# Eucalyptus Milling



## lostcoastland (Jan 16, 2010)

Anyone know of using eucalyptus for building funiture and such..I saw a chair in SkyMall made of eucalyptus and it was supposedly weather proof..? I have heard a few different opinions from different people...the last thing i heard was that there was a forest of euch in santa rosa that they grew for railroad ties but they cut a few and they dried all weird so they didnt use them...Theres alot of big euch logs around here and no one seems to want them except firewood..I live in on the North Coast of California and theres alot of it around...:greenchainsaw:


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## BobL (Jan 16, 2010)

lostcoastland said:


> Anyone know of using eucalyptus for building funiture and such..I saw a chair in SkyMall made of eucalyptus and it was supposedly weather proof..? I have heard a few different opinions from different people...the last thing i heard was that there was a forest of euch in santa rosa that they grew for railroad ties but they cut a few and they dried all weird so they didnt use them...Theres alot of big euch logs around here and no one seems to want them except firewood..I live in on the North Coast of California and theres alot of it around...:greenchainsaw:



There's eucalyptus and eucalyptus and eucalyptus (800 species at last count).

I don't believe it's weather proof but it is very hard wearing

Most of the logs I mill are eucalypts or close relatives. The wood is strong, hard and challenging to cut and work in general with difficult grain . It blunts chains (I touch up the chain after about 32 sqft of cutting) and Woodworking tools. 

The ones I have seen in Socal around SD tend to be very twisted and when milled and dried can just fall apart that is probably why they do not mill. If you can find a straight grained log you could be rewarded with some lovely wood.

Here is a large U shaped computer/office desk I made from jarrah which is a eucalypt.
Its ~ 8' x 10' x 6' 





The top is made from 2 1.5" thick slabs, 34" wide and 13 ft long. 

If you want to see more amazing stuff can be made from eucalypt wood just check out the Aussie wood workers forums.
"www.woodworkforums.com/" The specific forum that deals with big stuff like furniture is "www.woodworkforums.com/f187/"


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## jimdad07 (Jan 16, 2010)

BobL said:


> There's eucalyptus and eucalyptus and eucalyptus (800 species at last count).
> 
> I don't believe it's weather proof but it is very hard wearing
> 
> ...



You do fantastic work BobL. Wouldn't mind seeing more of your work.


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## BobL (Jan 17, 2010)

I mainly do small stuff like tools etc.
I also do a lot of metal work as well

2006 (blue dots means made from firewood size pieces from trees planted and grown in my back yard 30 years ago)





2007





2008





2009
Stay tuned.


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## lostcoastland (Jan 17, 2010)

Wow!! You made a guitar!! and lots of other really cool stuff...Nice!~:greenchainsaw:


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## norcalian (May 10, 2016)

lostcoastland said:


> Anyone know of using eucalyptus for building funiture and such..I saw a chair in SkyMall made of eucalyptus and it was supposedly weather proof..? I have heard a few different opinions from different people...the last thing i heard was that there was a forest of euch in santa rosa that they grew for railroad ties but they cut a few and they dried all weird so they didnt use them...Theres alot of big euch logs around here and no one seems to want them except firewood..I live in on the North Coast of California and theres alot of it around...:greenchainsaw:


I love in uppe lake ca. About 2 hours north of Santa Rosa. Imill anything I can het my hands on and I milled some eucs last week. They split alittle but nothing I can't work with. Some beautiful looking wood though.


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## jrhannum (May 11, 2016)

I tried it.
Got a 4-ft bole from a neighbor's "red gum" tree-removal; end-painted because it was very wet; within a week the ends were checking badly; went ahead and slabbed it anyway; end-painted each and stickered and bound them to a steel bed. Another two weeks and the slabs were riven by shrinkage into nearly-worthless-to-me pieces. The stuff was clear and straight-grained and beautiful when wet, yet dried into a mess now headed for the firewood rick. Perhaps it was the very dry weather that hastened this disaster?


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## BobL (May 11, 2016)

Dry weather won't help although I can't image it being any drier than most Australian environments where droughts can last for years.
More likely its the gums growing out of their natural environment. It's probably related to the soil they grew in rather than anything else so they are missing something that changes their structure.
I notice the "Spotted Gums" around San Diego were mostly stunted and twisted - nothing like the magnificent trees they can be in the natural settings.
We see that sometimes here in Western Australia with gums imported from the east coast of Australia some 2500 miles away.


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