March 16, 2013 - Give her some wood!

[ZenGum]

I disagree on both counts.

We've cleared something like 85% of the native forests/vegetation since settlement. That includes things like mulga and mallee scrub which are tree-ish but rarely more than 4 to 6 metres high.

Also, well dried eucalyptus is my firewood of choice when I go camping, especially redgum. Dense wood, long burn time. Maybe it's different for fireplaces in houses though.

[JuancoRocks]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I disagree on both counts.

Also, well dried eucalyptus is my firewood of choice when I go camping, especially redgum. Dense wood, long burn time. Maybe it's different for fireplaces in houses though.

I agree.......We have a lot of Eucalyptus here in Arizona (I have 10 that are about 85 feet) and I find that it burns clean and hot. I take it camping and use it to bring mesquite and oak to proper coals for cooking.

Although some think of the widowmaker reputation of Eucalyptus (dropping branches) I prefer to think of it as free firewood.

JR

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I disagree on both counts.

We've cleared something like 85% of the native forests/vegetation since settlement. That includes things like mulga and mallee scrub which are tree-ish but rarely more than 4 to 6 metres high.

Also, well dried eucalyptus is my firewood of choice when I go camping, especially redgum. Dense wood, long burn time. Maybe it's different for fireplaces in houses though.

So you admit to being responsible for the clearing Tasmania of its off the maps?

[Aliantha]

We've been a pretty treeless place in comparison to most other continents for a very long time Zen. That's what I was referring to. By very long, I mean tens of thousands of years. And I did say that we've done our best to get rid of most of what we found, and yes, I was referring to indoor fireplaces. I don't know anyone who would choose to burn gum tree timber indoors.

eta: Reasons people choose not to burn gum indoors is partly due to the potential for explosion, and largely because gum is notoriously difficult to mill, and tends to wreck blades, so can't be cut to size very easily.

This was a large part of the reason for the settlement on Norfolk Is when Australia was first settled by the Brits. They thought there was plenty of timber for dwellings but when they tried to cut the mostly gum tree forests, all they did was destroy their blades. Norfolk Pines were found to be much more suitable so they decided to go chop all of them down instead.

[ZenGum]

The clear felling of the Map of Tasmania is a different issue altogether, and one in which I have had no hand.

[Aliantha]

They do explode. lol In bushfires a whole tree can be blown to smithereens if there's a large build up of oil. Not sure why some trees explode and others don't, but I assume they must sometimes get pockets in the wood and then blow up in extreme heat. Not an expert. I just know it happens.

[Nirvana]

Thank goodness the gumtrees are safe! Where would Kookaburra sit?

[footfootfoot]

cigarette loads?

[ZenGum]

In bushfire conditions, trees can explode, I think from the liquids inside boiling catastrophically. The volatiles then get released as a flammable gas, which as soon as it gets enough oxygen, will also explode.

These trees explode twice.

Last winter I went to a camping mini-festival (about 40 people) in a state forest in Victoria. About the third thing we did was to get two tonnes of Redgum and Yellow box firewood delivered. We were only there three nights! Three toasty warm, well lit nights!