Eucalyptus wood

[deeps]

Had a large eucalyptus taken down this week and am setting about chopping and building a holz hausen stack to season it. Just wondered if there is anything woodcrafty/bushcrafty that this wood is particularly good for. Seems a shame to burn it all.

 

[stijnb]

didgeridoo's are traditionally made from eucalyptus wood, they are not very diff to make and really funn to play

 

[Peter_t]

a word of warning if you need to split it for a fire place/stove, make sure you do while its still green because its a right pain to split once its seasoned. sorry no bushcrafty ideas, its not a tree you come accross exept in gardens. but if you have no other uses for it it makes very good firewood

pete

 

[Trad Bound]

There are hundreds of eucalyptus and they vary considerably in the uses. as an traditional archer my arrows are made from what is commanly known as Victorian Ash/ Tasmania oak (hopeless for Bows it is very light in colour),i shoot a 45# bow and the arrows are 5/16 so that might give some of you an understanding of their weight. I and many others have made selfbows from Sydney Spotted Gum (eucalyptus which is almost a brown colour), I make furniture out of Red Gum and a rare gum commonly known a woolly butt eucalyptus both of these are very dense heavy timber with a deep red colour. The woolly butt eucalyptus is so dense I use power tools in all stages of the making process. Some eucalyptus are brilliant for turning, carving etc. Some are used in house frames, Walking Sticks, cutting boards, stick furniture, some the leaves can be added to tea to give aroma to billy tea, some are distilled for their oils. Lots are pulped to send to Japan so we can buy it back in a process form. Lots are used for fire wood but it does need drying out fully for home fires. And unfortunately eucalyptus is what is burning rapidly in the Victiorian bush at the moment the oils ignite very quickly. You might like to check out an australian woodworking forum for some ideas or look up http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/ to see some of our archery use, my name is the same on that site. Sorry for the ramble but it shows you the variation.
Cheers TonyJ

 

[Simon]

I had a load of Eucalyptus from a tree cut down at my parents house.

it can be beautiful, especially as it can grow quite twisted, but the twisted stuff splits easily during drying if care isn't taken in the drying process

 

[Peter_t]

if it helps youv probably got a blue gum as its the most comonly planted species in the UK. know any florists? we usualy give some bits to our local if we ever take one down at work. they use the leaves in flower arangments aparently.

pete