Eucalyptus, acaccia in Berkeley

[Doug T]

Hey,
Living near enough to Berkeley to keep up a little with its politics, I noticed a bit about the eucalyptus removal. The first link is about an earlier project and the second about the current controversy. Having grown up around and worked on the campus, the eucalyptus and acaccia are a problem. However they approach removing the trees should be thoughtful at least, but if they ever want to restore the hills to a somewhat native state, those trees gotta go. Well, seems in 2004 the timber was used for all sorts of stuff, erosion control, trail use, animal habitat, that sorta stuff, but I see no mention of that anywhere for the current project. I'd hope that UC Berkeley would offer this material to local artisans, and why not some to the woodshop (it is a nice one) for students who can't afford to buy the lumber required in the design classes. It would be really cool to see some guitars and ukes made from this material. In any event, with all the lumber recovery folks in the Bay Area, you'd think more would be done about using the material wisely.

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/09/21_16695.shtml

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/01/BAJE15J...

[Bob Webster]

Have you ever handled acacia or tried to make something out of the stuff? It's horrible wood to work with. It's soft, smelly and not in the exotic way that cypress is, and has none of the properties that make it's distant cousin, Australian blackwood, even moderately acceptable for any woodworking. If it had any redeeming properties, believe me when I say that the Bezerkeley hills would be denuded of it by now and good riddance, too. About the only thing that those oily trees are good for is sustaining a good blaze, as the residents of that area have found out the very hard way.

Cheers,
Bob

[Doug T]

Bob,
My father's house is about 1 mile away from where the blaze stopped. It was horrible. Yes, eucalyptus and acacia are very funky woods, but I've made two mandolins and have heard a number of ukuleles made from California grown acacia, and I think they sound fantastic. Koa is part of the acacia family, and the wild black acacia in Berkeley and Oakland is pretty nice looking. Eucalyptus on the other hand, I have not worked with, so cannot speak to its properties, but do know that it grows radically differently here in California than it does in Australia, where it is a very hard wood. Here, it's pretty soft, but heck, I'm sure there's something it could be used for.

[Bob Webster]

You know, I'd forgotten that there was acacia there that was distinct from eucalyptus. What are the figure, color, and hardness of the acacia like? I was reacting mainly to the notion of using eucalyptus.

"I'm sure there's something it (eucalyptus) could be used for." Coffins? Fence posts? Sorry, I've got a attitude toward the stuff.

As for the fire in the Berkeley hills, that's the scariest thing I've ever seen. I used to commute between Walnut Creek and Alameda through the 24 tunnel and it was surrounded. It's absolutely incredible that it didn't hop over the top on the south side. It would have had a free shot at all of Contra Costa.

Bob

[Doug T]

Pretty horrid. It would have burned a lot more had it got to the other side of the hills. One uke in particular that used wood the builder felled in Berkeley had some amazingly striking figure. The entire thing was made of acacia, neck, bracing, top, sides, back, except for some abalone. Really punchy. As a kid I used to whittle walking sticks from a black acacia that kept growing back. All those are with friends now. The eucalyptus, I'd think it would be worth an experiment.

[Rob Mercure]

It seems like what's needed is a good identification guide to identify which Acacia species - there are almost hundreds - with varying properties. And different folks call other trees "acacia." Many years ago I was married into a Hungarian-Americal family and visited Hungary, It was spring and the hillsides were in bloom with a tree that looked quite familiar to me which the Magyar referred to ask "acach" (pronounced "a - kay - ash") which meant "acacia." But when I examined it - and then checked Hungarian sources I found that this is the US eastern "black locust" which is Pseudoacacia Robinsea (sp?). The genus is "false acacia" but they called is "acacia."

Rob

[FRANK]

let me know please I have some I was off 99 saw a tree in the road so I went home grabbed my Chain Saw and came home with some eucalyptus some figure yellow and pink center and sap wood yellow and pink also cool wood best to look for a tree that is 3 foot round for good ,material CHEERS PHB

[Doug T]

I don't think it unheard of to use these materials, my real concern though is why is it that Berkeley has not released what they plan to do with the material once it is cut. Yes it should be done gently with concern to the surrounding habitat, and yes, it should be done slowly, but you'd think such an eco-minded city as Berkeley would have made some sort of press release and interesting plans to utilize it, e.g. wood to be donated to needy shop students around the bay, or, new park benches to be made of reclaimed lumber from campus. They could even commission local luthiers to make limited edition Cal guitars to be sold for charity or something, anything.

[Russell Vance]

Um, Eucalyptus is what we grow best down here in the Antipodes - it is a forest and backyard tree. Some species are used for fine furniture and in the past before Radiata Pine became available it was use for structural house framing purposes. Some of it makes (made) fine railway sleepers and dock/jetty piers and some of it makes excellent firewood.

I can see no use for any of it in fine instrument building and its difficult to glue because of the extractives etc. However, it is hard wearing and reasonably attractive for use in house building and, as said , furniture.

It is also lethal in the bushfire (wildfire) environment but has excellent recovery from fire damage and is able to grow well in dry climates.

Arcacia such as Koa/Australian blackwood (Arcacia Melanoxlyn) is an established instrument building material.

[Matt Hayden]

There's lots of acacia melanoxylon in the bay area. I floored my dining room with it, and larger billets have become backs and sides of a couple of small instruments. It's not bad stuff, although it's tough and resilient, hard to bend.

[Jay Gordon]

Well...acacia melanoxyln is what Australian Blackwood. is..Very very nice material for guitar backs and sides. Grab it if you can...

[Russell Vance]

Just a quick bit of background regards Australian Blackwood - during a recent visit to Tasmania (where most of the Blackwood in Australia is grown) on a wood buying trip we saw the following things: Tasmania is being devastated by indiscriminate logging and a burgeoning woodchip hardwood plantation industry.

The governments, both local and federal, have sold our heritage forests down the river (both literally and figuratively speaking) for the sake of capturing marginal votes in this economically disadvantaged state. The destruction of the forest is a forgone conclusion and Blackwood will (after all the concealed previously felled trees are gone) become rare. Harvesting of old stumps is proving useful in keeping supplies of dense/figured wood available but this can only go on for so long. A couple of wood yards specialize in this timber and horde the good stuff to send occasional shipments to people like LMI - Obtaining reliable quality supplies in this country is near impossible - if you see it at LMI or similar and like it, I suggest you buy it as it ain't going to be around much longer the way we are going. Sad, but true stuff.