Thread: Is camphor laurel any good as firewood

Aaron, the smell is of CL is good for keeping insects away. I use it when making drawers. In fact I am making a wardrobe right now and I added a number of CL panels to it.

I think you should keep some.

Originally Posted by Wongo

Aaron, the smell is of CL is good for keeping insects away. I use it when making drawers. In fact I am making a wardrobe right now and I added a number of CL panels to it.

I think you should keep some.

This specimen is not very nice. It has lots of black streaks and fairly unattractive grain otherwise, which has been the case with all the Sydney-grown camphor I’ve seen. I thought about keeping some for carving but not nice enough.

Cheers
Arron

Fresh and wet, it ought to burn like a carrot.
Split and seasoned under cover for a few years, might be a useful heat source.
You need home heating where you live?

Originally Posted by Arron

This specimen is not very nice. It has lots of black streaks and fairly unattractive grain otherwise, which has been the case with all the Sydney-grown camphor I’ve seen. I thought about keeping some for carving but not nice enough.

Spalted? Got any pix?

You'd be surprised what some people like. The last joinery I worked at - in Syney - had a bloke come in several times a year with a ute load of CL slabs for us to thickness... he makes chopping boards out of them and business is/was booming for him.

A lot of the timber was, to my eye, bland. (Some were pretty enough that I'd buy particular slabs from him while he was still unloading! )

In general I wouldn't recommend it as firewood any more than I'd recommend radiata.

I have used it in my fire, usually the dry bland off cuts burn really well no worries at all .Would have to be dry for sure.

Have a read of this The Toxicologist Today: What about the toxicology of burning bay leaf wood as a source of fuel? & make your own assessment.

I've burnt it in an open fire in the backyard before. Burns ok, not great and with the occasional weird smell coming off the fire. Crappy heat, but I normally burn hardwood offcuts, so it's probably ok. If you've burnt it in a fire that day, don't cook over it whatever you do - I once used it to start a fire, burned for 1/2 hr afterwards with other timber (everything down to coals) and still picked up a weird taste.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Have a read of this The Toxicologist Today: What about the toxicology of burning bay leaf wood as a source of fuel? & make your own assessment.

Thanks. I followed up on this authors original sources and read them and came to exactly the opposite conclusion that he does. Interesting.

for what its worth Í burn't mine in a closed fire ,I am still alive & kicking according to the ECG I had today .
The oil content that may still be present in the dry pieces I burn as a fire starter, may perhaps accelerate the burning process hence the implied heat applied getting a fire started.

Originally Posted by Arron

Thanks. I followed up on this authors original sources and read them and came to exactly the opposite conclusion that he does. Interesting.

It is interesting how many conflicting opinions there are about on the toxicology of woods, their saw dust, burning etc. Even when formed from the same source data. One thing for sure there are plenty of examples / instances of short term irritations and long term illnesses that are very real. Not much scientific data about though.

I believe that in NSW camphor laurel wood is being used to fuel burners in power generation plant.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

It is interesting how many conflicting opinions there are about on the toxicology of woods, their saw dust, burning etc. Even when formed from the same source data. One thing for sure there are plenty of examples / instances of short term irritations and long term illnesses that are very real. Not much scientific data about though......

Amen to that, Mobyturns. Toxicologists are by & large chemists, who don't have a lot of background in animal physiology, and sometimes get a little over-excited at what their incredibly sensitive instruments find for them. Finding toxins in the environment is one thing, but before you press the panic button, you have to figure out how likely it is that an animal will get to ingest/inhale/absorb sufficient of it to cause a problem, i.e. work out the hazard level. For example, Eucalypt leaves are as toxic as hell, and everywhere we look in this country, but the only animals which ingest them on a regular basis have evolved livers & associations with gut bacteria that allow them to consume what would be lethal amounts for you or me.

A very insightfull chap called Paracelsus said (about 500 years ago) "All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison." Common table salt and a popular weedicide that comes with a skull & crossbones on the label have exactly the same acute oral toxicity per kilogram bodyweight. For sure, C. camphorum (Camphor laurel) contains substances which are toxic in large doses, and so do many other woods we utilise. (Much of the stuff in the article you linked to regarding CL & cinearol is anecdotal & very dubious if not downright false!) Burning Camphor laurel in a closed-combustion stove is unlikely to be an acute-toxicity hazard to most people.

The combustion of any organic material also releases substances that are known to be carcinogenic. Carcinogenesis has another layer of complications, far too complex to deal with in a post like this, but also depends on the varying amounts you are likely to be exposed to, varying threshold doses, the contributions of other environmental hazards, & individual metabolic responses. However, the likelihood of developing cancer from burning a bit of camphor wood is probably far lower than from many other substances you are exposed to, or being cleaned up by an unobservant driver on your way to work...

Allergic reactions are something entirely different again. In these cases the dose is usually miniscule & the reaction is totally out of proportion to the dose. It's also quite unpredictable, you don't know you've been sensitised until you have a reaction. Initial reactions are usually non-life-threatening, but if anything you come in contact with does cause hay fever/asthma-like symptoms, it's wise to avoid it in future.

Hope that doesn't muddy the water too much.....
Cheers,

As others have pointed out burning any wood is producing toxins. The trick is not to be breathing in the smoke. If you have a combustion stove in good order or a fireplace that draws well there should be no problem. I have burned some in the past when we had a stove. It burns but has not got the heat of a good hardwood. Best mixed with other woods.
Worst wood I tried to burn was turpentine. Not worth the time to chop up.
Regards
John

Thanks IanW for that great summary.

My position was that I had offered it to a friend and only afterwards thought of toxicity. Anyway, it doesn’t matter much now because he fell off a ladder (yep, age 69) so he’ll be out of action for a while. Any other neighbour that wants it can have it but they’ll have to do their own research and come to their own conclusion.

Cheers, and thanks for all the responses.
Arron

Originally Posted by orraloon

Worst wood I tried to burn was turpentine. Not worth the time to chop up.
Regards
John

Try burning "Yellow Jack" Corymbia leichhardtii that's if you can even get it to start burning!