# Ancient redgum



## David Keller (Mar 19, 2011)

I hope George(robutacion) will chime in here with the history behind this wood, as it's Australian redgum that I got from him.  The ragged area around the opening was the weathered surface of the blank that he sent, and I chose to keep it as a reminder that this stuff has got a little history.

It's about 6 inches in diameter and finished with shellac and multiple coats of WOP.  There's a little area of stippled pyrography on the bottom just for fun.

Comments and criticism appreciated.


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## el_d (Mar 19, 2011)

Pretty sweet David........ nice form and great color of the timber.


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## IPD_Mrs (Mar 19, 2011)

el_d said:


> Pretty sweet David........ nice form and great color of the timber.


 

I'll second that - but also the shine is fantastic.  I'm totally in awe of some of the work I see here besides the pens.  You folks are doing some great things out there!


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## seamus7227 (Mar 19, 2011)

Wow! nice job David! I like the way you left the natural look of the top and bottom, it adds some nice character to the piece


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## louisbry (Mar 19, 2011)

Very nce hollow form David.  Beautiful timber and I really like the shape and finish.


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## robutacion (Mar 20, 2011)

David Keller said:


> I hope George(robutacion) will chime in here with the history behind this wood, as it's Australian redgum that I got from him.  The ragged area around the opening was the weathered surface of the blank that he sent, and I chose to keep it as a reminder that this stuff has got a little history.
> 
> It's about 6 or 7 inches in diameter and finished with shellac and multiple coats of WOP.  There's a little area of stippled pyrography on the bottom just for fun.
> 
> Comments and criticism appreciated.



G'day David,

Great execution mate, I knew you would make it justice but I was wondering which way you would go.  This is certainly a beautiful and well suited shape for the blank/wood I provided to you.  The finish and colour are a good match also, making it an excellent piece, indeed...!:wink:

The full and complete story of this wood is in the Australian Wood-Work forum library, as I was a active member there at the time I made the find.

At the time, I got "slammed" by some of the forum members because I name it "ancient" red gum.  While my intention was to describe the wood as very old, I was pointed out that a better word would describe this wood, and that would be "Colonial" red gum, which I accept as a better and more accurate name for the time period this wood was worked on, originally.

I was also told that, "ancient" wood has to be at least 5.000 years old, while I understand why, I reckon 5.000 years as the age limit is a bit stiff, I would consider myself anything over 1.000 years old to belong in the ancient category...!

This wood was found by me in the Old Chinese farm, named as is by the very first Chinese Settlers in this are (Town).  They were in fact the first foreigner Settlers to come trough the are looking for gold.  They din't find gold but they found that this area/land would be good for their vegetable growing products so, they started to divide the land and fencing what have become the still today semi-operable, Mt. Compass Chinese Vegetable Farm, only a few hundred meters from my place.

I have became involved with the people owning and running the farm, as soon as I moved into this area 5 years ago, providing them with all the firewood they would need to warm themselves up in winter, in exchange I would get the cutting of the wood/trees that needed removal and or any large branches that could be in the way.  I also don't need to buy vegetables when they are operating, at the moment and for over 1 year, they are not, but still lots of stuff still growing from seeds left on the ground so, I get doing a run every couple of weeks and collect what is available, while I keep and eye on things (no one there at the moment) so, sort of caretaker.  

I was also nominated the "guardian" of the pine plantation covering 1/3 of the whole farm area, at the far end of it.  These pine trees are only about 13 to 15 years old, planted by one of the many Chinese owners this farms has had since the 1840's.

Anyway so, I was driving one of the tractors to make a fire-brake through the front paddock, which in a normal farm situation would be called the holding or horse paddock.  Normally the fire-breaks go only around the fences but I decided to make one straight across the paddock, towards the main entry gate, reducing distance and driving time to get across.

As I was cutting my way, the blades were caught in some wire which made me stop.  On closer inspections, I noticed that, was a large roll of old wire tangled, the other half still buried on the soft sandy ground.  After some some serious wire cutting, I decided to use the front bucket to remove the roll of wire and anything else that could be buried there, that could create problems some other time.

In the digging process I notice something that looked like old fence posts, still with some wires and pieces of metal stuck or trough it so I kept digging until I brought up everything I could see.  In the end, and apart from lots of hard wire and some nasty rusted round metal pegs I uncovered a number of large square and rectangular timber posts that from the size I knew they weren't fence post but something more "yard" posts as they were about 8" square and some 8"x6" and 8"x4".  

They here still reasonably tall but I could see where they have been buried on the ground for many years before they were removed and buried and not burn (lucky me...!:biggrin.  They were covered with wet sand and hard to tell exactly what they were but I though that I was dealing with some very old red gum wood found in abundance in the area then, not anymore...!:frown:

Took the home and started the cleaning process which was by far a lot more than removing the sand/soil of them, there were stones, pieces of wire, pieces of metal and other UFO's that did require some elbow grease and some serious inspection with a good metal detector, not much good for the stones/rocks, tough...!

The cleaning process was done in stages and in between I started to search its origin and story.  According to all those I contacted and information that was passed on by family, friends and workers that have something to do with this farm, its was established that those posts were in fact "yard" posts from a yard built in that same paddock by the first Chinese people in this farm.  The Reg Gum trees used for these posts and many of other construction buildings, etc., within the farm in in fact the whole Town, where from the area, where very old/large Reg Gums once existed.

They were cut down, milled on site and transported to the farm.  From the size some of the people said these trees were, they had to be many hundreds of years old to reach such sizes, they were obviously the first trees to come down due to the wood quality and yield...!

The yards, as the rest of the farm, was built in the 1840's, those post were removed due to decay at the base (soil level), therefore compromising its strength and buried, about 40+ years ago, this mean that, they were under ground buried in soft sand for all these years without being seen.  I mean, they could have been buried originally deeper but soil erosion and many years of cattle and horses been "stumping" on that ground, have reduce considerably the amount of soil on top of it, reason why the tractor pick-up the roll(s) of wire, dumped with and on top of the wood...!

So, generally speaking, and you can have a different opinion than me, is OK, these red gums had to be at least 300 years old when they were cut, now they were put down and processed in the 1840's and stayed up as yard posts until approx, 40 years ago so my maths are, wood age = 300 + (2011-1845) approx.) 166 = Total of *466 years* approx...! 

The posts were serving their purpose for (2005-40 approx.) = 1965 (when they were removed/buried) -1845 approx.) = *120 years*.
This mean also that has been (2011-1845) = 166 years since they were cut from the trees and proceed into lumber/yard posts, not forgetting that they were buried for over 40 years in between, that's what I call tough old wood...!:biggrin: 

The wood inside is as perfect as it was when it was cut, only darker off-course, the most extraordinary aspect of it is its outer skin aged look and texture.  I have tried numerous techniques and designs to preserve as much of that outer shin as possible but, has been difficult as any liquid touching the wood and particularly its aged/weathered thick layer, its becomes very dark indeed, spoiling its natural look, nevertheless, anything made from this wood as been nothing short of amazing...!

I try to get/find some of the original pics I took and some more recent for you to look at.  One will be the blanks David used to create his piece...!:biggrin:

Hope the "Ancient"/Colonial Red Gum wood story I found/provide, and its age criteria/searched evidence, is satisfactory to you...! 

PS: My wood storage paddock that I so often refer to, is a smaller paddock at one side of this farm, closer to the main road for easy access, own by the Chinese farm people but unused by the farm so I "rent" it for wood storage...!

Cheers
George


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## David Keller (Mar 20, 2011)

Thanks, George.  With your permission, I'd like to use one of these photos when I post this piece elsewhere.  I wish I lived closer, but then you'd have some serious security issues with your wood stash!


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## wizard (Mar 20, 2011)

David, That is absolutely beautiful with a natural look on the top that resembles the discovery of an ancient artifact...Thanks for showing.


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## PaulDoug (Mar 20, 2011)

David, beautiful piece and George I enjoyed you write up about the wood.  Thanks for taking the time.  David certainly did it justice.


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## TurnerJohn74 (Mar 20, 2011)

Another nice one!! I like pieces with history, gives lots of conversation.
John


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## holmqer (Mar 20, 2011)

Fantastic work as usual. Sooner or later you will make me turn a hollow form


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## robutacion (Mar 21, 2011)

David Keller said:


> Thanks, George.  *With your permission, I'd like to use one of these photos when I post this piece elsewhere*.  I wish I lived closer, but then you'd have some serious security issues with your wood stash!



Absolutely mate, they have been shared before and are indeed part of the whole story.  Having pieces made with this wood and shown to the world, makes all my efforts well worth while...!:wink:

In regards to the second part of your post, it wouldn't worry me a bit, I have plenty of wood and I don't mind to share so, no issues there, on the other hand I could use a spare set of hands every so often...!:biggrin: 

Are you still sure, you would like to live near me...???:wink:

*PaulDoug*
Thanks, you're welcome...!:wink:

Cheers
George


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## Dai Sensei (Mar 21, 2011)

Beautiful work David, you have certainly brought out the features of the timber to best advantage  Love the finish.


Great story George . Nothing better than a beautiful piece of timber with a history. I have a similar post of redgum of similar age from an old demolished post and rail fence around an old church from the first settlers in the region. I have only made a few trinket boxes from it many moons ago, still waiting to decide on the rest.

I've also attached a pepper grinder I made not so long ago from what they do call ancient red-gum, its >5000 year old, black from the being burried similar to the bog-oak being dug up these days.

Cheers


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