Ha! try Osage Orange!

What in the world is OSAGE ORANGE? The home grown black oak will be close to free, so that will have to work.

From an old woodworker, Black oak should work fine. Osage Orange or Hedge as it is known in KS is from all the hedge rows for pioneer fences. Hedge is even harder than locust and it is probably an overkill for track pads as others are easier to work like black oak or locust compared to Hedge. . Quarter sawed would be the best cut.
Hedge is sure a hot wood for fuel but it sparks like heck when burning.

That makes more sense to me. My buddy with the mill can do any type cut. I might make the parade next year after all.. Thanks Jim. Grant.

Hi, Busso.
There are a few bitza wood over in the South-west corner of W. A. that would probably do the job. I mentioned mulga 'coz it a very slow growing tree that grows VERY hard, harder than any of the eucalypts that I have come across. If you had gotten to him before 1995 when he died, you could have asked Len Beadell about it. He surveyed a LOTTTTA roads through mulga country around Woomera, Maralinga, Emu Fields and points West and North of there for the test facilities - and repaired a LOTTTTA punctures from it.

Just my 0.02.

didnt len do the gun barrel highway?

there is a book on his exploits. the book on the birdsvill postman tom kruse is a good read too. there was even a movie done with shell oil about him.

Hi, trainzkid88.
Len surveyed just about everything that exists out there. He and his team put in over 6,000 kilometres of roads for the weapons project in about 8 years in places where there were ZERO roads before. He also surveyed Woomera, Maralinga, Emu Field, the Connie Sue Highway, the Giles Weather Station and a few other things. He wrote five stand alone books that I know of about that work plus one which is excerpts from the other five. He also wrote one called, "Around the world in eighty delays,' about his round the world trip on his long service leave.

He also took a course in dentistry 'coz there were ZERO dentists out there at that time and he even made a new bag out of kangaroo skin for a set of bagpipes that somebody had sabotaged by pouring treacle down the windpipe into the bag.

He even showed one of the station owners that he 'ackshully' lived 20 miles away from where he thought he'd always lived. When he left, he didn't think he had convinced the station owner.

The LAST great Australian explorer.

Just my 0.02.

When you cut Osage the sawdust is Cat yellow!!! You could stain the blocks and they would stay Cat yellow! lol

Hi Deas, yes Len did a lot of new roads in the desert, I have been out to connie sue and the gun barrel and garry junction we were working on the road to Alice from Port Hedland via Telfer Punmu Kunawurritji and kirrakurra , ye not a lot around there, A place called Jupiter bore/well was a place that had water less than 8 feet down, clear clean water we drank from bore, and loads of big sheok trees, I had never scene them so tall unless around edge of lake or swamp, a really beautiful isolated place, Len did put plaques in places as a peg or survey point, we were sure one of the guys on our crew took one off a tree, I was lucky to be there a great job, we watched the planes fly from Darwin to Adelaide on Sunday nights as we could see the lights in the distance, we were 60km from WA/NT border roughly 600km from Alice

Hi, Busso20.
Didjya know that Len took his wife and 5-month old daughter along with him when he surveyed the Connie Sue Highway and that the 'highway' is named after said daughter?

His daughter travelled most of the journey in a cut-down tea chest swung from the underside of the Land Rover roof on 4 wires to allow it to swing and sway pendulum fashion in the rough going through the bush. Apparently, the idea worked quite well. Connie Sue survived.

BTW, the 'white flags' that got hung out at a LOTTTA their camps were NOT surrender flags.

Quite the family man too.

Just my 0.02.