Pizza Variables - Wood

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Wood pile expanding ... more and more...

[cobblerdave]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Dear Rossco
Have added 1/2 mtr of green hardwood to the stack as neighbour took out a small tree. Bit worried as the next neighbour has just dumped some firewood keep for a BBQ due to Termite attack! There a danger in QLD so I'm a bit "gunshy" as I have had them in my yard myself.

Regards Dave

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Hi Dave - quite a bit of the very dry wood that I collected was full of termites. I just store it away from the house and don't really bother about them too much because they are everywhere. Once the wood is split the light normally chases the termites away and they look for another home. I shook the wood and killed most of them that had fallen on the floor just to reduce the numbers that went back into the wild. I would say - burn 'em!!

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Red/Yellow Box????

Anyone using Red or Yellow Box for their WFO? It is more a QLD tree than WA I am told but there does seen to be a fair bit floating around here. I was given some 8 year old seasoned Red Box recently and it nearly killed by log splitter as it was like iron. I eventually used a cold chisel and sledge hammer to split it in half and only then the log splitter could handle it. The pieces seem to burn forever in the WFO and made quite a good coal.

Interested to hear comments from anyone who has used this wood - particularly how they would rate it compared to other Eucalypts like White Gum and Jarrah.

BTW - I now am inundated with wood and probably have enough for about 3 years worth of WFO burns.

[bimbo]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

I have been buying my wood locally from a firewood supplier. Previous loads have been a mix of Iron Bark, Redgum and Yellow Box. All of these seem to burn really well but being quite a dense hardwood (like most aussie hardwoors) I have fond I need to split it down into fairly slamm bits to get to burn fast enough to not take hours to heat the oven up.

The last load I got was 2 cubic meters of Ironbark so i will see how that goes. The wood I get is really dry but have found that if i load a stack of wood into the oven the morning after a pizza night and pull it out just before the next time i use the oven it ignites and burns so easily and much cleaner and makes it much easier to get a good flame when baking pizzas - this would also be a good option for you guys who are collecting greener timbers.

I also found that I think it was the redgum is so bloody hard to split with an axe. I literally had the axe bounce off and barely make logs I have tried to split. The only way to split it by hand is to cut in the same rirection as the rings in the timber.

Cheers
James

[cobblerdave]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

hi guys
On "Box wood" now I'm trusting my memories on this but Yellow box is found west of the ranges from Vic up into QLD. they call it "Box" because the white ants attack the Heart wood in the middle of the log leaving it hollow. You used to see Watering troughs on old properties made from a log split in two with tin nailed to the ends. It was prized wood for wood stoves when I was a kid because it not only burnt well if the white ants can't eat it it must be hard. It was also easy to split no heart ment you could split it radially with no probs.
Iron bark now that was a different wood real wavey grain that wouldn't split in one blow me mum loved it burnt well but a real @*&5$% to cut. Now if you were really hard up for wood you could try old iron bark sleepers. Looked rotten but so hard no saw blade would cut it into lengths it was so hard it would draw the temper from the blade. you were forced to break it into small widths longways with a hammer and wedges and then break into lenghts that would fit the oven.
I can feel my back ach just thinking of it might by one of those log splitter thing they sound better and better.

Regads dave
PS Please read termites for white ants Aussie term

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Hi Dave - thanks for this update. Interesting to hear how the Box got its name. There are definite signs of termite infestation in some of the wood. Maybe I will post a pic to determine what wood is. It has a strong pink colour and is as hard as can be.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Hi Rossco
You guys in the west have the hardest hardwood Jarrah how does that stuff burn?
Regards Dave

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

Hi Dave,

Jarrah is 3rd on the list of preferred woods here based on hardness - so I am told.

1. Mallee roots
2. Wandoo (White Gum)
3. Jarrah.

Actually I find that 1 & 2 actually get a bit too hot at times - even for pizza so I usually throw quick burners like peppermint in to give flare without the intense heat. That being said, Jarrah is used by plenty of restaurants in Perth and it is much cheaper so well worth considering.

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

There is a bulk rubbish collection in the area shortly and this morning I saw a nice stack of wood on someone's front lawn. I popped out at lunch time with my chainsaw and filled the car up with all I could carry and took it home.

This evening I pulled out the log splitter and was amazed that it had no effect on the new wood at all. The wood had a very dense texture and a deep red grain. This was the legendary Red Box!

I eventually had to use the chainsaw to cut it into thinnish slices then cut those in half again to weaken the grain before the splitter could do it's thing. The upside of this is that the blocks of wood will burn for hours - but it is certainly making me work for that benefit. Will take a few pics of the wood tomorrow.

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

I finally finished processing the Red Box wood.

I had to do it in two stages. Firstly I cut it into stove lengths and then let the logs sit in the sun to dry out in preparation for splitting.

The wood is extremely hard and resisted splitting throughout the process. Even when split with the hydraulic splitter, it didn't split cleanly along the grain but small chunks of the logs split off and had to be reworked several times to split it in half.

Some logs absolutely refused to be split at all and I had to slice them up into pie shape pieces suitable for the WFO using the chainsaw.

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Variables - Wood

The wood pile keeps on getting bigger...

Had a friend drop off a load of Red Box on Friday and I have processed about half of it. It is incredible wood - burns for hours, little smoke and ash and makes a good coal.

Just wondering where the other folk from Perth are getting their supplies from these days?