Collateral Damage

[Phily]

Big storm through our place last night. Several large gums down. One, we paced out at 50m, took out 2 of my old maple trees. Created a massive amount of work - I’ll be turning green maple blanks for the next 3 months 😱😱😱

[ian]

are the gums worth milling?

[Phily]

Not sure. They are Brown Barrels which are pretty soft timber - no idea what it can be used for besides firewood. Any thoughts?

[ian]

A bit of googling later

from Wikipedia
Eucalyptus fastigata, commonly known as brown barrel or cut-tail, is a common eucalyptus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus) tree of south eastern Australia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia).[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_fastigata#cite_note-1)
It can grow in excess of 60 metres in height, though is mostly seen between 30 and 45 metres tall. Brown barrel grows in cooler areas of high rainfall with fertile soils. They can be seen growing at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tomah_Botanic_Garden) in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountains,_New_South_Wales).
The timber is well regarded, used for building construction. Brown barrel has creamy smooth upper branches and a dark rough bark on the trunk and main branches.


From https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species/brownbarrel
Brownbarrel is a large Australian hardwood growing in the north east of Victoria and the tableland districts and south coast areas of New South Wales.
It is used mainly for general construction, although this is limited to applications protected from weather exposure due to brownbarrel's moderate durability. It is also used for internal applications such as flooring, veneers and paneling.
Its heartwood is pale brown, while the narrow sapwood is usually paler in colour and is also susceptible to lyctid borer attack. It is similar in appearance to messmate. Brownbarrel has a medium texture with a grain that can be straight or often interlocked. Gum veins are usually present.
Brownbarrel is slow to dry and considerable collapse can occur during the process.

[Phily]

Thanks for the research Ian, I am surprised that it is used in construction as it isn’t very dureable and definitely prone to both rot and insects. One old timer I was talking to after the storms recalled using slices for “stepping stones”, after 3 yrs they had rotted to nothing. I’m also surprised that it is used for flooring - maybe in old barns etc where gaps, character and indentations create character - it wouldn’t be my first choice for a modern home. The best use I’ve found for fallen trees is in slow combustion fires - to quickly create a bed of hot coals for denser, slower burning timber. It has to be said, they are magnificent looking trees, especially when found in large numbers in old growth forrests.
One of the locals showed me a brown and white photo of a brown barrel that had been hit by lightening - it had sheared off part way up the trunk. He said “look closer”. I nearly fell over - standing at the base, dwarfed by the shear size of the base of the tree, was his grandfather, and two of his mates. I have no idea what height the tree would have been but it would have been well over 60m - closer to 160m! I’ll try and get a copy to post on the site (unfortunately the owner is ill with cancer so I don’t want to hassle him).
On a completely unrelated tangent, I picked up some old river redgum from a mates property in Narranderra. There are several massive trees, but all the really big ones are gone. Apparently the railway sleeper folk came through decades back. They could cut over 200 sleepers from a single tree. Not a mis type.

[ian]

Hi Phily
I think the key to using Brownbarrel is to not use it outdoors -- "moderate durability" would suggest in-ground use is not advised.

whether it's worth milling what fell is something I can't help you with, however, if it's used for flooring you should be able to recover some very nice boards for use building tables.


on a completely different topic -- how did you go with that holly you had access to a year or so ago?

[Phily]

Ahh, yes, the Holly. That must have been closer to 5 years ago if memory serves (without checking).
I turned several blocks green and applied a wax finish. They looked like polished bone - beautiful. I also microwave dried a few pieces - OK, but not the same as the green turned.
For the bulk; some I left to dry naturally as logs and for a fair bit I placed them in plastic bags filled with bleach. I also put a few in my greenhouse to encourage fungal growth per Dai Sensie’s suggestion. Nothing really worked - I ended up with a milky coffee coloured timber with little character. I tried to bleach the timber after it had dried but it wasn’t worth the effort. All in all, very dissapointing as the small amount of timber that did work out looked beautiful.

[hughie]

Ahh, yes, the Holly. That must have been closer to 5 years ago if memory serves (without checking).
I turned several blocks green and applied a wax finish. They looked like polished bone - beautiful. I also microwave dried a few pieces - OK, but not the same as the green turned.
For the bulk; some I left to dry naturally as logs and for a fair bit I placed them in plastic bags filled with bleach. I also put a few in my greenhouse to encourage fungal growth per Dai Sensie’s suggestion. Nothing really worked - I ended up with a milky coffee coloured timber with little character. I tried to bleach the timber after it had dried but it wasn’t worth the effort. All in all, very dissapointing as the small amount of timber that did work out looked beautiful.

Interesting read , the storm reeked a bit of havoc up here, no trees tho' :) Holly still have yet to turn mine I have a couple of blanks, some a smudge from some sort of bacterial action, might try lime wash.

[Toymaker Len]

Good luck with the maple, I've noticed the luthiers pay $$$ for figured maple.

[Mr Brush]

Phil,

We watched those thunderstorms go past on the radar......the ones with black bits in the middle of them. Just for once nothing hit us, but I know a few areas in the highlands got hammered.

We dropped a massive brown barrel gum that had been "lightly killed" by lightning strike a few years ago, and I looked into getting it slabbed. Apparently it tends to collapse on drying, kiln drying recommended, so we didn't bother. Kept us in superb firewood for about 3 years though, as it was solid right through. Contrary to the advice of all the "experts" telling us that lightning-struck timber was no good for firewood.....it's fine, you just have to dry it as though it were green timber, which it was just before it got killed.

I'm not that far down the road, so if you need an extra pair of hands and an (admittedly small) chainsaw to help with some clearing up, just holler.

[Mr Brush]

Just noticed the note in the species description about interlocked grain.....the tree I mentioned above had a slight twist right through every part of the main trunk and most of the larger limbs. The manual blocksplitter, which had never failed me before, just bounced off.

That was the year I hired a 30T hydraulic splitter for the first time, split about 5 years' firewood in 2 days (with helpers), and I'm happy to say I have never swung the blocksplitter again to this day. Lesson learned :D