Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

[heliman]

Bulk green collection in my area recently yielded some superb firewood - split with my new 33 T log splitter... pics to follow....

[heliman]

Here is the new beast - 33 T with 9.5 HP Kohler. Splits ANYTHING thrown at it - even Malee Root and Tuart. Highly recommended, even if a bit pricey...

[heliman]

I struck it lucky this morning - found a load of White Gum tossed out during the "green" rubbish collection. Will dry it for a few weeks then send it through the new 33T mega splitter.

Always plenty going for free... but you have to be quick as there are so many people chasing wood - unlike the old days 15 years ago when I was the only one in the neighbourhood with a wood oven...

[BrendanLovesPizza]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

The shorter you cut your lengths the easier it is to split.

Not if you have a 20 tonne splitter. I hired one and bingo. Split about 5 tonne of wood in 8 hours. Long lengths too. Pretty well killed me though! I got two fireplaces so it gets used pretty quick. You can get firewood from any arborist. And quality hardwood if you are prepared to wait. Its absolutely free, environmentally sound as it would only be chipped anyway. All you have to do is split it, and let it mature. Never understand why people buy split wood. Its around $160 per tonne.

[david s]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

The shorter you cut your lengths the easier it is to split.

[charliel7l7]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Here is a shot of the firewood wall I designed and built over a couple weekends. It serves 2 purposes, one to store wood and two to cover a rather old shagged out fence. This part of the yard was a grown over nasty assed garden full of spiders and blue tongues. I relocated the lizards and the spiders are probably living in my firewood wall now. The wood oven is to the right of the shot under a newly built verandah. Was a lot of hard work - but I can say after a couple suckling pigs, hundreds of pizzas, paellas and roasts it was well worth it. A staff member of mine has access to 1000 acres of blackwood, stringy bark and other assorted gum on a farm in the Adelaide Hills - so the wall is always full!

[Bacterium]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Last month was out with my old man cutting some timber. He had his "toy" saw out .....not his 4ft monster that think is scary specially when your dealing with a "widow maker" which is still standing.

I think the stuff we got was peppermint gum as well. Got 2 trailers loads, stripped most of the bark and and stacked it away to dry.

He woodturns a lot of redgum which would have been preferred but this stuff was dry, mostly off the ground - easy pickings.

He commented how its not as good but definitely less ash than the red gum.

[david s]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Doug,
I fitted a pair of Ironman load plus springs to my one (what a joke) ton ute. Took around 20 mins to fit and makes an incredible difference to the handling both unloaded and loaded. Well worth the $125 price.
Dave

[david s]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Wow that stuff is perfect !

[cus]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Thanks all for the responses. I do have a lot of this peppermint stuff so will keep using it. I have also just found some old red gum in the wood pile.

My new infrared thermometer (up to 700oC) was just delivered so I can take some better measurements of temp and experiment a bit with amounts and types of wood at different stages....

Plan on a pig leg roast for mothers day tomorrow so see how we go!

Thanks

Cus.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Hi all,
I'm new to all this, have cooked in my oven only twice now....

I have been using peppermint gum which I cut up at the families farm in strathbogie. Has sat for over 12 months in the farm shed. It's seems to be fine but I have nothing to compare it too... Any thoughts?

Thanks
Marcus

Gudday
A constant dry supply of wood ...recon thats ticks a few boxes. If it is little lite perhaps consider using it to heat the oven and finish the cooking stage with somthing a little hotter

Regards Dave

[heliman]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Hi all,

I have been using peppermint gum ....

I use peppermint for "flame" in the oven - and on occasion have even used a fair amount of it to make a bed of coals. Not a long burning wood though so depending on your application it may or may not be suitable. Worth using though nonetheless. Aim to get some white gum if you can. Burns well, for a long time and doesn't generate much ash...

[brickie in oz]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Peppermint is one of the softer Aus hardwoods, it will burn ok but doesnt have any real heat.
For heat you should try, wattle, box, ironbark, redgum, in descending order of heat.

[cus]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Hi all,
I'm new to all this, have cooked in my oven only twice now....

I have been using peppermint gum which I cut up at the families farm in strathbogie. Has sat for over 12 months in the farm shed. It's seems to be fine but I have nothing to compare it too... Any thoughts?

Thanks
Marcus

[heliman]

Re: Wood, wood and MORE Wood...

Lots of speculation going on around drying time of wood!

The reality is there are so many variables to contend with: type of wood, bark/no bark, size of split pieces, storage area, rainfall, average temperature, cloud cover, sun, humidity to name a few.

Fortunately in Perth many of those elements favourably influence the drying process.