Eucalyptus - Any Good?

[Yojevol]

My neighbour is having a sizable eucalyptus felled. It has a useable trunk of 12" dia. and about 4' long.
Has anyone used it? What's it like? Should I save it from the woodburner fate?
Brian

 

[nick61]

According to William Lincoln's book 'World Woods in Colour', The wood is difficult to work with both hand and machine tools due to the presence of gum pockets and the interlocked grain requires a reduced cutting angle to avoid tear out. It is described as very durable, dries well, but liable to distortion due to gum pockets, and main uses are, amongst others, Piling, ship building, weatherboards and flooring. Whether it's worth rescuing is down to what you want to use it for.....
Nick

 

[Inspector]

Save it and quarter or halve it right away and seal the ends. Then turn or do whatever you like with it. If it is miserable or ugly get revenge by burning it.

Pete

 

[Tris]

If it's E. Gunnii it's not worth bothering with. I was given some for turning and it's horrible to work with, tear out, splits and a boring grain.

I seem to remember it wasn't even good firewood.

 

[peterw3035]

I was offered some by my neighbour but was splitting incredibly quickly, But interlocking grain meant splitting for logs was tricky.

 

[Orraloon]

There are over 700 species of them so it may be great wood or rubbish. I have worked and turned a few. Some are beautiful timbers. Nearly all will be very hard and heavy. They need to be carefully dried and the ends should be sealed as soon as its cut. Anyhow being free its worth a go.
Regards
John

 

[pidgeonpost]

Sixty years ago my father was an electrician at a timber company that processed rainforest and other timbers. It was brought up the Severn to Lydney from Avonmouth on barges.
They had a eucalyptus log that defied every effort with their machinery. Apparently it was loaded back onto a returning barge and dropped into the Severn where it sank like a stone.

 

[Orraloon]

As I said most are hard and some is really hard. Hardness is not the big show stopper for tools but some eucyalipts contain silica and that blunts blades fast. Kind of depends on the ground they grew in. Hardest one I worked was called ironbark and that is likely to sink in water even when dry. I thought it would make a mortar and pestle being so hard and it was just almost hard enough. I was touching up the lathe tools every minute or so and just let the grinder keep running for the whole job. Hard to work but polished up really nice. It still gets used for fence posts mostly on horse farms that have ye old post and rail fencing. So hard the termites mostly try and find something else.

By the way the table top its sitting on is also a eucalyptus called Tasmanian oak and works quite well about as hard as your oak. There is a huge range of them from good to work to real bar$#@rds and about any colour wood around.
Regards
John

 

[stuart little]

Sixty years ago my father was an electrician at a timber company that processed rainforest and other timbers. It was brought up the Severn to Lydney from Avonmouth on barges.
They had a eucalyptus log that defied every effort with their machinery. Apparently it was loaded back onto a returning barge and dropped into the Severn where it sank like a stone.

I remember that company at Lydney harbour(?). Biggest mahogany 'logs' I ever saw. Back in the '70's you could buy mahogany marine ply very cheap, I made several camping box trailers.

 

[Yojevol]

Thanks for your responses. I've done a bit of research and it appears that there are about 50 varieties which can survive here in the UK. Looking at pics online I would say that Eucalyptus glauescens - Tingiringi Gum is a good bet.
I don't think it's something I want to pursue so there are 3 options:-
1. hand it on to the local turners
2. get the tree surgeon to saw it up for firewood (along with the branches), but it may not be easy to split further
3. chuck it in the Severn which is just down the road.
The local consensus may be that the latter is the easiest to achieve.
Brian

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I remember that company at Lydney harbour(?). Biggest mahogany 'logs' I ever saw. Back in the '70's you could buy mahogany marine ply very cheap, I made several camping box trailers.

At school in the mid '60s we were shown a catalogue from a Liverpool company that listed greenheart 80' x 30" x 30"

 

[Avery]

some plywood is uke. They chuck it under "hardwood throughout" heading but if its not that pink ramin/meranti stuff i used to call far eastern. Its coming from brazil when its in the form of plywood which is a bit worrying if you follow bolsorano ?s attitude to forestry. Uke is great as its fast growing, and is basically a weed in a lot of the world.
if its sensibly and sustainably managed it has a place in the future of silviculture.
The trees tend to grow ( as said 700 species) in a spiral and are rock hard when dry . I dont think its useful as a planked timber but good in veneer/plywood and pulp and using in the round which is where it really comes into its own.
I am renovating a house in Portugal and all of the rafters and joist that are uke are solid , any pine are rotten, bug eaten and need replacing. pests seem to avoid it as its very oily ? and dense? They just dont like the taste.
as fast growing poles in the round its a good timber. As far as planking it im not sure

 

[Avery]

To address the original question Im no expert but id say a tree bole 4 foot long and one foot diameter unless its exotic (ebony, rosewood etc) just wont yield enough usable planks to bother with in my book,

 

[topchippyles]

Not a great wood by any means and certainly would never use externally

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

My neighbour is having a sizable eucalyptus felled. It has a useable trunk of 12" dia. and about 4' long.
Has anyone used it? What's it like? Should I save it from the woodburner fate?
Brian

Before you can build anything, you will need to dry it. That may take a few years. Decide while you wait ...

Here in Oz, most of the timber is one type of Eucalyptus or another. I build with it all the time, and with hand tools.

Copy of Hans Wegner's "The Chair" built in fiddleback Jarrah ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Landiman]

I have recently bought 2 large eucalyptus boards 14 and 16” wide for external projects. Reports suggest that it is comparable to cedar in its ability to resist the weather, however without the hearty price tag. I wouldn’t refuse it. I have milled some of it without any negative issue.

 

[Adam Pinson]

It splits and warps like mad whilst drying, but is a lovely orange colour once stable.

 

[Landiman]

slight tear out was easily sanded back.

 

[JimB]

I worked for a while in a builders' wholesalers in Exeter. The manager used to talk about jarrah and call it Australian mahogany.
As for ironbark, in my area (Victorian goldfields) it grows slowly and is heavy and close knit. Polishes beautifully too.

 

[pidgeonpost]

I remember that company at Lydney harbour(?). Biggest mahogany 'logs' I ever saw. Back in the '70's you could buy mahogany marine ply very cheap, I made several camping box trailers.

That's the company. It was a great source of plywood of various sorts, and they supplied it for use on Mosquito aircraft too. Occasionally employees could get a lorry load of 'log ends' delivered to their homes as firewood. I split loads as a kid and can smell it now!
They also produced fancy veneers, including those produced from quarter-sawn oak. When the oak boards became too thin for the peelers to grip (anywhere between about 1½“ - 2½“ usually) the boards were removed and set aside. If you had the right contacts these sometimes became available. I made a refectory-style dining table using some in '72 and it hasn't fallen apart yet.
There's a bit more info in the link below, though the site has now been flattened.

https://www.forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/learn-about-the-forest/pine-end-works-lydney/