Hello from Australia (temporarily in US)

[kungsleden]

Started woodworking only very recently, at the Woodwright school in Pittsboro (NC). I first took the toolbox class. And really loved it.

Before that I did some more basic stuff, built a large chook house, a wood shed, and a picnic table, all that in Australia where we have a house, and where I will go back in December.

The class at Roy's school was so good that I took other classes, the Moravian workbench, a sharpening 1-day class. And finally, I enrolled for the Windsor continuous arm rocker.

My wife liked the bench very much, and I am not allowed to take it to the shed when we ship it back to Australia. I will have to build a new one. 

One last wood related thing. We are extremely lucky to have our house (in Australia) very close to a great timber yard. We were looking for timber (lumber) to build the wood shed and came across something that looked really nice. It was turpentine wood (Syncarpia glomulifera). Very dense, does not burn, does not rot. A bit later, it was time to renovate the house, including putting hardwood floor everywhere. And again, we were lucky to find some turpentine boards. It took a whole week for the guys to do the sanding and oiling.  And the floor is amazing!

[rarefish383]

I'm new here also, so this is my first WELCOME. I have several wood working/milling friends in Australia. I think Bob lives just outside of Perth, I'll have to check. Gotta tell you, I'm very jealous of the wood you have down under. Makes most of our stuff look boring. If your travels bring you up the coast toward Washington DC send me a message, I'll buy you a beer, something with body, no light beer around here, Joe.

[RichardA]

1 hour ago, kungsleden said:

Started woodworking only very recently, at the Woodwright school in Pittsboro (NC). I first took the toolbox class. And really loved it.

Before that I did some more basic stuff, built a large chook house, a wood shed, and a picnic table, all that in Australia where we have a house, and where I will go back in December.

The class at Roy's school was so good that I took other classes, the Moravian workbench, a sharpening 1-day class. And finally, I enrolled for the Windsor continuous arm rocker.

My wife liked the bench very much, and I am not allowed to take it to the shed when we ship it back to Australia. I will have to build a new one. 

One last wood related thing. We are extremely lucky to have our house (in Australia) very close to a great timber yard. We were looking for timber (lumber) to build the wood shed and came across something that looked really nice. It was turpentine wood (Syncarpia glomulifera). Very dense, does not burn, does not rot. A bit later, it was time to renovate the house, including putting hardwood floor everywhere. And again, we were lucky to find some turpentine boards. It took a whole week for the guys to do the sanding and oiling.  And the floor is amazing!

Without pics, it didn't really happen.   Love to see that woodwork.

[Chet]

Welcome to the forums.  Richard is correct, we love to see photos of other peoples work.

[kungsleden]

Thanks for the welcome!

 

Here are a few photos. Hope I am doing this right.

Chook house:

Inside chook house:

Wood shed (almost only turpentine timber):

Wood shed base beams (each weighs about 70 kg);

picnic table (reclaimed wood from a neighbour):

Moravian bench:

Turpentine floor (not my doing):

 

 

 

 

 

[rarefish383]

Wow that floor finished up nice, Joe.

[wtnhighlander]

Nice projects! Glad to have you join us.

[mat60]

Like the cook house .What will you be using for the roofing Joe.

[kungsleden]

42 minutes ago, mat60 said:

Like the cook house .What will you be using for the roofing Joe.

Originally, we were going to have a green roof, but it did not happen. We went the easy option with corrugated metal sheets. 

[kungsleden]

1 hour ago, rarefish383 said:

Wow that floor finished up nice, Joe.

Not surprisingly, it is even better in real life. The finishing is mat, not glossy. We don't like glossy floors at all. With this oiling, you can easily fix patches if need be. And the house is built on a slab, so very quiet to walk on. 

[Coop]

Really neat pics bud! And just so we'll/I'll know, what is a chock house? And welcome to the states and to the forum! What brings you guys here (besides Quantas)? 

[wdwerker]

Chook = chicken. Who knew? I had to look it up.

[Coop]

Oddly enough but that's exactly what came to mind but those don't look like the laying boxes/nest/dealies my grandmother had. 

[mat60]

I guess I need new glasses.

[RichardA]

That floor has a velvety look to it.  I like that.  Is turpentine wood oily?

[kungsleden]

Should have translated chook. Sorry guys.  Aussies speak a very strange english. When we moved to Melbourne (from Switzerland), we had a very hard time understanding people on the phone, or in tips sometimes. More than once, I completely misunderstood what someone was saying. It is better now, 7 years later.

I don't have photos of the chook house with hens in the laying boxes.

 

Richard, not quite sure what you mean by "oily wood". On the last photo, the floor looks shiny because the oil had not yet dried completely. But it is not really oily when dry. Very pleasant to walk on barefooted. Also termite-resistant, resistant to water borers (high silica). I needed my cordless drill set in the hammer drill mode to drill holes. Drilling it releases a very characteristic smell that I can't really describe. Apparently you cannot dry it in a kiln, this will destroy the wood.

 

And by the way, my name is Christophe. Born in France, now also an Australian citizen, which is a blessing really. We moved to Australia when my wife was offered a position with a pharma company. August 1016, she was then asked if she could take on a 3-year position here in Holly Springs. She could not really refuse. I joined her in January, and am being a househusband for 12 months.