bush fires

A friend was having a eucalyptus tree chopped down in his garden and offered me some of the wood for our stove. I readily accepted and drove over to collect the wood in a trailer last Summer. The wood was incredibly dense and I soon realised that I could only take a small amount on each journey otherwise the suspension on the trailer would collapse. In practice the tyres were flattened and I had to unload the trailer to pump them back up. On getting the wood home and stacking it neatly I decided to chop some up and see how well it burnt. I have a massive splitting axe with a substantial head which even when used with maximum force just bounced off the wood!!

Somewhat perplexed I left the wood until now.

It is still difficult to split and I have to use a saw but it burns incredibly well. A large log was left smouldering for 36 hours. The bark is an amazing mixture of colours and falls off easily. In the Australian bush it forms large piles of dry wood around the base of the trees and is the main reason why bush fires spread so quickly. The trees use this as part of their life cycle as the heat of the fire destroys unwanted herb layer from around the base of the tree. Many species of plant rely on the effects of smoke and heat to aid germination and the biodiversity of areas with regular bush fires appears to be higher than in other areas. The ferocious nature of bush fires is due to the natural oils in the bark.

Once lit it makes a great wood to use for heating the house.