Anyone use eucalyptus lumber?

[Matt Lau]

My friend wants to give me a huge log/slab of eucalyptus that "is too beautiful for firewood."

Is it good for anything?

I'm thinking of resawing it and stickering it for a year. Not sure if it'll work for furniture or ukulele wood.... maybe workbench?

For what it's worth, I prefer to work with with hand tools.

[Jamie Buxton]

Eucalyptus is a whole family of plants. Some work better than others. You say "huge log", which might mean you have blue gum eucalyptus. They're the giants that are all over northern california. Blue gum eucalyptus is infamous for being difficult to dry without defects. It splits a lot.

[Bill Dufour]

Big log in the USA almost has to be blue gum. Can not be older then 1877 or so. Rots fast, twists and splits as it dries.
If you look at a bigger tree you can often see deep spiral splits in the trunk of a healthy tree
The red gum is also common. its bark looks more like oak and does not peel off in sheets. But it gets no taller then about 35' before the branches rot and fall at the crotch.
Bill D

[Gene Takae]

Matt, You mentioned the ukulele-are you from Hawaii? I have never worked with Eucalyptus because of it's reputation for being unstable due to the fact that it's a fast growing tree. That characteristic is the reason that it is often planted as a windbreak here in Hawaii.

[Wayne Lomman]

Just goes to show what happens to a tree when you take it out of its original habitat... Blue gum is tall, gunbarrel straight, tough and durable. The timber is light brown in colour. Avoid the sapwood. Red gum is extremely durable, tough, highly figured and rich red in colour. However, they are only 2 of scores of eucalypt species.

Look at the timber and get it or not depending on whether you like it. Expect good hand tools to require frequent resharpening, cheap hand tools to fail to do anything, HSS power tools to try to set it on fire, and the grain to unreliably interlock. I love it all. You may not if the other guys are correctly describing what sounds like rubbish that grows in California. Cheers

[Matt Lau]

Matt, You mentioned the ukulele-are you from Hawaii? I have never worked with Eucalyptus because of it's reputation for being unstable due to the fact that it's a fast growing tree. That characteristic is the reason that it is often planted as a windbreak here in Hawaii.

I'm in northern California, about 20 miles from San Francisco on an island called Alameda.

My hobby is building guitars (and now ukuleles, since it takes up less wood).
However, since I have a bunch of port orford cedar, I don't really need the Eucalyptus.

-Matt

[Matt Lau]

Just goes to show what happens to a tree when you take it out of its original habitat... Blue gum is tall, gunbarrel straight, tough and durable. The timber is light brown in colour. Avoid the sapwood. Red gum is extremely durable, tough, highly figured and rich red in colour. However, they are only 2 of scores of eucalypt species.

Look at the timber and get it or not depending on whether you like it. Expect good hand tools to require frequent resharpening, cheap hand tools to fail to do anything, HSS power tools to try to set it on fire, and the grain to unreliably interlock. I love it all. You may not if the other guys are correctly describing what sounds like rubbish that grows in California. Cheers

Spoken like a true Aussie!

I'm constantly in awe of the grit, resourcefulness, and good humor of the woodworkers down under...particularly Derek Cohen.
For this wood, it sounds like I'll need a chainsaw and a HAP40 hand plane.

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Matt.

A good thing about the eucalypts is that they do not break out when you hit them with an axe :)

More seriously, I think Wayne is correct when he says that they are out of their element in California. I have heard the tales of their wild and unruly behaviour in the USA. They are generally very hard, dense and interlocked timbers in Oz, but reward with having exceptionally wonderful figure and colour.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bill Dufour]

In California if spaced close they grow fairly tall. If spread apart they grow like a big bushy oak tree that branches out at 10' or less. They were brought to California as hardwood timber trees but they brought the wrong kind of trees. I have a feeling there may be two or more "blue gum" tress species down under?
Eucalyptus globulus is the California version
Bill D

the picture I found shows the spiral pattern that causes the splitting problems. If you cut a tree you have to split the wood in a week or it will be too tough to split, at least by hand.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blue_gum#/media/File:Starr_031002-0027_Eucalyptus_globulus.jpg

[Matt Lau]

My friend is getting it from up in Chico, farm country.
I'm not sure about the growing conditions there.

[Wayne Lomman]

Hmm, E globulus is not meant to look like that. Otherwise known as Tasmanian Oak, it is supposed to grow gunbarrel straight and top out at 150-200 feet. Twist is rare. It is actually our state floral emblem. There are other blue gums. It is a bit of a common name.

If that is the best blue gum available, I would hesitate to use it for firewood, let alone a musical instrument.

Do I assume that these are what is burning in California at the moment? Cheers

[Derek Cohen]

Tasmanian Oak (affectionately known as Tassie Oak) is a colloquial name for a few species. Still, they tend to be unstable unless quarter sawn, which is how he boards are sold. I use these for drawer sides ..

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/BuildingTheDrawers_html_mecae361.jpg

It has a similar density to White Oak.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Bassett]

... Do I assume that these are what is burning in California at the moment? Cheers

I'm the wrong guy to ask about plant names, but not mostly. I'm sure there are Eucalyptus groves & windbreaks burning, since they are planted all over the state, but the current fires are in the lower hills which are mostly a mix of scrub pines & small (twisted) oaks (Live Oak?), Manzanita, and similar scrubs. Lots of grass too. As the fires climb they'll get into pine & fir forests, but the winds are mostly driving the fires down western slopes (towards communities & eventually the ocean.)

[lowell holmes]

Check this link for your answer.:)

https://www.hammacher.com/Product/84742?cm_cat=ProductSEM&cm_pla=AdWordsPLA&source=PRODSEM&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi6uRnIf71wIVRp7ACh2mBwPnEAQYAyAB EgLVcPD_BwE

[Bill Dufour]

Eculptus fire wood burns very fast and hot as it is loaded with oils. The bark on live trees catches fire and the firestorm winds blow the burning sheets of bark hundreds of feet. Same for the leaves. Remember most of California normally has no rain for about 9 months or so stuff gets dry and burns quickly.
Bill D

http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/threads/measuring-the-uc-berkeley-strawberry-creek-eucalyptus-grove.30515/

[Shawn Pixley]

Do I assume that these are what is burning in California at the moment? Cheers

Eucalyptus is burning in the windbreaks and some people’s yards. The hills are chapparal and Coastal and Valley Oaks (live oak). We lost some lemon and avocado ranches. Palm, eucalytus, sycamore and coastal oaks are the most common trees here. Open land is usually more chapparell than forest. Five miles from the Thomas Fire.

Windbreak Eucalyptus tends to be twisted live. When it is cut, it twists even more

[Julie Moriarty]

My friend wants to give me a huge log/slab of eucalyptus that "is too beautiful for firewood."

Is it good for anything?
Here's one possibility for eucalyptus. I did this for a friend, replaced a pine 1x12 with a eucalyptus slab. She was pretty happy.
http://julimorcreations.com/Images/LiveEdgeBB/BreakfastBar_09.jpg

http://julimorcreations.com/Images/LiveEdgeBB/BreakfastBar_08.jpg

[Derek Cohen]

That is very nice, Julie. I am not usually a fan of live edges, but this works for me.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jamie Buxton]

Julie, do you know which species of eucalyptus that is? Do you know where it grew?

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie, do you know which species of eucalyptus that is? Do you know where it grew?
All I know is it's curly eucalyptus. We got it from Connecticut Wood Group in Enfield, CT. You may be able to call them and find out more. Ask for Dave (owner) or John.

[Wayne Lomman]

Julie, curly eucalyptus is a description I have never heard before. The bench looks good.
Bill, the video of the tree climber up a blue gum is impressive. Those trees must love where they are growing.
If technology hasn't defeated me, here are a couple of pictures from the back paddock. The E.globulus is the one with an almost white bark. It's a baby as our bush is all regrowth that is no more than 25 years old. The tree is about 2 feet in diameter at the base and about 80 feet tall. The other picture is of a messmate that was never worth milling. It is about 170 feet high. The hollow in the trunk doesn't look much but the tree is 12 feet in diameter and you can pitch a tent inside it and sleep 3 people in it. Our bush is full of stumps this size.
I'm not sure where the idea comes from that blue gum is not very durable. A bluegum strainer post will last 30 years. A messmate one by comparison will last 5 years. Its probably a function of where is grows and what the pests are where it is used.
Time to stop boring everyone. There are only about another 200 eucalyptus species to talk about.... Cheers!