Old Piners Logs

[wander]

I have done a bit of reading about piners and miners who wandered about Tasmania doing their thing and am always on the lookout for evidence of their passing. For some time I have been really keeping an eye out for a piners log and in February managed to find one on Granite Beach. It is a very straight piece of timber. Oddly the ends were cone shaped as I was expecting these to be square cut but I suspect this is a result of age and erosion. The tell tale as a piners log is a set of axe cut notches in one end presumably for fitting the chains or log shoe. The heart wood appeared to be rotted out but the balance looked OK. I did not look closer for various reasons the most compelling being the very large black snake that I disturbed from dozing in the grass next to the log and promptly went under the log.

The log could have come from logging operations behind the beach or been washed up. I do not know what type of timber it was.

Does anyone know more about this log (what sort of timber is it?) and are there others parked on beaches or in estuaries about the place?

I am sure there are some still parked in the various creeks and rivers used to move the logs to the coast but that is a different ball game to search and track out.

[Strider]

Unsure if you removed it, but pretty sure it's an offense to do so without a hobbywood license.

What does it smell like when you cut into it? Huon pine has a very distinctive scent.

[stepbystep]

The beaches south of Arthur River are covered with logs cut by timber workers but they all look to be Eucalyptus. 'The Huon Pine Story' is a good reference. Some of the piners would chisel their initials in the end of the log, I saw a pic of a Reg Morrison log found in the late 90's on The Sprent River and cut in The Denison in the 60's I believe.

[wander]

I did no more than run my hands over the log. Given it good condition it was in I suspect it is a Huon. It was bit heavy to take home.

A lot of the piners logs were cleaned up under special licence from Parks in recent decades. But I think that was from Cox Bight back West.

Eucalyptus does not normally float so you would assume these are from cutting local to where they are found or from a nearby shipwrecked log boat.

I have read "The Huon Pine Story" a bit of a benchmark. Just tracking down some of the references contained within, a little slow from Adelaide.

[Son of a Beach]

If the heart wood is rotted out, it is more likely to be eucalypt than huon pine. I don't think huon pine rots like that, whereas it is unusual for eucalypt to not rot through the middle once it reaches a certain age.

Huon pine has a fairly distinct grain (very fine, honey coloured when cut - even when very old). It also has a very distinct smell when cut.

[tibboh]

King Billy also has a distinct smell from the endgrain even if weathered. I walked around Lake Skinner near Snowy Sth to a still standing skeleton of a monster which looked like someone had ringbarked decades ago. I put my nose to the notch and the aroma was still unmistakable. I agree that if the log in question is rotted out its probably a eucalypt.

[Strider]

If the heart wood is rotted out, it is more likely to be eucalypt than huon pine. I don't think huon pine rots like that, whereas it is unusual for eucalypt to not rot through the middle once it reaches a certain age..

Agreed. It was this exact characteristic that made it so sought after for boat building. There are even rumours of Huon pine logs being anchored to the bottom of the sea to "save for later" in certain parts of Tas

[Son of a Beach]

The huon pine log jams on the Franklin River are amazing. Some large old tree trunkds that have clearly been dead for decades (some probably for over a hundred years by the look of them) with boulders and rubble and other logs all resting against them and on top of them. But the logs show no signs of weakening under all that huge stress including the pressure of winter river flows pushing against them.