Eucalyptus honey hole

I have a friend that has a bunch of eucalyptus trees that he wants down. So we headed over to his house to see what he wanted down. There are probably about 40 trees that are close to his house that he wants to remove. So we got started.

Most are not very big in diameter, but are tall. And luckily, most are leaning away from his building. We took down about 15 trees on Sunday, and on Labor day, we brushed out and skidded the logs out so I can get them on the trailer this or next week and bring them home. It's a lot of work for not that much wood. But he is a good friend and we have fun doing it. A few pics

 

Why does he want them gone? I don't know anything about those trees except it's from Australia.

 

I'd want them gone if they are near buildings, the oils in them make them burn like torches.

 

They are close to his house/shop and he is afraid they will blow down, which they do sometimes. A couple are big learners toward the shop. I'll get pics when we get the others out of the way.

This is just a few of the euch trees he has on his property. We will be taking a few down near/at his driveway for the same reason. He probably has 150-200 of these trees on his property. Most will be staying.

 

Yes, they burn very hot. Locals like it for firewood. We have more oak here, so that is what gets cut most in out area, unless you are more in the mountains, then doug fir is the firewood choice.

 

I love the smell of eucalyptus trees. In my mind, I can smell it right now actually. It's really great firewood too.

 

How are they on btu chart. I know someone said they burn hot but long time burn or quick burn.

 

Helping the friend makes it worth the work.

 

It's sometimes hard to find on burn charts, but here is one chart that shows it. Lots of BTU's

Firewood BTU Ratings – World Forest Industries

 

Thank you. Since it is right there with oak, does it also take 3 years to season?

 

It depends where you are. We have had lots of wind and 100+ days this Summer It went from near 30% when I cut it to less than 10% in 3 months.

 

It's way better than the oak you ( and most people) are used to. 34 mbtu per cord or so is 10 mbtu a cord better than the 24 mbtu a cord that white or red oak has.

 

Nice work helping a buddy and yourself at the same time!

Can we discuss bringing in a troop of koalas for brush cleanup?

 

Do they smell like cough drops when fresh cut? Great job helping a friend

 

Well the first time I went and cut a few trees there, they didn't. But yesterday, after cutting up a bunch of slash, you could really smell it. I hear there are many different varieties of Eucalyptus trees, and I think not all of them are aromatic.

 

Yep, we have a lot of Live oak here and what they call valley oak, which gets very big. The last valley oak I cut on was 6' at the stump!

 

It is always good to get more experience at falling trees no matter what size.

 

G’day bigfrank you are correct there are more than 700 species of eucalyptus trees, and some smell better than others. What I saw in your earlier posts looks like you may have some young Red gum. As the trees get older the sapwood usually decreases in thickness and the hardwood gets even darker.





Great wood very dense can be hard to split at times.


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For sure hard to split. Gnarly and fibrous. Great firewood.