Blue Gum - scrounge and pics

Another easy scrounge on my way home last night. A very dense Blue Gum. ~ 977 gsm 20% higher than oak.

Its probably the most dense wood we have in this part of Australia. I will use these to fill my overspill area.

I find it a lot easier to find free wood when its in the 90's no-one else wants it

This ones not too bad as long as you split before it dries out. I will use the hydrolics on this one when I get a couple more loads to make it worth while.

The rounds were very heavy and solid. They will be good burning in 3 years time

Wood Duck said:

In Australia gums are usually Eucalyptus,

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Yes all ours 'gums' are eucalyptus - there are over 700 types and I'm still learning a couple of them... some split nice and easy but some of the others are practically impossible without sledge and wedges. Before i bought the hydraulic splitter i had to be a bit selective which wood i collected as i ended up with a huge pile of 'to be done later' rounds that were too hard with the fiskars. That all changed with the hydraulics i take pretty much everything.

kennyp2339 said:

nice and cold up here in the Northeast again

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I have been watching the weather over there and it does look cold. although i don't think it looks as bad as last year? How's the wood stack lasting? will you guys have enough to last? We have had a mild summer so far. In fact the fire has been lit a couple of nights a few weeks ago.

Blue gum is one of the better firewood.

Yes I like the splitter too it makes light work of all the wood I scrounge. I still like splitting by hand if I have the time.

It looks like I have just run out of room and I am waiting to start burning again to make some space. I have collected a few ute fulls which will just have to wait a couple of months

Apprentice_GM said:

Hey Auzzie next time you get a big bluegum tree (>600mm diameter / 24") can you buck a 24" long round off it and split it by hand?

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I will give it a go - i don't get much bluegum and since i have the hydraulics, anything that doesn't split in a couple of swings goes on the 'too hard pile'. What i have noticed there can be differences within the same species ie it can sometimes depend on how open the area is where the tree stood, and if it was open to excessive wind. this seems to cause the grain to spiral around the tree and therefore when you try to split it, it just laughs at you.

The olny way i do the big rounds is to start at the edge and work my way around. I never try to split the round in half, its just a waste of energy. When i first started i always tried to split it in half but then i read on here somewhere to start at the edge and work your around the large round. Doesn't always work......

It doesn't seem to make much difference in the size of the rounds more on the grain pattern. I think this one took a couple of swings - the more accurate you are with the fiskars the better. I couldn't lift this in to the Ute so had to split it smaller...

SawdustSA said:

I usually noodle those rounds in half and leave it for a day or 3.

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I would try that next time - but I'm an opportunist scrounger usually on my way home form work and the only tool i have to hand is the Fiskars.....