Railway sleepers

[Goodpig]

Hi, I'm not a arb man, just a carver and not well up on my timber unless it's got leaves on.

Anyway, did a favour for a mate cutting some very old railway sleepers today.

My question is WTF are they made of? Seriously hard,blunt chain after3-4 minutes cutting.

Really red in colour. Nice smell, pretty sure they were untreated.

?

[Paulholness]

Friend of mine aquired some Canadian

Redwood sleepers. They had the same effect on new chains!.

[delabodge]

could be jarrah?

[treequip]

Used sleepers have all manner of stones and micro crud embedded in the surface.

 

Thats what kills the chain

[rustcutter]

Some of the really hard ones are Jarra; sometimes in use gravel fragments from the ballast gets embedded into the wood especially the softer ones this does chains in and why sleepers are rarely converted to planks. I once worked on a farm that had a plant trailer with a bed made from planked sleepers about an inch and a half thick; even tracked machines hardly marked it.

[predator]

Used sleepers have all manner of stones and micro crud embedded in the surface.

 

Thats what kills the chain

 

ditto same thing happened to me doing a favour cut some old sleepers chain would,nt cut butter afterwards

[AlexB]

Used sleepers have all manner of stones and micro crud embedded in the surface.

 

Thats what kills the chain

 

This is it! Same as telegraph poles!

[Goodpig]

Old, but not to shabby or dirty, 'twas defo the timber, very dense and they were really heavy.

[se7enthdevil]

it could be jarrah but if it's really red with a smell then i expect it to be ekki,

Ekki | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods)

this is majorly hard and will knacker chains in seconds.

 

my TCT ripsaw blade will go through it if it's wet but when slightly seasoned don't bother trying...

 

if there are little white pores then it's ekki but if its jarrah then the grain looks quite different.

Jarrah | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods)

[Ian G 2]

It wood be Jarrah but the rotten ones smells off piss when cut