Eucalyptus Firewood

[Mick F]

Just a quick shot of a spit-off chunk off the fireplace.
You can see the growth rings, and how the outer rings have been darkened by the tree being ringed and dying.
All of the tree-trunk (when cut) shows the dark latter five or six years.

[francovendee]

When I have to deal with a large tree that is heavy and too big to move I dig under the tree where I want to cut. This way it's safe and the blade of the saw keeps off the ground. I've never cut eucalyptus so don't know if it would work for such dense and heavy wood.

[Mick F]

Yes, never had to deal with such a heavy tree as this before, or even as big.

Weather has cheered up now, and the forecast is for dry and sun tomorrow, so I could get out and check the ways to lift the bugger .......................... but then, a bike ride could be on the cards instead.

[pwa]

I don't know if you can find a way of doing it, but sometimes it is possible to get a car jack to lift fallen tree trunks. There are a few issues to overcome in order to be able to do this. Firstly, you need to be able to get the jack under one end, which might involve digging. Secondly, the jack needs to be sat on a very firm surface so that it doesn't simply embed itself in the ground as you try to extend it. And thirdly, there has to be room to use the handle.

Obviously, when moving big timber you want to make sure it doesn't roll in your direction!

[Mick F]

It's on a steep slope and lying horizontally across, and since I cut off all the branches, it's rolled down and is held back by a big pine tree, so there's no danger of it slipping away.

Yes, I could dig in under and use a plank as a load-bearer to wheel the trolley jack under.
Cycling this morning - off out soon - so it will have to wait until tomorrow. It'll need some tentative investigations first.

The whole area is overgrown with weeds and thick undergrowth, so it'll need clearing to some degree. The tree is down in next door's land, but they are happy for me to do anything I want. They never use that part of their land anyway.

[PDQ Mobile]

"Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum near enough and I'll move the world", said Aristotle!

If you can then get something under it near the halfway point then cutting multiple sections is easy and quick- with one end clear of the ground
Or cut in half and halve the wieght.

Sometimes cutting 7/8ths though and rolling over to finish is possible -pinching the saw is the main deliberate mistake!
12" is not such a big tree.
Half the weight is water!!

[Jdsk]

"Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum near enough and I'll move the world", said Aristotle!

Archimedes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes#Lever
https://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archi ... uotes.html

But I see that the web has multiple attributions to Aristotle. I don't remember ever reading or hearing that previously. Aristotle did discuss levers, but i don't think there's anything close to that aphorism.

Jonathan

[PDQ Mobile]

"Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum near enough and I'll move the world", said Aristotle!

Archimedes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes#Lever
https://www.math.nyu.edu/~crorres/Archi ... uotes.html

But I see that the web has multiple attributions to Aristotle. I don't remember ever reading or hearing that previously. Aristotle did discuss levers, but i don't think there's anything close to that aphorism.

Jonathan

I simply attributed it to someone else, to avoid giving the impression of being "up oneself"!

Popeye would have done.

[thirdcrank]

Popeye would have done.

Would have done what? Eaten a tin of spinach and ripped the trees up with his bare hands?

[PDQ Mobile]

Popeye would have done.

Would have done what? Eaten a tin of spinach and ripped the trees up with his bare hands?

Exactly.

[thirdcrank]

I would have suggested MickF should try that but I remember hearing somewhere that seamen don't like being addressed as sailor.

[PDQ Mobile]

I would have suggested MickF should try that but I remember hearing somewhere that seamen don't like being addressed as sailor.

Oh really?
I quite like it.
Especially preceded by "Hello"!

[Mick F]

Our Border Collie is called Sailor.
Nearly everyone we meet says to him, "Hello Sailor!"

The position the trunk is in, will not allow it to roll. It's on a steep slope horizontally and hard against a pine tree.
All I can do - I think - is to dig under it and try to fit a trolley jack.

Tomorrow morning's job, or at least to asses the idea.
Watch this space for photos and my ideas.

Over and out as it time for tea!

[Mick F]

Just come in from the Eucalyptus .................

Some photos to show the issue.
I found a place midway along the trunk about four yards from either end, where the ONLY place that I could even get into was.
Managed to get the scaffold pole through, but even on the end of it, I was bending the pole and the trunk never even budged at all.

Next idea is to get the trolley jack under the pole near the trunk. Wish me luck, but if that doesn't shift it, it's the only place to saw through, and then the back end will be unsupported and could very well run away down the STEEP hill. There's nothing really to stop it, unless it hits another tree, or our next door neighbours house. As it's the only place to cut through, I doubt I could get a rope round it to secure it.

Back later with the results of the trolley jack experiment.

[Mick F]

Who's a clever boy then?

Managed to get the jack under the only place possible ............. right in the middle.
It's a 2T jack which has done sterling service over the years of working on various cars, engines, gearboxes, and lifting up the complete front ends of cars.

I pumped away, and to be absolutely honest, I reckon that the jack was lifting its limit. The handle was very difficult to pump, far more difficult than lifting a 1966 Humber Sceptre!

By lifting it (the log, not the Sceptre) I was able to get the pole under the smaller end of the log and manually lift. I wedged the pole against an adjacent tree and removed the jack. Then was able to get the jack under near the pole, and jacked up there, and then slotted a concrete block underneath and removed the jack and the pole. The log is now two or three inches off the ground at that end.

Photos. Self evident.
First one is before I started so you can see the position of it.
The last one is of the last cuts I did. You can see the trouble I had and the marks from the soil and the stones.