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Has anyone resawed Acasia? There are a lot of acasia trees around my area. The wood looks a lot like koa, same family I believe. Also I was wonder if it would work to resaw not totally seasoned wood and put it in a drymount press at about 200 for an hour or so, then wet it and do that a couple of times?

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http://goatrockukulele.com

Yes quite a bit

Yes there are. True.



Depends on what you mean by "not totally seasoned wood". On the other hand you can resaw wet wood and dry it successfully but not with the technique you outlined. The pressing and wetting not such a good idea.
Since you are about 3 miles from my shop why don't you come by. I have some perfect Black Acacia you can look at and we could resaw you a set if you like. It is not figured but beautiful none the less. Perfectly quartered across 9". It came from Dominican College in San Rafael. Blew down in a storm.

Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

It's preferable to saw Acacia Melanaloxolyn (Australian Blackwood) when it is green unless you are extremely wealthy and like trips to the shop that sells you bandsaw blades.

Blackwood has very long fibres which become clogged in the kerf so it is preferable to use a blade with large gullets (3 TPI is good)

I use Lenox Woodmaster CT (carbide tipped) and I can get through 80-100 sets of green Blackwood before the blade is stuffed.

As far as drying, it depends what the climate is like where you live.

I like to resaw at the start of winter in Melbourne because that is the start of our humid season and it won't dry too quickly. I do use a fan on it for the first couple of weeks as Blackwood has a tendency to grow a black fungus if left to wet for too long, particularly under the stickers so you would need to be checking it each week.

I've even done this to it for a couple of hours just to make sure they're not too wet when they are stickered. Mind you the temperature was only in the 50's on that day and there was absolutely no wind.

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

How does acacia compare with Koa for re-sawing? I have a piece of Koa I got from the big Island in '06 I want to resaw. Hope I didn't wait too long. Does anyone know who might do that around here (SF Bay area)? My band saw is a Sears 12 inch I got for $35 at a garage sale and I don't trust it or my skills to do this.

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

Best pic of the month Bob!

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Bobby Masten

Bob that is the exact scene my wife is trying to avoid happening in our house. I won't show her that picture until after I have my workstation set up in the office.

Koa is one type of Acacia... It's Acacia koa -- Acacia being the Genus.... Acacia melanoxylon is Blackwood -- another Acacia that is very closely related to koa.....

Now... What sort of Acacia do you have? There are something like 200 species of Acacia -- but only a few have been imported into the USA..... There is an off chance you stumbled upon something other than the garden variety big 'ole California Acacia whatever-it-is...

The sawing might be more difficult if you somehow ended up with some other type of Acacia - like Gidgee or Jarrah.... Likely, it's not that -- but rather the standard stuff that grows all over California..... which I believe started out as more than 1 species, but interbred and now most of it is a hybrid of some sort or another...

Thanks

John

Notice how there are no dark blue pegs? Bower Birds Id say,

The acasia i'm looking at is the stuff that grows wild. It tends to grow in small dense stands along roadsides. When it rains a lot the larger ones lay down. Usually not with a big crash. I have no idea what variety it is but the hybrid seems logical. The tree shown here is about 22 inches at the base and has 16 or 18 feet before the branch you see. It's about 90' tall and is one of the larger ones I have seen on my neighbors property.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

Michael,
That is not Black Acacia. It is a Acacia but not the black.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.