Wood with potential

So, I stopped by my next-door uncle's place today. Just a few days ago he had a tree guy cut down a bunch of camphor laurel (?) trees -- non-native and slightly invasive. Of pretty reasonable diameter (30cm-50cm//1ft-1.5ft), and although most of them were chainsawed into 2ft//0.6m lengths, there were a few that were still of a goodly length -- around 6ft//1.8m.

I asked him if I could have some, both for milling into lumber, and also to use as a chopping block. (Just got back from Seattle, and de-barking 2003 vintage chunks of filbert wood [to make Aussie Quarentine folks happy] with a hatchet and chopping block reminded me of my lack of same back home in Brissie.)

He said sure thing, as the rest will just become firewood. He and I chose three or four with good chopping block potential: good diameter, ends cut reasonably square.

The wood was already dead (poisoned some years back, but starting now to drop their branches and become hazards, hence the felling) -- so, less issues with seasoning, since they were "standing deadwood". Also, supposedly rot-resistant (the camphor). Seems to have an interesting figure, with some green-ish, some brown, some yellow-white layers intermixed, in no particular order.


Lots of potential... Dissertation first, though.


--GG