jarrah wooden railway sleeper

[user 19915]

Hello i have just bought 3 jarrah wooden railway sleepers for a shipping container to stand on the person i bought them from give me some off cuts of the sleeps and said they don't treat the timber anymore .Do you know if this would be correct ? .I don't have a lathe but i was thinking of a bandsaw box or end grain chopping boards what's the timber like to work with thank's
Alan

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - if they're really Jarrah (which is tougher than old boots) then I'd have thought that chemical preservatives were a bit pointless. I think that things like creosote (which things like telegraph poles and sleepers used to be drenched in) are being phased out because of their long-lasting toxicity. Perversely the best preservatives are usually the most toxic! Cheers, W2S

 

[NickN]

Not too often that wood is used in railway sleepers these days, mostly concrete and steel now. It wouldn't surprise me if they're not treated when sold for domestic use but for the railway I would be surprised if they weren't.

Creosote is very much available and used still but Brussels phased it out for use by the peasantry, only professionals can officially use it these days.

http://www.creosote.co.uk

 

[Alexfn]

jarrah sleepers wont be treated, you will need sharp blades to work it and be ready to sharpen them again and again

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Many of the timbers chosen for sleepers were not only rot resistant, they were preservative resistant as well so there was little point in treating them.

 

[marcros]

I would also take a slice off every face or belt sand rather than ruin plant blades with grit and other hard nasties

 

[user 19915]

Thank's for the advice i think i will leave them where they are better than blunting the blades
Alan

 

[marcros]

save them for when the blades are about to be changed anyway.

 

[andersonec]

Massaranduba is another Australian timber used for sleepers, neither were treated and will stay down for decades. no matter if the timber is hard or not, sleepers will be full of embedded grit from the hammering they take and that is what is going to damage your equipment and I mean damage, not just blunting, try running one through a thicknesser.

Andy

 

[Ttrees]

I'm surprised you guys would even think about putting salvaged timber through a machine,
without hitting it with the metal detector wand, occasionally scraping, and then hand planing it

Gives some piccys when ya can, Mock
Im really interested in this stuff

Tom :deer

 

[Orraloon]

Jarrah is a very good looking timber. It is hard but worth the effort. Being a used sleeper I would check it with a metal detector or a rare earth magnet on a string(poor mans detector). A water blaster can be used to remove a lot of the outside grit or a wire brush. TCT blades will handle it ok and you can give it a skim with a hand held electric plane before letting it near your machines. I have put it through a thicknesser without any problems and it will hand plane with sharp blades. Here in Oz it is only hardish there are some a lot harder still.
Regards
John

 

[Ttrees]

Hello again, as I said I'm really interested in this wood, well posibly very much so, as it would be one of the densest woods going that
is possibly aqquirable by means of scavenging
Wondering if it would be possible or atall likely to get bookmatched back of an acoustic guitar sized pieces from?
Guessing a friend has a small bit
Merry Christmas
Tom :deer

 

[Orraloon]

Hello again, as I said I'm really interested in this wood, well posibly very much so, as it would be one of the densest woods going that
is possibly aqquirable by means of scavenging
Wondering if it would be possible or atall likely to get bookmatched back of an acoustic guitar sized pieces from?
Guessing a friend has a small bit
Merry Christmas
Tom :deer

I would reckon it's a bit heavy for a guitar body and likely rob the guitar of some sound. Most luthiers usually avoid the eucalypts. Mind you there is no hard and fast rule says you cant use it for a back. It would make an ok fret board however. The wood has a rich red tone but usually not a lot of figure.
http://www.wood-database.com/jarrah/
Regards
John

 

[Ttrees]

Seems sort of comparable to EIR, so that's why I'm interested.
Would it be possible to obtain much quartersawn stock from these sleepers,
sufficient for a half an acoustic guitar back...
Or would these sleepers have the pith in them, guessing its more likely by your comment about
using it for fretboards.
I would love to see some pics of what to expect, if I ever hear of some going

Tom

 

[user 19915]

tom email sent

 

[Kalimna]

Jarrah has been used for guitars, both electric and acoustic. Beautiful tone.

Adam

 

[custard]

I've no luthier experience, but I've deep ripped an awful lot of saw cut veneers and laminations. To do it successfully and reliably demands that pretty much everything is in your favour right from the get go. That means starting off with a really dry and sweet grained board. Maybe I'm wrong but I suspect that a salvaged sleeper isn't that board.

And don't you need matching timbers for the side pieces? And aren't those side pieces then curved during construction? As I said, I'm not a luthier, but I have steam bent and made curved laminations in lots of timbers. Very hard and tropical timbers are extremely challenging. Okay, they're not impossible, but they'll test your skills far more than temperate timbers and the failure rate will be much higher.

If I were early on in a luthier career I'd want to maximise my chances of success and minimise any material problems, especially as the cost of timber is relatively trivial compared to the hours sunk into a project. Does a salvaged Jarrah sleeper really fit that description?

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

I agree with Custard. You have to fit the project to the materials; it is a common and disastrous mistake, to have a project in mind and then try to make the materials conform to the idea you have. Wood won't be bullied into being what it doesn't want to.

You have some wonderful timber that has characteristics that shout, 'garden bench' or something for the outdoors. Design and make something it wants to be, whilst you are waiting for some guitar wood. Perhaps sell the garden furniture, if you don't want it yourself, to finance some fine tone wood.

Mike.

 

[Ttrees]

Thanks folks
These timbers were allready outside, and I'm not talkin about the rainforest...
they're not goin back...
Outside's for stone and renewable local timbers or materials to me.

Theirs quite a lot of beautiful afrormosia I have, all has screw and nail holes, and the staining to prove it...
wouldn't show that off, as I don't like that style of thing though.
I will find a use for it...It used to be from a fancy building in town, and these lengths were on my stairs in town for years :lol:
I can find the nicest lengths and put a veneer where needed, and I won't be cutting any corners with the inside either, like with that well known brand
I might use some of this for multi piece backs and sides.
If you want to see impressive multi-piece sides, not laminated... look at Howard Klepper dovetail madness.

You can make any dense wood do what you want it to, if you have made it thin enough, have thin CA on hand
bending forms, steel slats, heating blankets and so on..

Just look at Brazilian rosewood back and side sets, or coco ect
These sets can cost 1000 easily and they're ready to explode.
Or if you want to get a fright, look at the African blackwood sets.
I have not tried to buy any timber like rosewoods as it was obvious from the get go, that it's cheaper to
find a supplier of a billet, or whatever.
I have heard of these sleepers before though...
At any rate I could buy a bandsaw for the price of the timber in the yards, so I may go on the hunt sometime
for some of this stuff.

Guessing those folks chosen the unsuitable "boules" ( :wink: ) for these sleepers
as the straight grain stuff was destined for plankin'
Unless those trees are just huge, and just really abundant ?

Thanks folks, reading with much interest
Tom

 

[profchris]

Looks doable for an acoustic guitar - here is a baritone uke I found online

The maker says the figuring made it hard to bend but not impossible. Plain should be easier.

http://news.baileyguitars.co.uk/index.p ... ke-jarrah/

But can you get vertical grain slices out of a sleeper? I'd guess so, maybe with quite a lot of wastage. And maybe a bit small for a guitar.

The downside must be the weight - apparently the 6 and 7 inch deep sleepers can only be lifted by a forklift.