Eucalypzus

[swissie]

Prices for Eucalyptus are subject to market forces. At this time they seem to be a bit on the lower end in Thailand. But this is not rally the point.

This question is adressed to "Aussies".

Eucalyptus trees are the most common trees in Australia. When I used to live in the US, States like Oregon and Washington used to "Auction-Off" certain aeres of Gouvernement-Land for "wood-harvesting."

Something similar in Australia, as far as Eucalyptus is concerned ?

Of course I could plow through all kinds of internet sub-links within the Australian Departement of Agriculture and Forestry Website. (And get lost on the way). But since I know, that the "Aussie" Population is quite substantial in Thailand, I might just get a clearer and faster answer as far as this subject is concerned, instead of plowing through "official websites".

If I get a satisfactory answer to this, I promess, I will (at festive occasions) sing "waltzing mathilda" instead of my national-anthem. All in good humor. Cheers.

[WatersEdge]

Good on ya' Mate

Go chop out some gums!

OK, so I'm not an Aussie.

and I'm not a very convincing liar either

Yank as I can be,

but if America keeps crashing itself into the heap,

and Australia looks after its self interests a bit better

I might be convinced to convert.

Enough banter

If you are looking for massive reserves of Eucalyptus cheap maybe free for the cutting

may I recommend Angola....that's right SW corner of big old scary Africa

Moving northwest up from the Cape,

South Africa

Namibia (SW Africa)

Angola

Congo x 2

there's your geography lesson of the morning

Back when Portugal colonized the wild lands,

there was a huge swamp right where they wanted a railroad

They slashed a 2 km wide strip from the swamp,

planting Eucalyptus as they went.

Let a few years pass, the swamp is now a considerably dried mass of solid Eucalyptus root

This was in the day when steam locomotives pulled trains.

And guess what?

They had 1000 meters either side of the railway,

from which to cut more boiler fuel than they could possibly burn.

The story comes from a college classmate Osvaldo Rodrigues who grew up there.

By his account Angola was the most exciting place the world has to offer.

More hunting than they could shoot, always a market for the meat so nothing went to waste

Diamonds, Mercedes Benz, Living smart among constant African death and destruction

I have to wonder how they ever got work done

with all the fun to distract them.

They are hard working hard playing folks who I miss nowadays.

Betcha that strip of Eucalyptus is still there,

and there might even be a railroad right down the middle of it.

Want to hire me to travel to Angola to chip it and get it to seaport?

Is that where this is headed?

[swissie]

Good on ya' Mate

Go chop out some gums!

OK, so I'm not an Aussie.

and I'm not a very convincing liar either

Yank as I can be,

but if America keeps crashing itself into the heap,

and Australia looks after its self interests a bit better

I might be convinced to convert.

Enough banter

If you are looking for massive reserves of Eucalyptus cheap maybe free for the cutting

may I recommend Angola....that's right SW corner of big old scary Africa

Moving northwest up from the Cape,

South Africa

Namibia (SW Africa)

Angola

Congo x 2

there's your geography lesson of the morning

Back when Portugal colonized the wild lands,

there was a huge swamp right where they wanted a railroad

They slashed a 2 km wide strip from the swamp,

planting Eucalyptus as they went.

Let a few years pass, the swamp is now a considerably dried mass of solid Eucalyptus root

This was in the day when steam locomotives pulled trains.

And guess what?

They had 1000 meters either side of the railway,

from which to cut more boiler fuel than they could possibly burn.

The story comes from a college classmate Osvaldo Rodrigues who grew up there.

By his account Angola was the most exciting place the world has to offer.

More hunting than they could shoot, always a market for the meat so nothing went to waste

Diamonds, Mercedes Benz, Living smart among constant African death and destruction

I have to wonder how they ever got work done

with all the fun to distract them.

They are hard working hard playing folks who I miss nowadays.

Betcha that strip of Eucalyptus is still there,

and there might even be a railroad right down the middle of it.

Want to hire me to travel to Angola to chip it and get it to seaport?

Is that where this is headed?

Hi watersedge,

yes, the idea would be to chop it down for export. But Angola is just too far away from major (asian) markets. Transportation would be too expensive. Even the Australian - Version could only work, if the "harvesting-fee" is very modest and the aerea would have to be in the "Northern Territory" or in the North-West. Even under the best of circumstances, some serious "figuring" would have to be done. The harvesting alone will take a major effort (also financially) plus transportation !

Anyway, I will check-out this matter. Cheers.

[tim armstrong]

Swissie,

We've been trying to get rid of eucyalptus for 200 years now. Job is almost done. But bugger, some boffin has discovered that fewer trees means less water.

So most state governments are a bit more wary about large scale chopping, and its a very sensitive political and environmental issue. Only a few varieties of eucalyptus are suitable for buildings or furniture , as the grain is not very straight.

So not sure about this one . But goanna oil on the other hand has huge possibilities, as others will tell you !

[WatersEdge]

Hi Swissie,

Thanks to Google Earth we can run a path,

and then read the measurement.

The shortest distance on a sphere is an arc,

so we will leave the great circle distances to the actual navigators,

but I get 15,500 km from Bangkok to Luanda Angola,

by way of straight shot sea.

While Bangkok to Darwin is 4,900 km

You didn't say where you want the chips to land,

I assume not Bangkok, so these figures are just rough comparison.

I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at the freight rates on a 60,000 ton bulk freighter.

Even the 25,000 ton ships are worth a look.

With boats like that, it's all local.

The issue in Africa is that everything free or cheap is still more trouble than it's worth.

Whatever looks straightforward has certain kinks.

The other direction to consider is to partially process the raw material where it is chipped

so as to reduce the weight requiring transport.

Lignin stripping of wood chips to paper pulp for instance.

Torrefication of wood chips to much higher quality boiler fuel.

We don't know the end use of the chips,

so I mention the two logical ones that come to mind.

In either case, I'd certainly look at a dry kiln before it leaves the forest zone.

No point in hauling water to sea...there's plenty where you are going.

Oh yes...and Eucalyptus MUST be chipped green,

as it becomes hard as a rock in the dry log.

Dry eucalyptus will trash a perfectly good saw chain, just like hickory or black locust.

Some trees must be logged and processed green.