Now, I was always told, as far back as I can remember, you can't burn wattle in your fireplace. And until this year I've followed that advice. The story is that it contains a lot of creosote and it will block your chimney.
Well I've had to clear a lot of dead black wattle in the last couple of years and until now I've thrown it on the burning piles. But at some point last year or this I looked at the logs, after stripping off the dead black bark, and thought to myself, this looks like good clean timber to me. So I started burning it in small logs or split pieces as an open fire while I have breakfast. It's beautiful. I think whatever oil they contain leeches out into the bark, which of course turns jet black when they die and dry out. So waste not want not. I used to know a bloke who did wood turning as a hobby. He came here and got various timbers at one time - silky oak, fruitwood AND black wattle. And he made various bits & pieces for us including a nice little bowl out of black wattle. I had a look at it just now. Lovely piece of work.
