Had the privilege of spending a day in the Otways with Murray, truly a master with the chainsaw and a hardworking and skillful operator. Murray knows his trees and his countryside intimately. The impact on the forest was minimal and measured. Only the oldest trees are harvested as i understand it. Blackwood has a relatively short-lived the life span- around 70 years after which it dies and often succumbs to insect attack making it unsuitable for harvesting. I will never forget that special day with one of Australia's outstanding craftsman. Sincerely, Barry Kerr, Luthier, Woodtoneguitars, Australia
All true Barry, great skill in dropping a tree and not damage any others. We are going to film again with his son and document the whole process from dropping, cutting up and carrying out. The forest is lucky to have him....
Would dispute the lifespan under the right conditions (which the Otways should be ideal). Trees on my brother-in-laws place adjoining Tarrabulga National Park are 180cm and 25m+, with remnant stumps from last century 3m+
Most of the Otways is national park so not sure where you went to cut tree down. Maybe private property. Hope so. If not how does someone get to lop a blackwood and take it home from the forest. Just send me a slab maybe 10 x10 inches 3mtrs long and l' ll keep quiet. l ll even turn a bowl out for you as a thank you mate .
Can’t believe Murray is still harvesting Blackwood from the Otways! Good on him for doing so. I met Murray in the 90s and bought half a trailer load of freshly sawn Blackwood billets which were originally destined for Maton guitars. I distinctly recall the cold morning we headed out - to a private property near the town of Forest, deep in the heart of the Blackwood country. It’s beautiful and green out there. Real rain forest environment. Trees are carefully selected before a chainsaw goes near them. The key is identifying trees with good colour, and better still fiddle back grain structure. I can attest to Murray’s harvesting techniques - minimal environmental damage as no heavy machinery is used, not even horses. Everything is hauled out on his poor shoulders. I reckon he’d have a bloody sore back each time he falls a tree. Blackwood typically grows in deep valleys and ravines so it is very hard work getting this timber out. Murray is well known to the instrument making industry here in Victoria - I know several guitar makers who use Murray’s Blackwood as the quality is super good. Good health to you Murray
G'day ricg, my grandfather was the forestry officer in Forrest in the 30/40s I'm running a Lucas Mill in North East Vic and my cousin is running one down in Tassie, he believed in selective harvesting.
Just my 2 cents for people complaining about the content of this Video: - If you watch to the end, you can see the end user of the timber is an established and reputable guitar manufacturer, do you really think they would source timber from someone who didn't possess a licence / have a knowledge in what they were doing? - Blackwood is a pretty expensive timber (at least for me on the west coast of Australia) so I highly doubt that what was taken from the tree in the video was all that was used from the tree. You saw the size of the trailer, obviously multiple trips would have been taken to recover the rest of it. Like Debra has already explained, this was just a video showing process, so not necessarily the final events that day (which most likely involved multiple trips back to the site, if not that day, in the following days).
Pretty nice guitar, but I must say that was the most aggressive fret levelling I have every seen! Most luthiers do fret levelling carefully and precisely but I guess this guy has probably done this hundreds maybe thousands of times so it probably works out okay for him.i myself would never recommend a beginner try it like that because it is very easy to remove to much material to quickly. DO NOT attempt yourself if your not a expert or experienced luthier. Enjoyed the video.and looks to be a pretty well built quality instrument.
Yea the trees seem to be selected to be in their prime as in wood quality, but close to their natural demise (as in if a few years the wood would deteriorate anyway and the tree would become sick/die). It's visible how the wood in the video has a big crack in the middle, that will be a rotting spot in the years to come, so him cutting it down didn't put a negative dent in the specie's population as it was already on the path to it's death.
I want some! We have black walnut , juglans nigra and silver leaf maple, white oak, persimmon, black locust ( pseudo acacia) here in central Oklahoma. For soundboards we have Eastern red cedar. When I get some dried I will start the Oklahoma sustainable wood series
Master with a chainsaw, but even with kiln drying that wood could not have been ready in a short amount of time? Beautiful instruments and some serious workmanship going into them , thanks for sharing this video.
im only guessing but think took vedio cut then later on took vedio of make gutters. i got wood lay around 10 years or more. one point every time cut fire wood if nice wood i cut least few boards for cutting boards and boxes..
Vacuum kiln would dry it with little degradation or checking...those little pieces would only take a couple weeks to suck the water out at room temperature pulling 20+ inches of Hg. My question is where is this that its so tropical? The highway looks to be in the US...FL, AL or LA?
Whats your point? Let them all fall naturally and decay. Or use it for things that can be enjoyed for generations. Nothing is ever wasted depending on how you look at it. Food tossed into a landfill feeds insects and microbes and continue virvke of life
always sad and confronting to see a tree cut down for furniture, instruments, building or firewood. you can be assured this tree has been selected with a lot of attention and care for the best tone wood and milled as efficiently as possible by a conservationist and artisan. turning that timber into a beautiful instrument by luthiers extends the life of the tree and the carbon is retained.
Which Blackwood is this cause I look at the maton website Just says Blackwood It looks similar to walnut or Queensland walnut I found tasmainian Blackwood which has a lighter colour than this tree
thank you. roughly Murray air dries timber in a closed room for about 3 years in 2 inch planks, then machines movement out, and when Maton receives it they kiln dry for 3 months.
Hi Debra , may we get a piece for a special neck thru 10 string guitar i'm building, 60" x 5" x 5" so my log needs to be longer please and quarter sawn at the mill. those stumps your cutting are too short and stubby, it ruins it for necks.
lots - all blocks he cuts up onsite to measurement to book-match for backs and sides, and they are then cut to thickness (as in near start at Maton in video).
btw Acacia melanoxylon is the botanical name. I am intrigued, 1974 model car with Victorian number plates. There are small portable mills to do this type of work, why a chain saw. Tas Blackwood does occur in Victoria and in fact a good way up the eastern sea board but logs like that are rare outside of Tasmania. The Maton factory looked much as it did when I got a tour in 1982; has it not changed? Both the billets and the guitar looked like Blackwood. There was no defect in the log? There was no seasoning process? I think on private land under some circumstance this may be a legal practice. These timbers can be purchased via normal commercial channels, that is from a timber yard. I know this from first hand experience. Something here just ain't right?
You may have got more money for that log to be sliced for veneer than you would for guitar backs and sides. How do you avoid end splitting in the drying process in all those short lengths. Most of the the Blackwood in Queensland is Sally Wattle, either broad or narrow leaf. I the 80s I sold trailer load after trailer load of it people who made kitchen doors. What an immoral waste of a finite resource. Why don't you offer other species, Myrtle or King Billy as sound boards? good luck, Craig.@@debrachant
You're kidding, right? Of course he used as much as possible, else he wasted his time and effort. They make a lot of guitars and they will use every bit of that tree they can. That's how profitable businesses work.
You'd have to assume that the section they took was only one of multiple, working their way up the tree until the thickness and/or grain dispersement was unusable.
I love guitars but I also love trees and wildlife, so there is somewhat of a personal moral dilemma for me. But I recognise that as long as the tree species' conservation status is secure, if the timber can be sourced by a reputable feller without damage to the forest ecosystem, and if the tree is checked for its habitat value (e.g. hollows for wildlife - although I don't think this particular species develops hollows) prior to felling, then one such tree can provide for alot of guitars without a negative impact on the forest ecosystem. The large scale removal of forest and native vegetation for agriculture, urban sprawl and other large industries such as woodchipping (heinous) is a far, far greater threat to the environment.
Yea the trees seem to be selected to be in their prime as in wood quality, but close to their natural demise (as in if a few years the wood would deteriorate anyway and the tree would become sick/die). It's visible how the wood in the video has a big crack in the middle, that will be a rotting spot in the years to come, so him cutting it down didn't put a negative dent in the specie's population as it was already on the path to it's death.
You will have to look at the Maton site to see what timbers they use for the top, my interest for this video was showing the process from a raw resource to a musical instrument
@@debrachant Thank you. Coincidentally I’ve had a tab to that website open for over a year. I’ve sent them dozens of emails but they’re just not answering…
oreg beer 1 year per inch thickness, if air dried. Kiln drying speeds that way up, maybe 1 inch per month. Looks like about 6x6 blocks so maybe 6 months for the lot
You got to let the wood dry before you can do anything with it. You cannot just drive out to the woods cut down a tree get back home and start building yor guitar right away. And hopefully they did not leave the rest of the tree just lying there on the ground.
New wood can be used after X years for every X inches in thickness, as a rule of thumb, if air dried, depending on regional humidity. You need a moisture meter to tell for sure. Kiln drying is much shorter since its controlled.
Usually air drying for 1 inch timber is around 6 months, For inch and a half is approx. 9 months and for 2 inch around 12 months and so on before it hits the kilns … Not sure about the moisture content for making guitars but for furniture it's best around 10/12 %
