Log Blog: River Red Gum!

One of my big goals as a woodworker is to salvage and reclaim fallen timber. I save it from being chipped or burnt and instead turn it into beautiful pieces! Not only does this give me a chance to get cheap and responsibly-sourced timber, but it contributes to my larger passion of caring for the environment by trapping carbon into long-term furniture instead of releasing it.

This time, my generous aunt and her co-owners of the Paiwalla Wetland on the lower Murray River asked me to come and cut up a huge river red gum branch which had fallen on a path. This huge branch was pushing the limits of my chainsaw and my trailer! I cut the branch into two logs (2m long and 500mm diameter on average), and then milled them into (75mm thick) slabs, each slab weighs approximately 70kg when wet. There was a thick blood-like sap oozing out which gummed up the chainsaw and got everywhere. It was worth it, though, to see the beautiful pink-red timber!

After a few years of drying I plan to glue 2-3 of these slabs together to create an incredibly heavy and solid dinning room table for me and my family.