The 50 year journey of gigantic timber slabs

Paul Russell eyes his pride and joy, a 500kg red gum slab, which is also to be made into a table.

Picture: Ben Lockens, Just Photography.

From storm-damaged tree to half-tonne tables ...

by Janine Hill

Timber slabs do not come much bigger than the half-tonne monster which recently found its way to The Slab Warehouse.

The massive piece of timber, measuring about 5m by 1.4m by 100mm thick was a huge talking point at the Yandina business.

Paul Russell, who owns The Slab Warehouse with Rick Turbille and Peter Huitema, said the slab was the largest of 10 cut from a fallen red gum in a paddock at Moree in northern New South Wales.

“It came down in the ‘60s. The farmer was living there as a child. He couldn’t remember what year but he could remember it coming down in a big storm in the ’60s when he was a child,” Paul said.

A slab takes pride of place in its new home.

“He inherited the farm years later and had tried to burn it a few times. It was too hard to move and it was in the way so he’d had a couple of goes at trying to burn it and it wouldn’t burn.

“Around 2010, they wanted to build a shed where the tree was and they were going to try and have another go at burning it.

“Our sawmilling contractors saw it. I think they were working in the area and they heard about it.

“It would have been hard and slow to cut into slabs. They would have cut two slabs a day if they were lucky.”

Paul said that although the tree had been dead for 50 years, the slab still needed to be kiln dried for six months at The Slab Warehouse to remove moisture locked inside the dry exterior and to kill any living organisms, such as borers. It was also machined flat and rough edges tidied up.

The slab was recently made into a table with steel legs for a Coes Creek couple who had visited the business for a slab top for a kitchen island bench and realised it would be perfect for their home.

“It took 10 people to move, and then, only just,” Paul said.

The table can seat 18 people all up, with seven on each side and two at each end.

“I wouldn’t even have that many friends,” he joked.

The sale meant the Warehouse had room to get the second of the 10 slabs in, which Paul said were similar in size.

A friend of the couple who bought the first slab is keen on a table, too, but Paul said there were eight more left for anyone else who wanted a piece.