Rob D

Alright Ben... yes I have a few pics and I'll put them up later.

Just got as standard letter from them.... I have already got a site for Alaskan users to sell their wood.... and it's free... and uptake on people uploading to it has been absolutely abysmal! treet| Wood Forum I did a thread for it a while ago here. It's a very basic forum but my plan was to build up a load of small wood producers and then go to the woodworking forums and show the woodworkers where they can get their wood from. But there's so little on there it's not worth it at the mo.....

Cheers Cracker. My small brain will probably rebel if we went into too much detail on chisels! Sounds like a broad subject in itself.

Just looked it up and Stihl UK seems to say it'll take a 25" bar. Strangely the US Stihl site does say 32"...

As above danish oil is easy to apply and hardwearing. Also you can sand it with a fine paper afterwards (240 +) and apply a wax over the top if you want a wax finish. Both will look good. With a wax you need to seal the wood first. Danish oil will work or you can put on a dedicated sanding sealer. Now does anyone know of an outdoor clear oil or treatment that lasts?! I've looked everywhere and tried a lot of things and no clear treatments seem to last outside

Tried contacting these folk (notonthehighstreet) but had a standard e-mail back saying I was unsuccessful..... ... ho hum...!

Yet those same mushrooms at the right show or shop would make £50 each. It all comes down to being able to get your wood in front of the right people... making it is actually the easy bit.

That's better joined than most of my stuff! The resin is a polyester type that is UV activated. You can also use it with a catalyst. It's ok but tends to pull away from the wood a bit as it expands and contracts.

Looks really good.... What are the socket chisels and slicks by the way?

Max bar for an MS460 is 20" if I'm right. Your sort of in between mills there as although the small log mill will take a 20" bar it's not extendable. A 24" Alaskan will fit but due to the flat clamping mechanism you have to clamp at both ends of the bar. You can't really get away with using the 24" Alaskan with one clamp to maximise a 20" bar as it doesn't pinch the bar like the mini mill and small log mill.... so there's a chance of it slipping. But even if you buy a small log mill you'll still use it in the future for smaller logs as it is so easy to put on and off. Milling all comes down to correct chain sharpness pure and simple. And to a lesser extent a well maintained bar. A normal cross cut chain perfectly sharpened will be far better milling than a ripping chain averagely sharpened. A well sharpened chain stays sharper for longer, means less strain on the saw. It has a bearing on what bar lengths you can get away with. Tooth length, tooth shape, depth guage height and shape are all critical. I've spent a great deal of time researching chain sharpening and learnt that I still had a lot to learn (and am still learning) It is all about the chain. Am I getting boring yet ho ho!

Nice one - first one will always have a place in your heart

Have a good 'un !

Thanks for the advice. I think the horozontals are wide and thick enough to support it but I'll keep an eye on things!

Indoors is much harsher on wood than outdoors. If that was stickered and stacked outside through the summer this would get a lot of water out of it. Then you'd also have a better idea which boards would be best to use. Wood doesn't really dry in the round except after years and years (and then this can render it useless for milling due to the tensions and tears).

Cheers Dave

Cheers Janey - looks good and I've sent them off a request!

Finally a few pics for another smaller guest house. Solid oak bench needed a lot of resin to stablise the soft areas on it... These are again for sale even though at a smaller place there will be less people seeing them. Good thing is it gets them out from under your feet! Again they only take 10% commission and are happy to have them there.

Cheers John - yep there's a few bits and pieces of that oak still about!! Amazing what you can get off the one tree.

I got a job making these tables for a guest house round the corner. Again this was off the back of the cafe. Also for same guest house am making a 4 poster bed and block side tables.

Looks really good Billy. I have a website with quite a bit of stuff on... needs updating but I've found by far I've had more referrals and interest from this cafe than anything else I have done.

The best thing about wall hangings is you can make them out of bits of wood that would not be much good for anything else.

A few more... not taken in good light so not great quality pics.

Last year in September I did some tables for a cafe in Brockenhurst, Hants. Some they bought off me and some are there to be used by customers and are also for sale. They get 10% commission on all the furniture and 20% on wall hangings. It's an arrangement that works well as they are open 6 days of the week and people can see and use the furniture in situ. By far the best sellers are the coffee tables and medium size wall hangings as these fit in peoples cars. I've sold about 12 items through them now and compared to doing anything else have found it the least hassal way of selling things. As soon as a coffee table sells I just drop another one up there.

This time over and we've put in some steps down from the decking so it's quicker to get out and about. All done with cedar and macra carpa. Something very satisfying about building with timber you've milled yourself.

Seems like a long time ago that I put that decking down. An update to the job so you can see what it looks like now. Very little movement at all and it's all stayed put.