Australian #18-N Crotch (CR) Golden Wattle - Stabilised PEN blanks 

Sold in packs of 4 blanks

Blanks size approx. 21mm square x 130mm long

Packs weight of approx. 250gr

Please select the number of packs you want otherwise, the packs supplied will be in descending alphabetical order as per availability. 

These blanks were processed from an old Golden Wattle tree that was planted next to the car park of the shopping centre built in the 70ths in my next town of McLaren vale that we visit regularly for shopping and other necessities.

About 7 or 8 years ago, I was told that there was a new larger shopping complex approved to be built on the back of the old building, all the trees planted in the cart part, where coming out so, I spend some time finding out who I could contact to request that particular Golden Wattle tree and a couple more that I could use, instead of being chipped into small pieces.

I took lots of images, of this tree, the tree actually had a metal tag with its number so, the identification was a simple process, right...???

Well, I download some areal images of the are and marked everything in detail so that they would not have any problem knowing which tree(s) I was talking about.  No one seemed to know when the construction would start, I had no doubt that would be at least 1 year away so, I wanted to get enough time to get ready to remove it, as soon as they would enclose the area for the beginning of the construction process...!

The letters I wrote to the Council and to the people I was told were in charge, went unanswered for many months so, I decided to make an appointment to see these people and get some explanation.

Well, I was simply told that I wouldn't be allowed to cut any of those Council trees as the whole job has been locked with outside contractors and they would be responsible to deal with the removal of all the trees.

That was not what I was looking for but, I would be more than happy to organize with the contractor for me to be on-site when the trees would be cut by them and they would put it in my trailer instead of taking it all to the dump, this has worked a few times before with other trees companies but, I just couldn't get the name of the contractor that was responsible for that side of things, any attempts to find out, failed...!

There is an old Italian friend in that town and not far for this area, he never stops to look for wood, as he burns a lot of it so, I asked to keep an eye on those tree works, when they would start and try to let me know so that I could come down as I only visit the town on shopping day fortnightly and sometimes I would stay home with the dogs, mainly in hot days so, periods of 4 weeks have occurred without me going that way.

This was exactly what happened, the place was fenced and the tree guys went in getting the trees out, without me having a clue. My old friend from that town, is deaf and only his hearing aid allows him to hear sound, that evening before I run out of batteries so, middle morning he went to get some when I realised what was going on so, he hurry in getting the batteries put them on and go have a look.

For his surprise and looking through the mesh fence, he saw that, all the tree at the bottom of the old car park, have been cut and chipped, there 2 were 2 teams doing the job as some of the trees were gigantic Red Gum trees and they obviously needed to have the area clean fast.

My friend knew of the main tree I was after, and it was at the beginning of the car park and not at the end, from where they had started so, "my tree" was still standing but not for long so, we went looking to the boss, explained the situation and asked if his man could cut the tree in 1' logs and leave all the wood there for him to pick up.  He also requested for them to leave behind other logs that he would pick up after they would leave for the day at 4:00pm

My friend got on the phone to ask me to come down the next day with my trailer, as the trees were going fast.  The contractor told him that, the "top" trees where the one I wanted was, was going to be done the next day, first thing so, we had to hurry up.

Of all the days, it had to be in the day I had to be in the Adelaide Hospital from doing my Adrenal glands biopsies and that was going to the whole day, if everything went OK, which it did.

I told him that I could not be there so, asked for him to get all the wood from that trees and take to his hard, where he already had 2 loads from logs cut on the first day that he was authorized to take after 4:00pm.

My friend did just that, was only a full trailer but was all I wanted, he endup getting a few more loads of wood from there, he lived only about 800 yards down the road so, not far to travel.  

I knew that that the wood was safe, I was told to not do anything heavy for at least 1 week as I had some stitches in my groin so, nothing to play with...!

When I felt OK, Merissa and I went to his place, loaded the logs in our trailer, we had a coup with them, and I slide a $50 in his shirt pocket; they are an old couple he is 76 and she is 72, she is a tiny little human, skinny but very gentile, both Italians born, he is an old tough fellow, never stops working, always chopping wood and things like that, they don't make them like that in these days, huh.????

The wood was green and I had it covered under tarpaulins since that time, about 2 1/2 years or so, the Golden Wattle that I normally get is from trees that have been dead from some time and the wood get pretty spalted and soft very quickly however, this one did spalt since cut but, is totally heavy, dense and in perfect working condition, certainly not something that I would stabilize as I did with most of the wood from the other trees, this wood has still lots of silica and that is good.

The blanks are offered raw with one face waxed for colour enhancement, only...!

Thank you for visiting....!