Stihl 066 = 1, Big Eucalyptus = 0

[Brewz]

A few months back we had a massive cyclonic storm blow through which blew down several BIG trees on my parents property here in Australia.
We chopped up some smaller fallen branches with a couple Stihl 039's which bolstered the firewood pile for next winter.



I then took to a big dead one that came down with the 039.




I got to the trunk of the tree which was 25 to 30"+ across, so I bought a 30" bar to make take it out in single slices. The 039 did it, but it wasn't happy about it. This stuff is hard as nails. I snapped 2 log splitter handles breaking it up



I chopped up a couple more freshly fallen trees with the 039 but it was a LOT of work when it came to the big end of the stick.
Soooo..... I went and bought a Stihl 066 Magnum.
What a machine !

Today i turned this:





into this:
There is about half that again behind and off to the side.

Excuse the finger

 

[benp]

That is awesome!!!!!

I'm always impressed by the quality of your guys firewood everytime an AUS member posts pictures.



Just for giggle's does anyone know of a BTU chart for the Australian wood like the one that Chimneysweep online has?

I'm just curious......and jealous.

 

[Brewz]

Haha, And I am jealous of how clean Ash and Oak seems to split when I see pictures of it.
This stuff is cranky, like every fiber is welded together.
You hit it, crack it, but it doesn't separate. You need to keep at it, hitting it again in the same spot or just try and wrestle it.
Burns hot, low ash etc etc.
There is a reason Stihl lists different bar oil pumps for chainsaws in Aus and we have no requirement to use environmentally friendly oil. They just dont work in rock hard wood and 40+ deg c temps.

I only went cutting today as it was cool and overcast, threatening to rain.
The saws have now been retired for the summer.

I would be interested to see a BTU chart as well.

We have a lot of Ironbark which is a super heavy, dense, hard red wood. Burns so hot and long its not funny

 

[farmerward]

Haha, And I am jealous of how clean Ash and Oak seems to split when I see pictures of it.
This stuff is cranky, like every fiber is welded together.
You hit it, crack it, but it doesn't separate. You need to keep at it, hitting it again in the same spot or just try and wrestle it.
Burns hot, low ash etc etc.
There is a reason Stihl lists different bar oil pumps for chainsaws in Aus and we have no requirement to use environmentally friendly oil. They just dont work in rock hard wood and 40+ deg c temps.

I only went cutting today as it was cool and overcast, threatening to rain.
The saws have now been retired for the summer.

I would be interested to see a BTU chart as well.

We have a lot of Ironbark which is a super heavy, dense, hard red wood. Burns so hot and long its not funny

yellow box is a bugger to split too but I prefer to burn iron bark because of the amount of heat it throws out



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Brewz]

You can see here how it needs to be torn apart. Splinter city!
My dad said he struggled to split it with his hydraulic splitter

Burns good though!

 

[benp]

Holy cow that's stringy!!! I imagine it's a pain in a hydraulic splitter.

I guess I would be a noodling fool.

 

[Brewz]

I currently have my 039 in bits on the workshop bench, so with some cooler weather today, I took my 066 out to give it a tune up after a carb rebuild, and also test out some Stihl full chisel 404 chain on a 25" bar. in some hard timber.

Now before all the anti 404 crusaders break out in full song, the saw came with a near new Stihl 25" 404 .063 bar. After searching here and reading all the boo hoo saying it was slow and pointless and 3/8 was faster, I went and bought a new loop at the local Stihl shop to give it a go.

Well bugger me its awesome!

I found a fallen 10" thick Ironbark which is the hardest wood I can get my hands on. Shame it wasnt bigger but beggars cant be choosers.
The 404 chain went through this stuff in 3 to 4 seconds max.
It ate the hard wood like it was wet paper, It touched the dirt a couple times, went through the bottom part full of wet rotten dirt and much and never lost its edge.
Its tough chain!

Now I recon the person who named this stuff was trying to split it at the time. Its just 10" round but can take several full power swings with a sharp heavy log splitter to crack it. Its heartbreaking stuff.
You get a full arc swing at full speed, and the bloody splitter hits the wood and just bounces off, leaving a dint to aim for next swing.
Some bits crack easy, some bits test you and you have to really muster some anger to get it to crack.

But....... it is a red wood that burns long and hot. Its very dense, heavy and is the ultimate firewood if you can get it.






Thats about 2/3 of it split....... the rest is stacked in the shed on top of a pile of Stringy bark.

This is when the best bit happens. The smell!

I grew up cutting this stuff with my dad to use for posts to build sheds, fence posts, and for firewood.
The smell it puts out when you split it is distinctive and just plain gorgeous. Its sweet and strong and needs to be smelt to be appreciated. The fellow Aussies on here will know what I am talking about.
My wife came out to see my hard work and said........ Oh wow..... smell it!
My kids came out and had a sniff of the timber. I told then that is one of the most Australian smells that most people just don't get to experience.

You can see the deep red of the timber on the bits that are wet after I hosed up the mess after splitting it.

 

[czar800]

Good reading! And neat to see the other side of the world!