For those of you around N. CA/S. OR, any opinion of the Eucalyptus that is around here? I mean for woodworking purposes, of course. I don’t think they are native . . . very large trees. I may have access to some logs and want to know how much effort they may be worth. I think the local dealer may sell some of it, and plan to ask them about it as well.
Brian
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Eucalyptus is native of Australia. Oily wood is pretty resistant to rot and they grow fast, which is why the railroads imported the things during the 19th century expecting to use them for cross-ties. Farmers in the Central Valley and Southern CA planted them in rows to act as windbreaks for vegetable crops and citrus orchards.
Most varieties have a twisted grain, which causes boards to warp as they dry and the wood tends to split, making them ultimately unsuitable for RR ties.
There are hundreds of different kinds of eucalyptus. They're native to Australia, but have been exported elsewhere. Dunno which one you have. The one which is most widespread now in California is blue gum. It is a very big tree. The trunk can easily be six feet in diameter. It has a reputation for being difficult to dry. That is, during the drying process there's lots of cracking. That's why it is rarely seen as lumber.
Hi Brian ,
I have seen the Eucs in N. Cal and throughout Cal even on Catalina Island and they look the same to me .
Lyptus wood is some form of hybrid Euc er such , so some of the workability may be there within one or the other .
From it's looks to me it resembles Pacifica Madrona or Madrone in stature , loose bark and twisted and cracks and splits and can be a very difficult wood to tame .
They make some flooring out of Madrone locally but honestly the properties of this wood will not allow it to become dimensionally stable on a consistent basis , I suspect much the same with Euc .T & G flooring tends to keep most wood flat .
Madrone is my favorite firewood and My BIL that lives on Catalina Island says Eucalyptus is the best firewood , but they are not allowed to cut any down only salvage what falls .
dusty
I'm in the Bay area, and we have Eucalyptus trees everywhere. AFIK, it's only good for firewood and it's odor makes that use a little questionable (smells like someone pizzed on the campfire).
As for its "worth", a rancher I know recently cut up a huge tree that had fallen over one of his ranch roads. There are several large rounds laying there (~5' diameter and 5'-6' long) that can probably be had for free if you can load them and haul them away. - lol
hey brian,
ive carved it some. tends to be full of insects. cracks when its drying. grows all over the place here in so calif.
i love it for firewood.
eef
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