So what you doing out in the Jungle? Peace Corps, Mission work, or just hanging out ?
If I was out in the jungle with just a chain saw and a bunch of balsa trees I would cut them into quarters, sticker them with 1 inch sticks tie the bundles back together with Tourniquet clamps made from twine or rope whatever I could find. Then because the powder post beetles would eat my wood I woud throw the bundles in the lagoon or ocean for about a week. Then take them up to my really cool shaping hut and stand them on end with a flat rock under the bottom end and tie them to the hut so they don’t fall down after about 4 months they would be ready to re cut and make really cool balsa surfboards. Soaking them in salt water makes them untasty to the bugs and helps speed up the drying time. Standing them on end also speeds up the drying time. Before kilne drying was invented. Lumber mills used to dry all their wood standing on end. Balsa is an easy wood to work with and works well with hand tools. You could make a chambered board with just a chainsaw and a draw knife and spoke shave. Yes you can cut chambers with a chain saw!
This is how a Tourniquet clamp is made. You will see that the log has been quertered and the stickers are right at the end of the log. You put stickers and Tourniquet clamps every 2 feet then crank the Tourniquets tight and tuck the twisting stick between the sections. every couple weeks you crank the tourniquets tight again as the log dries. When you cut the logs into bords laiter on the will want to bow again so you can clamp them again to force them straight, spray water on the concave surface and let dry for a couple days and you boards will be relatively straight. Look under the bench and you will see some more logs hiding there.
This is some slabbed logs being clamped back together then tied with the tourniquet clamps. There is a lot of tension in the balsa wood here on Kauai because of the wind I guess. I get about 3 logs out of a tree. You cut the sections between the limbs so that is what determins the log length.
Here are the small logs I cut a few weeks ago. They have allready lost about half of there water in only a few weeks. I guess that I have between 30 and 40 log sections now. from about 6 ft long to 12 ft and as big as 22 inches in diameter. I will post a couple more pictures tomorrow night if anyone is interested . Aloha , Wood_Ogre
Thanks for the ideas! Will definetly put some of that into action.
I just hang out there mate and live a little for 2-3 months of the year. There is surf, beautiful organic fruit and vegetables, great people and loads to explore. The attachment is my humble little home away from home. Im also doing some permaculture and environmental tourism activities next year, my bit to help protect and rehabilitate areas under threat from the MAN…
Look forward to more pics and ideas if you put them up.
Living in a disadvantaged country can be fun and very challenging. You cant just run down to the hardware store and buy some tool or paint . You have to figure out what the locals use.The reason they do things the way they do is because there are no other options. I am willing to bet it is even hard to get varnish where you are at. Often in third world countries they are still using methods that have been around for a hundred years or so. In Vietnam it is impossible to buy epoxy resin, or polyester resin, or fiber glass. But I can get shellac in 10 kilo blocks just about anywhere. Just chip off the flakes desolve it in alcohol strain out the dirt and bug legs and if you want some what of a water resistant finish you can settle out the wax and use the de-waxed shellac. Then you can do a thick coat of bees wax over that and you would have a finish that works on your wood surfboard if you take care of it well. I like to cut my balsa and other woods into 2 and 1/4 inch thick plank. Because I am a tradional cabinet, furniture maker with a whole shop full of machines. On the balsa I cut out the pith in a plank and that gets rid of most of the tension. As you can see in the picture it really splits apart. If you quarter a log each section will bend out so it is important to tie them all back together untill they dry and most of the tension is out. Every time you re cut them you will have them bending again because the inside still has some moisture in it and the out side is dryer.
I spend a lot of time in Vietnam and taught the local wood workers how to kilne dry their furniture wood so they would have a beter product. Because what the were making was sold locally and everyone in Vietnam was used to there furniture falling apart they did not see the logic in doing it and the just wouldn’t do it. I had made friends with some of the cabinet millwork shops. They couldn’t aford very much machinery so what I did was buy into one of the shops and bought a good table saw,planer,jointer,spindle shaper combonation machine a big bandsaw and some good routers. Then started working in the shop. I contracted with a mom and pop saw mill to cut slabs then started kilne drying our own wood . What could they say? I was half owner in the shop and being the dumb American could do any stupid thing I wanted. Well my very good friend owns one of the biggest construction companies in Vietnam and builds international standard high rise hotels ( Delta construction Vietnam ) Guess what? The millwork can not fall apart in international construction. We did good work and got the contract for the mill work in one hotel. My guys make good money now and understand the reason for what I did. They really got it now!!! When they see the money coming in they learn very fast.
What I am trying to say here is you will never change the local untill they can see the profit in changing. Being green means nothing to them . Having money to buy beer and smokes and canned goods is what will motivate them to better themselves. Think about it! They already live simple,close to the land basic life styles. They are about as green as you can get! The change you want for them may not be for the beter!! Better to live like the locals than to change them to how you think they should be. Gotta be carefull with change or before you know it there will be a Wal Mart and Home Depot out in that jungle. It sure happened here on Kauai !!! Heres my own little solar pasive kilne. It’s been cooking away now, every day since 1993.
Heres a draw knife being used to de bark a balsa log. This is a very sharp tool that can be used to rough shape your whole balsa board. Then a spoak shave can be used to do the detail work. So now we are in the jungle with 3 tools. Chain saw, draw knife, and spoke shave. Yes you can shape the whole board with only these 3 tools infact you could do without the spoke shave once you get really good with the draw knife. To chamber the board you can plunge cut with the chain saw. The Skil planer? mine lives in a nice wood box under my work bench, sometimes I take it out and look at it but Haven’t used it in a long time.
Sound words mate, change is inevitable whether I do it or someone else does. The reality in this situation involving the people is that they have seen the raping of the forests and the sea, they have seen villages and islands destroyed from over population, habitat destruction etc and these particular people live on an island that is not being logged by large machines or outside interests. Some in other nearby villages have voiced interest in logging but the local consensus didn’t allow it. Many of them see the perils in other villages and lifestyles that drink beer, smoke, gamble, rape, sponge off family and waste $ like they are loaded. These people see the value in family, simplicity and sustainability, they have some of the best gardens and produce in the Solomon Islands which enables many to sell precious nutritious fruit and vegetables on a nearby neighbouring island everyday.
I like to give them inspiration that they do indeed live in a paradise, if they look after it. I tell them stories about life outside the bubble of their reality, and give them ideas and visualisations that may manifest as reality dependent upon circumstance and pathways walked. I could never go back there and see what happens, leave the change to another MAN, company, or US government military outpost…Maybe Q…r will be there in 5 years with a 5star resort, or Maybe it will be flushed away from another global warming induced tsunami mega storm… I can sit back in my comfortable suburban home in Australia by the beach, drink beer, smoke myself up, shape poly boards that are light and fast like the women at the pub, and never go back there cause its too dirty, hard, malaria infested, HOT, dangerous and 3rd world… But that just ain’t my style…
My footsteps are thoughtful and I understand the Earth is in the danger extinction zone, that’s why i’m interested in making a sustainable eco-green board, otherwise I give up the sport/life I love because its just too bloody toxic… Just my way
A little more about the solar kilne. Because of the trade winds here on Kauai I used wind turbins instead of fans so it requires no power. In Vietnam I used two wall fans. The kilne temprature does get up to 145 degrees on a sunny day. I can regulate the temprature by opening my vents. Here is a picture of my baby bandsaw mill which is good for small logs. I also have a Alaskan chainsaw mill for big logs like Mango.
