# Eucalyptus turning



## Mr. G (Nov 9, 2011)

Is eucalyptus OK to turn. Like for bowls?:glare:


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/eucalyptus.htm

Well, Woodcraft sells it for that purpose so I don't see why not.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I think most wood species are possible to turn into bowls. The denser species will be harder than the less dense.

I think eucalyptus is somewhat soft. I picked up a board at Woodcraft, seemed relatively light.

A given board may not be amenable for turning, e.g., if spalting caused the wood to be too soft. Some wild grain pieces can be unstable when turned.

So if your boards look to have consistent grain, no voids, or voids are filled with epoxy, you should be able to make a bowl.

You may need to glue several pieces together to get a bowl blank. I do not recall seeing eucalyptus blanks, but I have not searched.

If you want to get higher yield from the boards, you can make the blank from several rings where each ring is made up from 6 or more segments.

Look for OldMacNut posts on this forum for examples.


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## jlmarta (Jul 29, 2012)

Dave Paine said:


> I think eucalyptus is somewhat soft. I picked up a board at Woodcraft, seemed relatively light.


If you think eucalyptus is soft, try splitting a piece for firewood after it's dry. LOL


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## Butch Marley (May 2, 2007)

Mr. G,

I live in the central valley of California. Eucalyptus is every where. And very easy to come by. It is best to turn green. And the sooner the better. After it dries it is very hard. If you get a chance get Red Eucalyptus. The grain is fantastic, but it is hard when it dries.
Good luck


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## hughie (Mar 22, 2008)

There probably over 300 species of Eucalypts and most are only good for firewood as they split and twist as the dry making them useless for anything. 
If you have access just cut it up and seal the endgrain and see how it goes. If expect a high failure rate you wnt be disappointed. :smile:

Dont be fooled by the lightness if its long dead it will be light and tough.


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## Catalina (Jun 11, 2010)

The Ironbark tree is a type of Eucalyptus and it can be found to my knowledge in at least the red, black and gray varieties. I am currently turning chess pieces out of old insultimbers (electric fence posts sold by Gahliger fencing), and this stuff is incredible. From what I could find out they use the red ironbark for this as it is VERY DENSE, rot resistant and has great electrical insultative properties ( poorly absorbs water due to its density, so its a poor conductor of electricity). This stuff has absolutley beautiful grain and will friction polish very well. The sharpness of lathe tools I would be satisfied with when turning seasoned domestic woods like maple, walnut, oak, cherry aren't quite sharp enough. With the chess pieces made from this stuff, I would have prefered all carbide tools but don't have them so i spend the extra time on the regular tool steel to get it beyond normal sharpness. If not, I will/would be using a lot of sandpaper than normal, lol. When down I'll post some pictures!


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