wills-mill

They're a cheerful bunch when it comes to leaving feedback as well: eBay Feedback profile for proalaspenc

In the States, if they are fitting treehouses at a reasonable height, they tend to use a sliding bracket to allow for stem movement. Might not be needed for a low swing bar... Google Images treehouse brackets

Ebay Germany always looks like a likely place to stalk woodfired ovens (the word 'holzherd' (wood oven) works well). The Germans and Italians seem to make them as a lighter weight appliance than we look for over here, but perhaps they are being realistic and look to replace them every 20 years when they update the kitchen? Wamsler, La Nordica, Sovrana all seem to crop up as manufacturers quite regularly. No personal experience of any of them, but I'm sure that they'd be happy to send one over to the UK if the dealers here aren't obliging? holzherd | eBay EDIT: the link seems to drop straight back into ebay UK. Go to ebay.de and put holzherd in the search box..... W

Morning all, I'd like to pick the big collective brain... Is there a sensible way to send reasonably small consignments of sawn timber that aren't pallet friendly and aren't big enough to warrant a complete truck load? Let's say a rough spec of max 3m length and 250kg weight? If I need to regularly send out things like a couple of gateposts, small packs of cladding, benches, flat pack log shed, or machined battens they seem to fall into a middle ground (unless I'm missing something obvious). Too heavy for parcel couriers, the weight is OK for pallet firms but the length is a bit too keen? There seem to be plenty of firms managing to sell hefty fencing and the like on ebay and sending them out with a policy of 'pay £7.99 postage regardless of whether you buy one of an item or lots'. I understand that the retail price is hiding a lump of the courier fees, but I can't seem to make much headway into the world of logistics.... I've tried sites like Shiply and I'm happy with the rates of 'one man and van operations' (we've all got to eat) but it puts the kybosh on most orders as far as customers are concerned. Is it simply a matter of having a good relationship with a logistics manager and pumping out loads of units a month?

Evening all. I'm looking for good quality Western Red Cedar in the South East. 10 inch and upwards top diameter, and probably 3.6 and 2.4m lengths. Enough for a couple of 8 wheeler loads please. Anything around? W

Judging by the 'WILLOW' written on the bands, I guess this is the Forester from Willows in Uckfield? It's done the rounds a few times on ebay, no nibbles....

I've been watching this beastie which I think is a Whitehead model TCJ three sided planer moulder. It's a simple but compact and sturdy little critter and an easy way to get into basic PAR or moulded timber with a bit of time and investment in cutter heads and bit of a mega service/ birthday. I've got an original advert for one somewhere, so I'd been keeping my ebay earch open for one (not needed now as I've a Logosol 4 sided machine). I've no commercial interest in the sale whatsoever, but think it might be of use to someone here. Whitehead are long gone, but the mechanism will be based on basic bearings and belts. whitehead thicknesser / spindlemoulder | eBay The square blocks at the back are still legal at the moment on a mechanical feed machine, but probably a bit of a costly headache to get cutters made up. If they are not in good nick there's potential that they'll eject cutters. Budget for a pair of these maybe? Then you have the potential for cheap PAR with small disposable TCT cutters or the opportunity to put on cheap and easily available moulding cutters. Combi Heads And you'll probably need some Whitworth spanners..... onwards and upwards W

Nope, have changed the drive side blade guide and been through a few things. Bit suspicious of the alternator and belt, otherwise it's a main drive bearing.

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The tractor and blade are an updated version of Aussie 'handheld' mills for cutting railway sleepers out in the bush... Much nastier looking things. Youtube has provided a live specimen in captivity!!! [ame] [/ame]

Mill looks lovely and very impressed with some of their secondary milling machines like the edgers!

I had a little think a few weeks back, about the actual cutting surface covered by the life of a bandmill blade before it dulls and needs changing. The £10 for a sharpen is a bit dearer than a new disposable hardpoint carpentry saw.... If you take a cut on the mill that creates one face of a 14in wide board 10ft long, that's 1680 square inches. That's the equivalent of 210 cuts across a piece of genuine 4x2 (and most 4x2 is undersize). If your band lasts for 35 cuts like that, that's 58,800 square inches of cut surface, or 7350 cuts across a bit of 4x2! Not bad going!

All very informative! Well done guys, thank you for putting the time in.....

I've not got any dry, but there is a seriously big Hornbeam maiden that came down nearby last winter. If you've got an ongoing need then I'll see if I can get my paws on it? Do you start with 2 sections of 3 1/2 x 7in and glue them up to make a roughly 7 x 7 turning blank? They are massive old pins at 14 1/4! There's a lot of 'big' Hornbeam coppice round this bit of the Weald, it's mostly very fluted with lots of inclusions, and I've never had a massive amount of success drying it sensibly (and worm loves it ). Would you work with boxed heart smaller Hornbeam, or does it need to be heart free from a bigger tree? W

I've asked the mighty brains on the Canadian Woodworking vintage site, and I think we've struck gold.... It looks like your mill may have been built by a French firm called CD. The CD model name is still in use by a company called LD Brenta. https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?63029-Anybody-recognise-this-bandmill CD Horizontal Bandsaw

Was just about to mention them. Quite a nifty way to get the chainsaw protection up a bit, just not very good in practice.

It's not a Forestor 150 or Sawmaster. It's got nice curvy styling, makes me think it's French (Belgian?). Not serious and brutal enough for a German machine.

Lovely work, very different from most out there! I've got a couple of big oak burrs that would certainly do you 400mm spheres. They don't include much of the original stems at all, they came off the side of a monster oak. I'm afraid the pics are a bit rubbish I've resisted milling them into slabs for bowl turning blanks, in the hope that someone needs something for a massive one piece project. In an ideal world I'd like something like £50 a cubic ft for them, which would be pretty standard for air dried heavily figured timber. If anyone thinks that's complete nonsense I'd be interested to hear thoughts and opinions? I'm not a million miles away, just south of Horsham. Contact details in the links below if you would like a cuppa and a look. All the best, W

A couple of chaps from a local Great Wall dealer flagged me down when they delivering a new one (they were lost). I asked if they were any good, and I've never seen such a sour look on a man's face

ouch!

I can see where you're coming from, if you're just looking to plonk a log on a mill and do wide waney boards with no messing about, then £10k all in is pretty amazing for a 4ft cut. Do the Hud-Son, Logmaster and Turner use a cheap narrow band, or are they on a wide band that needs a lot of doctoring? Having said that, £10k goes a long way towards getting someone else to cut the occasional batch of big timber for many years. (That's not the point though is it ) I spotted a Mebor today, I might have to go and ask nicely for a quick look.

That sort of money gets you into Forester 150 and Trekkasaw territory. OK, you're then on a wide band and more complex saw doctoring, but they stand up to heavy wide work.... Would a 2nd hand Lucas with slabbing attachment be too wasteful? If you've already got a bandmill in the yard, then I think a swingblade is a great compliment.

Probably my best historic haul. 9 inch pins set up at about 25ft up. Jake, one of my customers brought an old beam in for re-cutting. I found 2 .303 bullets in it, and he's now found another bullet in an adjacent beam. Someone has fired 3 shots in a tight group inside a small room, it's a strange one!

It's not my log, but I might I might have to claim it for my personal Hall of Shame (eh Dave?) :) Thanks Badger- I think most people today wouldn't know 'GPO' which is why I said BT