|
|
Sawdust
One of the highlights of the summer holidays with my family was driving south from Grafton to Dorrigo in Northern NSW. Thanks to the GPS navigation system we ended up on a road less travelled that included 25km of gravel track through the Dorrigo National Park. It would have been divorce fodder if I had chosen the route! The gravel road hugged the escarpment as we climbed through tranquil rainforest; hairpin bends giving us glimpses of the valleys below and the ocean beyond. Just before we got to the bitumen on the Dorrigo end of the road, we came across The Jack Feeney Memorial Tallowwood tree: a magnificent example of eucalyptus microcorys with its first branch 38 metres above the ground and a canopy that reached 57 metres. The trunk was just enormous; the five of us could not hold hands around it! What a tragedy that our forests have lost so many of these awesome wonders. It must have been humbling to be a timber cutter in amongst these giant trees 150 years ago. (I had helped my dad build a tallowwood frame for his deck the week before, so I guess I am part of the problem.) The skywalk was our first destination just outside Dorrigo. The National Parks have built an observation deck at the edge of a steep slope that juts out over the tops of the trees, giving fantastic views of the forest below and ranges beyond. The volcanic landscape has created fertile soils and raging rivers. The first settlers felled the ancient trees before planting crops and raising dairy cattle. Hoop Pine (my favourite Australian softwood) grows from Dorrigo up north to Queensland (the Qld Forestry Commission tend 100-year-old stands of hoop pine and market it under the name of Arakaria). Huge Hoop Pine trees similar to the magnificent tallowwood ended up as butter boxes! Our destination was to visit an old mate and his new farm and workshop. Ian has an abiding passion for building furniture out of rough-sawn slabs and solid branches. A hallmark of Ian’s furniture is the solid wood butterflies (oversized double-ended dovetails) fashioned out of contrasting hardwood that he inserts to hold the inevitable splits and shakes at bay. While I tend to recycle as much milled timber as I can in my workshop, Ian is a true “bodger” who tries to use every part of the tree for his craft. After my visit to Ian’s workshop I realised that the frame for the trestle table on page 36 would make an excellent pedestal for a slab table. Next time you are at a wood show, keep this issue in mind if you are interested in building a slab table. Good woodworking! Chris Clark © Paragon Media Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Net Maintain. |
From
the editor's desk,