Q&A Eucalyptus Firewood

Question:

I have a question about firewood. I live in Southern California where eucalyptus and avvocado are plentiful. Are these considered hard or soft woods, and how do you rate them as compared to the list that you have at: http://hearth.com/what/heatvalues.html





Answer:

Eucalyptus is a very hard wood with a very high volitile gas (oil) content. It can only be easily split when green. Once dried, it is very hard to split due to the twisted grain. Eucalyptus takes up to two seasons to season...or at least one long one ie February to September split and cross stacked. I have seen many chimney fires as a result of poorly seasoned Eucalyptus burned in a controlled combustion woodstove operated on low. I have also seen damaged heavy plate steel and cast stoves from consistent overfired operation of seasoned Eucalyptus. I suggest a mixed load of fuel with a less dense wood that will provide "light off" for the volitile gas. Avacado wood is a fruit wood, medium density with probably 18 to 20,000,000 BTU per cord. Burns pretty well when dry...but once again it is imperitive to season the fuel well prior to combustion.