This jarrah tree had been standing as a dead tree for many years.
About 10 years ago, a number of possums suddenly moved in to our ceiling and the tree fell over a week later.
At the time, I started to cut off the large root system (shallow on to rock but wide spread) in order to see if the timber was millable.
My chainsaw was too small to let me finish the job so the log has lain in contact with the ground ever since then.
I commented on this when Ian was visiting and we suddenly had a burst of energy to do something about it.
I was pretty sure that it would be rotted through and unusable after all this time.
Also - there was a major crack where the trunk had hit the ground and it needed to be severed at this point and the faces cleaned up.
Ian did a great job cutting off the large root system with his chainsaw and then, using his excavator, moving the logs around so that they were idealy positioned for milling.
The timber was in better condition than I expected. There are a number of radial cracks that might still thwart my plans but seeing I need only fairly short lengths (1 metre by 250 mm by 50 mm) I might still be in luck.
If I am really lucky I would also like to mill out some stringers and 90 mm posts - but I think this is unlikely.
The small log has a real bend in it and its reverse side is very rough from where a large branch must have torn out of the trunk many years ago.
The larger log (fatter) is 4670 mm long
with diameter at root system end of 1030 mm and diameter at other face of 890.
The smaller log (thinner) is 4800 mm long
with a diameter of 690 at one end and the other end still rough and not measurable.
Although the thinner log has a signficant curve there is still a section (not easily seen in the photographs) that could potentially be milled to yield at least 1m planks.
