Eucalyptus Firewood

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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

PS:
One of the chunks I tried to float in the kitchen sink just over half an hour ago, is now on the fire and burning nicely.
Mick F. Cornwall
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I just read an account of sailing round the world a hundred years ago, the ship nearly ran out of food and water, changing the sails took a week, half the crew deserted in Valparaiso, would you believe that MickF? :wink:
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thirdcrank
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by thirdcrank »

Mick F wrote:... As for lignum, it's the only wood that doesn't float. If you want to fill a bath, try floating it. If it floats, it's not lignum.

Mick F wrote:Try a chunk of eucalyptus.
I can assure you all, that it's so heavy it doesn't float.

Tried it just now in the kitchen sink. The chunk just sat there on the bottom whilst completely covered with water.
Mrs Mick F bears witness to this.


It's hard to know what to believe.
Mike_Ayling
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mike_Ayling »

Would a piece of English Oak float or sink?
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al_yrpal
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by al_yrpal »

Mike_Ayling wrote:Would a piece of English Oak float or sink?


I think the Victory once floated... :D

Al
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Jdsk
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Jdsk »

Mick F wrote:As for lignum, it's the only wood that doesn't float.

There are other types of wood that won't float (in ordinary water at ordinary temperature):
https://www.wood-database.com
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/top-ten-heaviest-woods/

Jonathan

PS:
Ben@Forest wrote:There is a list of green density volume to weight (m3 to metric tonne) in the FC Forest Mensuration Booklet 39 (now superseded but still easy to find). I presume its successor has it too.

https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/1963/FCBK039.pdf

Fascinating craft metrology, but doesn't have the density of many exotics.
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Jdsk »

Mike_Ayling wrote:Would a piece of English Oak float or sink?

Float.

"Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .53, .67"

https://www.wood-database.com/english-oak/

Jonathan
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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

thirdcrank wrote:It's hard to know what to believe.

Mike_Ayling wrote:Would a piece of English Oak float or sink?

On Thursday, I'll be logging and stuff, and there's a large branch from an oak that was brought down by the falling eucalyptus.
I'll cut a chunk of the oak off, and try the float test.

It's only been off the oak tree a couple of weeks and still intact as a bow. It's therefore wet and green, but from my experiences here, oak, green or otherwise, isn't as heavy as eucalyptus.
Mick F. Cornwall
CliveyT
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by CliveyT »

Mick F wrote:
Home via Cochin (India), Bahrein (Persian Gulf) and Mombassa where I flew home as my year was up and carried on with my apprenticeship. Achilles went via the same route back to Devonport and was away for 15months in total.

You tell the children of today all that, and they wouldn't believe you! :wink:


Father was on I think it was Hermes (but might have been Bulwark) on a world tour back when there was trouble in Aden (plus ca change). I can't remember how long the tour took but they would get so far down the East coast of Africa then get diverted back to Aden several times before finally getting free.

Back to the subject at hand- where the wood grows can have an effect as well- birch is fast growing over here, burns well but no good for anything else really. In Finland it grows much slower and is quite a bit denser and makes pretty good timber.
And nobody's mentioned box yet as a hard wood? Mrs T has a beetle made of box which has lasted well over 10 years and many thousands of tent pegs etc
VinceLedge
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by VinceLedge »

I have been trimming one of the yew trees and that wood is pretty dense, will have to do the float test!
thirdcrank
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by thirdcrank »

In the interests of science, I've been doing some truncheon floating - something I've not tried before. Both mine sink "like a stone." In the early days of equality, somebody decided policewomen should be issued with truncheons which would be carried in their official handbags. (Talking here about W Yorks; no idea about elsewhere.) In the early 1980s when I was moving on, the group I was leaving did me a presentation including the inevitable engraved tankard and some other bits and pieces which were incorporated into a speech. I can't remember the significance but they gave me a women's truncheon with some canteen humour from one of the policewomen, which I'll spare you.

Anyway, I'd have said that this absurd bit of kit was made from much lighter wood: it's certainly a much lighter colour. I've found that it sinks, but more slowly than the other two.
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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

Very interesting TC.

Women's truncheons are smaller and lighter than men's truncheons.
Sexual equality eh? :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
thirdcrank
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by thirdcrank »

Were smaller and lighter forty-odd years ago.

When we changed over to the telescopic type, they completed the same training as men and were issued with the same equipment.

PS Among my other souvenirs I have a Dewsbury Borough walking stick. ie dating from pre 1968 and probably made long before that. AIUI, it was used by the duty inspector - only five inspectors plus DI in the entire force. It seems very heavy and you couldn't walk far without your arm aching. I'll try floating that sometime.
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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

:lol:

Later in my RN career, I attended (yet another) fire-fighting and damage control course. We had to do them before joining a ship. By then (mid 1990s) we had females at sea in ships, and they too had to do the course.

A week's course, filthy and mucky having fought fires in mock-up ship compartments, wet and tired too.
We stopped for lunch, and were presented with trays of sarnies and an urns of tea and coffee.
Most of us went to wash our hands ................but not all of us.

One young lady, maybe in her early 20s, blonde and pretty, but filthy - face hands hair, the lot.
She picked up a sandwich.

Father figure like I am (and was even then) said to her, "You're not going to put that in your mouth are you?"
She replied, "I've had dirtier things in my mouth than this!"

:lol: :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
thirdcrank
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by thirdcrank »

In the interests of even more science, I've just tested the night stick and it does not float, which may give a clue as to why it's too heavy to walk around with.
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