Eucalyptus bush - potential like fatwood?

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Bushman5

Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
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Eucalyptus bush! i know you Californians get some spectactular and dealdy fires fuelled by this plant/bush.

qoute from wiki:

fire

On warm days vapourised eucalyptus oil rises above the bush to create the characteristic distant blue haze of the Australian landscape. Eucalyptus oil is highly flammable (trees have been known to explode[4][7]) and bush fires can travel easily through the oil-rich air of the tree crowns. The dead bark and fallen branches are also flammable. Eucalypts are well adapted for periodic fires via lignotubers and epicormic buds under the bark.
Eucalyptus forest in a state of regeneration

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anyone have access to Eucalyptus??? can you cut a bunch of pieces and try them out like you would fatwood? (or has anyone done this?)

:thumbup:

< resident BF pyromaniac
 
I haven't tried fat wood the only pines I come across are plantation pines.
Gum shavings ( using a pencil sharpener) will light from a Swedish fire steel easily. It certainly doesn't burn with that fierce resin splutter you blokes seem to get from fatwood.
nearlyperfecttinder.jpg

http://www.laventrix.com/showthread.php?t=1220
But I'll have a look when I find a dead stump. We have had a pretty good drought for the last five years. So things are pretty dry.
The resin does burn quiet well but I haven't tried to light it from a Spark.
Carl
 
The oil is mostly in the leaves then the actual tree trunk.. It actualy wont burn that easy. Another use for Eucalyptus is to drain the swamp land.. It would store more more water in the trunk then most other trees. I did try to burn it a long time ago and it didnt want to catch fire easy. Dry they burn good so a strong blaze in the area would dry them up and keep the fire going...

Sasha
 
G'day Bushman

Bushman5 said:
anyone have access to Eucalyptus??? can you cut a bunch of pieces and try them out like you would fatwood? (or has anyone done this?)
Click to expand...

I've got access to Eucalypts :D

I can't say I have ever noticed eucalypts to concentrate resin in stumps like I've read your pines do. As Warrigal has already pointed out, thin shavings of the wood will light from the sparks of a firesteel.

Unfortunately most of the plantation pines in my area are radiata, which don't appear to be as resinous as your pines. Pity 'cause I'd like to give this fatwood a try :D

As an interesting side note, the sap of our Eucalypts have been used by our indigenous peoples for thousands of years as an antiseptic to treat sores & cuts. Inhaling Eucalyptus oil (extract it by boiling up fresh leaves with water) helps clear the nose :thumbup:

Hope this helps.



Kind regards
Mick
 
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I can remember a slightly spooky sensation walking down suburban streets in San Diego and LA when I lived over there. 'These trees are just like the ones from home' I thought.

Later I found out that they are exactly the ones from home - transported to California from Western Australia in the 1850's.

Yep - fire starting is not a hugely difficult survival skill in most parts of Oz. Fire stopping on the other hand......
 
Dead right Ming, never had trouble lighting a fire ( although its been raining for three days here now, for the rest of the world that is unusual for here)
Enough water now thats a whole 'nother ball game.
Carl
 
warrigal said:
Dead right Ming, never had trouble lighting a fire ( although its been raining for three days here now, for the rest of the world that is unusual for here)
Enough water now thats a whole 'nother ball game.
Carl
Click to expand...

Hey Warrigal - how is it over there i te State of Emergency? Sounds like you all copped a pasting in the last few days.

Speaking of tinder - we always used the leaves/bark from the balga (it used to be called the blackboy) tree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthorrhoea.

The resin is also pretty flammible.

I haven't seen too many of them on the East Coast - but they are very common in the west.

and yes - agreed that is the biggest difference in bushcraft beween us and out N American cousins. They are obsessed with chopping wood and keeping warm. We are obsessed with finding water.
 
anyone have access to Eucalyptus?

It isn't native to Brazil but we have it everywhere as a species introduced as part of the charcoal industry. It tends to grow in areas that have been cultivated at one point so you don't find it in the bush so much. Mac
 
G'day Ming I have been known to winge that I can watch the storms/rain come in from the West and then see it scoot around either side of our place. Location wise I can see the runways of RAAF Amberleyfrom my back door.
However that same geographical feature that causes the rain to slip around me also means I missed the worst of the storms. Having said that we got 160mms on Tues night in four hours ( between 2300hrs and 0300hrs)
Nick who frequents here and Laventrix.com His parents are at the "the Gap" ( the suburb that copped the worst.) Lost most their roof and then with the downpour they had a lot of damage.
We Had quiet a bit of water downstairs ( our place is highset) but no damage.
Thanks for asking.
Carl
P.S. I use blackboy stems for friction firelighting spindles.
 
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