How is Eucalyptus to turn?

[Toasty]

G'day All,

How is Eucalyptus as a turning wood? I have just come accross a huge amount of it (read post below).

Was talking to a work colleague yesterday and I was only just saying to him that I needed more wood to further my addiction. I also mentioned I needed to go find some trees that had fallen down so I could get the wood hahahaha. Talk about prophetic words.

That very afternoon a major weather front moved through Canberra and while the "storm" part of it lasted only 20 minutes or so, it knocked over a LOT of trees around Canberra.

Including a big eucalyptus tree out the front of my house!

I tell you we are so lucky the wind came from the west and not the east. The tree was blown over, covered the road and went halfway up my accrosstheroadneighbor's driveway! If it had fallen the other way we wouldn't have had a bedroom!

But how lucky are we, the guy who lives across the road is a tree surgeon and by the time we got home the tree had already been cut up and the road cleared. Mind you this is after a frantic call from his young daughter, "DAD! The tree is coming to kill me!!!" She was never in any danger from that tree, but the noise must have been incredible.

Anyway, now I have to go to Bill Grumbine's site to freshen up on how to harvest wood before Urban Services comes and takes it away.

http://roadstarmagazine.com/woodturning/treedown1.jpg

http://roadstarmagazine.com/woodturning/treedown2.jpg

[Barry_White]

That looks like a stringy bark to me. You will find that stringy bark is very susceptable to extreme splitting as it dries out. It is a hardwood and they use a lot of it to make tool handles e.g. Axe handles, shovel handles. maddock handles etc.

It will turn quite acceptabley and will give a nice smooth finish.

[Toasty]

Does this help identify it?

[Barry_White]

Does this help identify it?

I believe that the bark is the thing that identifies it for me as we have thousands of them growing around me and the bark is quite unique as the name implies stringy in appearance.

There are a few varieties of stringy but all basically have the same bark structure.

One thing though I would remove the bark as soon as possible as it gets harder to remove as the timber dries out.

The best way to do that is to use an axe and make a series of cuts into the bark down to the sap wood in this fashion down the length of the tree /\/\/\/\/\/\/\ then get a crow bar under the bark and lever it off working your way around the trunk.

[DavidG]

End seal it NOW before it start splitting.
You can always cut it as required later.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Stringy Bark or maybe Swamp Ash.

Much the same properties as Vic Ash or Tas Oak, I reckon it's one of the species you can buy under the builders' name of "Tassie Oak."

Turns quite nicely but takes a modicum of care to prevent fine tear-out and 'tis a tad hard on the tools. They're generally a fairly bland grain, but can have some very striking figuring, especially when fiddlebacked.

As has been said: SEAL THE ENDS NOW.

[echnidna]

you might get a bit of fiddleback right at the junction of a big fork in the main trunk (if it has on)

[2817741]

Hey, talk about lucky ACT woodies! I visisted Manaro timber on thursday to buy some blanks and after leaving empty handed I happened to whinge to SHWMBO about having no timber left. Then on friday I had multiple trees of the same species as yours fall all around our house in the same storm, missing everything! Urban services came and cut them up today - and they left me three big crotch sections. I debarked and end sealed them with PVA this afternoon. That should do the job shouldn't it??

[rsser]

I'm a fan of breaking the log down into rough blanks and then sealing. Smaller pieces seem to be more stable; it's cheaper in any case and you can stack and forget for the moment.

(Calculated that with retrieving, breaking down, sealing, stacking and cleaning up, each rough blank takes between 30 and 60 minutes. So the timber's only free if you don't cost your time).

[Ianab]

Have a look at this guys page.
He has some good pics / instructions on breaking logs down into turning blanks
http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/logcutting.html
Cutting them like that and sealing the ends ASAP will reduce the chance of them splitting.

Cheers

Ian

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

When dealing with logs less than about 18" long, I find splitting wedges quicker, if not easier. It saves the need for a sawbuck, temporary or not.

But horses for courses. :)

[Ianab]

When dealing with logs less than about 18" long, I find splitting wedges quicker, if not easier. It saves the need for a sawbuck, temporary or not.


True - splitting would work well for straight grained wood, but I think the saw would be better in crotch wood or wild grain where you end up having to cut across the grain.

Cheers

Ian

[reeves]

hey nice post, i found some yesterday locally, an old stump, very dry.

I turned some test pieces and its pretty civilised, tho a bit splitty....

depends what u wanna use it for.....

i think it will be good for kitchen utensils, bowls, salad servers etc..

have fun

[PAH1]

I would say that tree is actually narrow leafed peppermint E. nicholii, it can be kiln dried without splitting but that is about all. I had one that died and thought it was a great opportunity and wound up with not a single piece without major splits.

[shrek]

Toasty,
I covered a bit of this in another thread.
I spent the weekend with my RFS brigade doing storm damage work, mainly in the Flynn - Fraser area. There are a lot of trees down up there, covering a lot of different species. We removed a lot of red box from peoples houses and driveways. It has all been stacked on the nature strips and is available for the taking if interested.

[Toasty]

Thanks Shrek,

As I drive around I see a lot of timber lying on the side road. Unfortunatly SWMBO see's the stuff out the front of our house as "plenty for the moment, thank you".

Sigh.

[2817741]

I'm all over that stuff Shrek! Cheers for the tip!

Pitty about your weekend though! :rolleyes:

Cheers,

Greg