Today's Posts

My first proper road going British bike was a 250 Ariel Arrow 2 stroke twin . If riding into a head wind it would do 60mph in forth but 65mph in third 🙂 My last British bike was a Royal Enfield 700cc Constellation with twin leading shoe front brake . I had Triumphs and BSA bikes and others in between . .

I do remember back in 1806 when I was doing my CSwhatever it was that the assessor commented that it was obvious to him I had used a saw for some time but that I had a couple of bad habits . I was undercutting a limb about a foot DIA and pushing the saw with my right thigh like you do ( or maybe you guys don't ) . He said I should keep my leg out of alignment with the bar . So I had to bend a bit more and pull it up with my arms loosing a bout 80% efficiency I thought . However I finished it his way of course . He then asked if we had been tought undercutting as he had not seen any of the other candidates doing it . I said no we hadn't . It was getting on a bit and there was a girl on the course who was struggling a bit and he asked me if I would go and help her out . So I finished some of her cutting and stacking and rasherd up the brash . As far as I can remember he passed us all .

... errrr... have you ever read your posts? Are you just drunk when you write them or high on your scuba gasses? Do you want a list of postings where you ask for personal information or the thread made up just for you so you stop spamming every other thread demanding personal information, the introduce yourself thread - made just for this reason off the back of your incessant postings.

Thought others might be interested to hear about quarter sawing an oak log last week using two Alaskan mills and a bandsaw mill. The milled timber will be for my own and a friend's use for furniture making once seasoned and my aim was to maximise the yield of book matched ray flecked heartwood boards. Didn’t realise until recently that although quarter sawn boards can have the growth rings between 90 degrees down to 45 degrees. Ray flecked boards, a feature of arts and crafts style furniture, need growth rings between 90 degrees down to 75 degrees. For the past couple of years I’d been looking for an oak log nearby, at least 30 inches diameter, about 10 feet long and straight, suitable for quarter sawing. Recently I heard of one being felled a few minutes walk from home! Tree was still living, but at the top of a steep bank and leaning over a drive way and adjacent house. So it needed to be felled. Concerned about nails in a garden tree. Also, unsure if it grew at an angle, i.e. might be reaction wood, or if the top of the bank had started to give way in recent years and it was vertical for most of it’s life, so no reaction wood? Also, a visible scar 18 feet up where a large branch had snapped off raised the risk of heart rot? Lots of reasons to dismiss it as a firewood log, but decided to mill it. The bottom 18 feet from ground level to the scar was felled in one length, at my request, It tapered from 40 inches to just over 2 feet diameter, DBH about 34 inches. Cut it into two 9 foot lengths as too heavy to move in one piece and it was lying at a step angle on the bank so not suitable for chainsaw milling where it landed after felling. Bottom section tapered from 40 inches to 30 inches, and once felled and cut to length I could see the pith was reasonably centred and no obvious defects from old branches or rot. Looked ideal! The local sawmill (only 2 miles from home) were happy for me to do some chainsaw milling at their yard, a few preparatory cuts, before final milling on their bandsaw. The bottom, largest section will be quarter sawn. Took a while to work out the best sequence of milling and after several options, the attached sketch is working so far. The chainsaw milled cuts, now completed, are bold lines, and the bandsaw cuts, still to be done, are the thin lines. TH quarter saw milling.pdf Started by rolling the log using a farm jack, so a large shake was vertical, more or less aligned with one of the proposed chainsaw cuts Then freehand trimmed the flare on both sides using a chainsaw so my Alaskan mill would fit. Then trimmed the bottom end flat and square, followed by drawing vertical, horizontal and diagonal guidelines on both ends, all meeting at the pith. Then painted both ends with 2 coats PVA. Top slab, mostly sapwood, was removed with my Alaskan mill to create a flat straight face, parallel to the pith. Then the log was milled full width through the pith. My Alaskan mill started as a small log mill with an MS171 (14 inch bar) bought years ago. Then upgraded it to an MS391 with 20 inch bar for milling, and about 10 years ago changed it into a 24inch mill using additional parts plus an MS661. This log was a good excuse to buy longer 48 inch rails, a 42 inch bar and two full skip rip chains, all from Chainsawbars. So I can now mill up to 36 inches width. Amazed how quickly the MS661 cut this average 32inch width of oak with the new set up. The top slab was raised onto wood blocks, then cut in half along the vertical guideline, again following the pith, using my Alaskan mini mill with the depth set so that it didn’t cut into the bottom section. Some lovely ray flecked figure on this cut! After rolling off the two halves of the top slab, the bottom slab was halved using the mini mill. One edge of each quarter was then freehand trimmed the full length with a chainsaw, parallel to the diagonal guidelines, so they will sit flat on the bandsaw bed with the pith parallel to the bed. So, that’s the log quartered and ready for bandsaw milling into 30mm and 40mm planks. Based on the 90 to 75 degree limits, might get as many as 16 ray flecked boards, i.e. four matched boards from each quarter. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Quite time consuming and all done alone without lifting gear which was hard going for an ‘old age pensioner’. The quarters have been pressure washed to remove moss, soil and maybe stones. Planning the band sawing in a week or so. Just need to make a ply board with 45 degree blocks to support the quarters for horizontal cuts. In the meantime the quarters are covered to keep the sun off and minimize the risk of surface checking. Will post more pictures in due course. Andrew

just a photo of a straight piped t cab lorry like nothing

Wordle 1,556 5/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I thought jobs like this get advertised for around £35k particularly down south

I had the distels with Velcro upper and lower for about ten years. Bought the carbon click version 5 years ago and never looked back, or regretted it for a moment.

We are looking for a groundsman to help with tree works, hedge / shrub trimming and waste clearing in the Waterlooville area. Chainsaw certificate and driving license preferred but not essential. 02392591138 07849790565

Of sorts, I just like the the tone. More blues orientated than anything else. and +1 for elexirs.

Morning, fresh blue sky day here. Heading to try and loosen an Allan bolt and see where the oils leaking from on the grapple saw this morning then hopefully just tighten something up and get on and finish the job.

I had the same back in the spring . Mouse chewed a bit about a yard long in the loft .

Trying too hard wee man, you are making yourself seem a bit desperate two BS posts 5 hrs ago over different threads.Liking a post that was a reaction to something I admitted was on the wrong thread, a situation that had been amicably resolved 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️. You feel the need to have a little dig before bedtime ” Steven” from behind your veil of anonymity.

I had the very same thing happen to me twice, once with a sparrowhawk, that hit my french windows and was unconscious, I checked and as far as I could tell, no bones broken, I placed it it a quiet place and kept an eye on it, within 10-15 minutes it had regained consciousness and after a short time flew off strongly. an almost identical occurrence but with a kingfisher and a different window, that to survived, it was dazed but not knocked out completely, my missus took a picture of it and did a cross stitch picture of it. but the oddest one was a robin being pursued by a sparrohawk that flew inside my open combat jacket and hid until the threat passed, the sparrowhawk veering off rapidly upon seeing me, I was driving the tractor at the time. I remember feeling it's heart beating at a rapid rate. where I was working at the time you only had to pick up a spade and the local robin would follow you to where you started digging and were tame enough to take worms and grubs from your hand.

It's getting to the stage where a few of us are starting to struggle a bit with battery life on the ProComs now and while I know Stihl say they aren't replaceable, I'm sure there's someone out there clever enough to prove them wrong without too much effort. I've not found anything when I've searched online but figured there's got to be someone on here that's at least got as far as chopping a knackered set open by now, even if not having managed to make a new battery fit. It would be great if there was a way to bump up the battery capacity at the same time so as not to have to charge them every night (not that I ever forget to, nope, never....)

We are stewing our windfalls this year, and freezing them, should be OK for the rest of the year. Lost most of our apples last winter with mould and rot, so trying this this year - stewed and frozen in muffin trays - single portions - then bagged and into the freezer - kind of works so far. Still got to pick the rest of the apples.

It's a funny old world, I saw one of these today, it looked to be identical. Like buses they are. It was for sale on a stall. I went back about 30 minutes later to get a photo and it was gone. I asked the bloke and he said it had been snapped up sharpish. Reckoned he sold it for just £15, a real steal for the buyer I reckon. Shows there's a market for such things.

John Stapleton. 79. Newsreader, Watchdog, Morning TV. Man City fan.

That’s my thoughts exactly-looks like a lot of paint! Think it may be a long dipper too but that’s just another thing. Im leaning towards the Sany, the low hours and age make it pretty appealing. Are they too good to be true? Power/flow rates seem good according to their website but have you used one @doobin?

And the winner is ........ @Rob D It flashes and everything! How'd you do that, is it a gif or something?

Latest project