for 30 seconds, let them settle for a couple of minutes then increase 25% of the "cooking" time, every time onwards, until it reached 3 minutes.  They were pretty dry by then, the whole process took about 20 minutes, most was waiting times between runs.  The idea is to warm the wood initially, then let it cool down to fingers holding stage, and give them another run.  This will increase the wood temperature slowly, voiding major stress from going from 0 to 200 degrees in one go, that would cook/burn the wood cells, making it crack, bend, twist and even separate in some cases.

I normally don't do this, and turn them as they come from the bandsaw, wet, semi-dry or dry, this time I wanted to see how the wood will perform with the CA on top.  Looking for shrinkage, CA separation due to excessive moisture and any other wood movement as it cures.  

Many pen blanks (certain woods) can go from green/wet to safe levels of dryness, therefore, made into pens using this drying method. With microwave wood drying method, the chances of success increase considerably by taking your time in between the cooking times and not trying to do it too quickly, the chances are you endup with burnt wood, if you hurry...!:biggrin:

Right, I'm always testing something, lets see how these ones will hold...!!!

Cheers
George


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## Gofer

That stuff looks great George,  those triangle slabs have some amazing patterns to them.

Bruce


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## David Keller

Cool looking wood, George.  Thanks for taking the time to document the ordeal of harvesting the burl.  BTW, how's a guy supposed to turn a nice hollow form from a slice?:biggrin:


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## robutacion

David Keller said:


> Cool looking wood, George.  Thanks for taking the time to document the ordeal of harvesting the burl.  BTW, how's a guy supposed to turn a nice hollow form from a slice?:biggrin:



Thanks Bruce and David...!

David..., you didn't think that I have cut the whole burl in slices, didn't you...??? I turn too remember, and slices don't always cut it for me either so, there will be rounds, squares, rectangles, conical's, ponical's and crookedonical's of all shapes and sizes, the problem is, who is going to pay for a 5kg chunk of Platypus burl, to be sent overseas to become a bowl of same nature...???:redface::wink:

I may have an answer but I won't say...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George


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## RosezPenZ

Your story reminds me of a "Patrick McManus" story.  Keep us updated.  How about a trade?  Anytype of wood or antlers I could provide you with from the midwest?  sorry I dont have one of those fancy drying kilns.  insert sad face


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## robutacion

fromRosezWoodshop said:


> Your story reminds me of a "Patrick McManus" story.  Keep us updated.  *How about a trade?  Anytype of wood or antlers I could provide you with from the midwest*?  sorry I dont have one of those fancy drying kilns.  insert sad face



Anything is possible mate, and a trade is something that I do all the time with guys around here, after all, what is local to you us foreigner to me, and that normally means, something I don't have, never seen and or heard of...! So, send me a PM with your offer and we work things out.

Geezz, some people reading this may thing that I'm short of wood, in fact one can never have too much wood, and with the millions of woods varieties out there, I will die without seen more than a small proportion of them...!

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

*Some more samples*

Gezzzz...! I nearly forgot about this thread...!!!

I have turned a couple more samples from this big burl and I've tried to demonstrated what different areas of the burl look like.  This will be particularly handy when I put them for sale, which I could right now but, the purpose of this post is to show you how those other samples look like and how to identify them, later on...!

Here we go...!

Enjoy!

PS: What does that #26 B/SS - 4 look like, do you recall...???

Cheers
George


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## robutacion

Hi peoples,

Just before I forget, the answer to my question from my previous post is, the Curly Gum with attitude here  the dead wood pen blanks, mainly...!

Now, a continuation of this Platypus saga, I mean salvaging a little more of the burl left attached to the root, in one of the first Platypus Gums I cut from mu auto-mechanic.  This is the attempt on the root left, from the tree that produced the nice bur slice/cap.  This root is shown on the first and third pic of my post #17 so have a look to refresh your mind..!

What we done, was to find out how much more burl was there under ground, and unfortunately that big "bulge" that the tree root did show when we cut it off, was mostly removed on that slice I cut right at ground lever, as we were digging out all around just to see how deep the burled bulge would go, we were quite surprised that we saw it only go a few inches down maybe about 4" to 5".
The plan was to "core" the root out saving us days of digging, particularly as the ground around this root was tight, compact an full of stones which was a good indication of problems for the chainsaw chains.

In fact most chains did not finish one single cut, if they would it one of those stones at the start, "it was all over Beethoven".  We took pics at various stages and I started with the new 20" husqvarna chainsaw and didn't last 15 seconds of cutting before smoke start to pour from under the wood.  I then switched to my 18" sthil chainsaw which I had plenty of chains for it, 8 to the precise, I will not be lying if I tell you that I put my very last chain and still had one cut to finish that already stuffed up the previous chains so, I was wondering if I had to get some of the chains sharpen on site, just to get the job done but, I manage to smoke it out but cut the last piece...! I was relieved...! 

I got all the burl pieces washed with a pressure water gun when we got home and I have the main 4 pieces downstairs to get them sliced up at about 1" thick, treat them with Fungishield and put them to dry as I did with a few slices from the big burl we got home before.  I'm thinking in sell them as is, pretty much the shape of a 1/4 or a circle and about 1" thick, they really look pretty nice like that and before they are all cut into strips (pen blanks).

I reckon that I'm going to sacrify one of the blocks and turn a bowl out of it while is green.  I feel like turning/making a bowl out of this burl just to see how it will come out is a few months time when is dry for finishing.  I haven't have any items in the house made out of burl, any burl and these being our firsts, I reckon its time...! If I had to pay burl prices for a blank big enough for a "decent" bowl, I am certain that I would be able to so, and while I'm in a favourable position, I shall not miss that chance/opportunity...!

Well, some may ask, what the expense and time worth it...??? I have an easier answer, if you want fresh fish you have to get you a$$ in the water...!:wink::biggrin:

Until the next episode, I'm sure this is not the end of it, take care and enjoy the holiday...!

Cheers
George


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## David Keller

Two saws and nearly a dozen chains?  That burl is getting more and more expensive.  That must be some pretty stuff because I know you've got a ton of wood already, and I doubt you'd be working that hard for ordinary wood.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished bowl!


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## robutacion

David Keller said:


> Two saws and nearly a dozen chains?  That burl is getting more and more expensive.  That must be some pretty stuff because I know you've got a ton of wood already, and I doubt you'd be working that hard for ordinary wood.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished bowl!



Hi David,

You will be surprise how hard we work sometimes for little return, this means money and what we get (wood) from the effort...!:frown:
Sometimes if not most of the times with these type of timbers, there is not much if anything at all that is indicating what we are going to get, while this can be a present surprise sometimes, more often than not we get big disappointments but, all works alright in the end, after all we are no business nor we want to be so, the disappointments/failures are a loss that we take in the chin as a replacement for all the excitement and expectations we had while doing the job.

It may sound strange but in fact, we happy to cover "satisfactory" the costs and expenses of doing these things, our sanity depend upon it and many others get some benefit, the amount of stuff we salvage from becoming ash/smoke and the low prices of whatever we sell are always welcome to those with financial limitations, as we are so, and like I've said, all levels up in the end.  The only thing that doesn't level up but instead, becomes slowly but increasingly worsen is the condition of my spine which get worked out and get the bone to bone rubbing ongoing towards paralyses but, in true fact, that is happening every time I "move" to do any of the normal things we all do every day so, I may the accelerating the inevitable but at least I will have wood to play with when my legs stop working...!:frown:

Now in relation to what we got from the effort on this root, was also a disappointment, the burled wood was not as deep as I expected, nor the colours were anything compared with the the burl top/slice I have cut on the previous trip.  I'm glad that I've got all that slice cut into pen blanks, treated and drying on a drying tower, they will provide some damn unique blanks afterwards for sure but, the Platypus Gum burl hasn't have that red(ish) colour through, in fact the burled wood has nice grain but the colour is a light one...!:frown:

Another reason why this effort didn't pay off was that, when we cut those chunks out we noticed that most of it was rotten/dead underneath, in a similar way as the centre of the big burl was.  There is something that have been killing every single Platypus Gum tree planted in that place, something that has started a long time ago and that no one was aware of, as the trees didn't show any dead wood in the tree itself, we only find out that they were "condemned" when I started cutting them and reach the butt/root part of the tree where the problems was showing up and growing up.  This could have taken another 2 or 3 years for the trees to show any disease problems but sure, it would be inevitable...!

What I endup with was some areas of the burl that weren't affected by the rot, which are a minority of about 30% (same with the big burl) the rest is dead/dry wood that has areas of spalting and other areas with all sorts of stuff happening...!  While the green burled wood is as hard as rock, the dead wood is soft to very soft, this has already proven to produce some amazing blanks and is pretty much ready to work it, just needs a little more care and attention with its handling.

I have cut a round blanks for myself (8"1/2 x 3") which I started to work on yesterday and I have also left some slices at 2" thick, they were all sealed with Fungishield yesterday also and put to dry.  There are a number of pen blanks that I have also cut (from smaller pieces) and they are now also made into a drying tower.

I have only balanced the round blank and made its bottom insert for the chuck yesterday, then I removed it from the lathe to round some pen blanks samples so, at the moment I'm yet deliberation of what I will make out of it, and if things go as normal, wherever I plan endup being changed as I turn, the vast majority of my work is started with absolutely no plans of prototype, I simple follow what the wood tells me and it always work...! No I'm not mad...! the wood talks to me in ways that only those with that luck/gift/ability/experience can understand...!:wink::biggrin:

Attached are some pics of what I got from the small chunks remove from the root...!

Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas/Holiday Season...!

Cheers
George


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## RHossack

robutacion said:


> I wish that I was in the US so that I could buy one of these new hight-tec infrared dry cell wood drying kilns that are now being built there under the Japanese inventor "umbrella, that dry wood up to 3" thick in about 8 to 12 days, down to 8%MC.  They make them all sizes the smallest being 3 cubit feet...!:frown:


Those are outstanding!

I'm sure you've probably seen these but here's the misers approach via a solar kiln

http://owic.oregonstate.edu/solarkiln/plans.htm


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## Ambidex

would love to see a pen with some of those nasties in it...was wondering if perhaps using a vacuum sealer while the were still alive might keep them stretched out more lifelike...not that I'm volunteering mind you..look like very wicked creatures indeed:frown:


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