Rob D

In some ways I think we're much worse over here than the US. I remember speaking to a fellow last year about this... he was ranting about how his wife had fallen in a supermarket and broken her wrist. There had been a spillage on the floor and she had slipped. The staff were on there way to clear it up and she had slipped in the 60 seconds as they were getting the mop. He didn't win any compensation and was saying how disgusting it was his poor wife etc etc. He owns and runs a small nursery (selling plants) and I looked over his shoulder and pointed to a patch of mud in his car park. "What happens if I slip on that and break my arm.... shall I sue you?" That sort of took the wind out of his sails! No one wants to stand up in this country and just say accidents happen and it's just part of life... What gets me is when soldiers with permenant injuries get a pittance and yet someone who has been called derogatory words at work seem to score huge compensation! If blame has got to be placed surely it is at the feet of those in the legal system that make and manage the law.....

Here's a couple of good links for chain sharpening and what have you. I still find I'm learning stuff about sharpening chains and correct maintenace after 8 years! Loads of info there and will save so much time and energy in the long run. Guide Bar & Saw Chain Menu OREGON®: Maintenance manual For instance you're really supposed to change the drive rim/sprocket after every 2 chains. Otherwise it can damage the drive links so when you put a new bar on the damaged links will widen the bar groove causing a sloppy chain. If you're spending all that cash on a new bar and chain then get a new sprocket as well. But how many of us do this? I haven't been - the sprocket pretty much stays the same through the saws life - but not anymore!! Also looking at chain sharpening. Beaks - if you undercut the top plate too much the chain will be sharp but as the cutting edge is not supported will blunt very quickly. Depth guages - if you haven't got consistant depth guages the teeth with lower depth guages will hit the wood harder and will blunt quickly thereby causing drag on the chain. All in all the more you look at how a chainsaw cuts the more you see it as a precision instrument.

My wood knowledge isn't great but basically stuff like ash, beech, poplar is only good for indoors. Most of the conifers are fine for outdoors (although of course some better than others) and cedar is even better as it doesn't need to be treated. And cedar is very stable drying as well. Oak is great indoors or out but difficult to keep it straight as it's drying. It's almost like firewood - there is no such thing as 'bad wood' - but some woods are better than others in different scenarios!!

Well as it stands there's nothing really out there to stop them doing it. This has come up time and again in other threads...... My opinion is they should bring in a liscence scheme for tree work with each person proving each year that them and empoyees are qualified (NPTC) and insured. It won't get rid of all bad practice but at least it would draw a line somewhere and be more straight forward to organise. Just my opinion though...

Good stuff! All wood can be used for something. Found this link to have a look at Alder

Lovely furniture there Robert

Nothing wrong with softwood but placky ones would be easy to store/clean and re use and no way they would stain the timber...

been away last few weeks so sorry about late replies posts. My girlfriend is from New Zealand and so we go and see her folks and the rest. Visited Sydney while I was there. Have to say the temptation of moving over there gets more tempting each time! But you have to give it to ol Blighty for the trees we have over here. We have a massive selection of different types of wood a lot of which can be milled and used.... Woke up 2a.m this morning wide awake and so naturally have logged straight onto arbtalk! A few things in the pipline that I'll be posting soon: Feedback on modifying muffler on 880 to give more power. More pics/vids of furniture making. Looking at skip link chain - what's it like and when would you use it Now have an Oregon account so will have a full stock of harder multi cut chain and their ripping chain. Now stocking GB bars - they make em in Australia and have been for the last 50 years so know what they're doing! Only trouble is the ordering process is quite long (up to 6 weeks lead time) but already have 50" bars and will be getting in a load more in a couple of weeks. All good

Been away hence a bit late on this one.... But as above really the MS880 is the milling saw you want as you can still put smaller bars on/do smaller stuff with it. It's torquey and can handle the hard work. There's loads of good size trees out there so you'll always use it. Milling is very addictive in it's own way and I still find pleasure in just converting a lump of wood into something that is useful. Day rate wise I charge £40 per hour and limit milling to half a day at a time if possible as it is hard on the elbows. Or sometimes a price per plank or cubic foot. I've now started charging by cubic foot (usally 2" planks) at £8-00. A 6 foot plank 2" thick and 20" wide will be 2880 cubic inches divide by 1728 gives 1.6 cubic foot so the plank is £13 or so. The customer sees this as good value (especially if you bring a similar plank with you and say "this would cost you £13".) This way you can earn a bit more per hour if you want to crack on with it but the customer isn't so worried when you have to put the time in sharpening the saw etc. Cause where could you buy timber like that from?!! And for that price?!

Ta for info on the mortice equipment. I don't have a clue as to which one is good/bad etc..... It's nice to have someone posting who knows about these things.....

As above Make your own stuff to your own rules. Most of us haven't got time for carpentry courses and the like... Those impact style drivers are fantastic for bolting stuff together securely.

Good stuff! Yes just got back.

Sorry Phil as per PM etc been away hence no reply from me. The answer to your first post (which is a very valid one I may add) is that it is bloody tough to now how to mill your wood and which sizes to do. Here's some rules of thumb just from what I've found: The recession is really biting now and so carpenters etc are only buying in wood for there order i.e. they're not experimenting with different woods, not buying in to stock it for themselves - I've had a really poor response from local cabinet makers etc but that could just be my area. If you can make up basic furniture it's a lot easier to sell the wood in that form. Just come up with a couple of designs and stick to those. Most of the planks I saw are usually 7' long as easier to move about and stack etc. My best sort of business at the moment is for memorial benches! As people want something different/lasting for those that have died close to them. Mill to 2" or 2.5" if you're not sure what to do. No thinner as makes too much mess and takes too much time. The trouble is it takes a long time to get known for what you're doing. Spoke to tommer about it a while ago and he's been milling 8 years and so is sort of known in his area now. It takes a while for word to get around. The demand for bespoke wood in this country is small because no one seems to know it's there! I'm going to do a couple of talks this year just to tell people what mobile milling is all about. I think there's no avoiding wasting some time and energy before you find the niche that fits what you're doing.... bit random but a few things there. I'm going to try and find time to post more stuff up on this sub forum to give a few more ideas over the next few weeks. Cheers, Rob

Many thanks.... Took me a while to make the 'put it together vid' but it saves putting things in the wrong way round and all the rest...

Actually I've never even thought if that before and it's a brilliant point! Plastic stickers would be perfectly even and would not stain the wood... But no idea who would do them...... Stickers are the small guage pieces of wood usually around 3/4" square to space wood out to allow air inbetween planks. Anybody with ideas on where you could by placky ones please post.

Ditto - rachet strap to take out the slack backed up with the whoopee sling.

That's almost your worst nightmare come true... Hope no major damage done.

9% is very low!! Outside the lowest you can get wood usually us 18% (or maybe down to 14% in summer). Unless you have artificial drying aids like dehumidifiers and fans blowing over it. Even in a proper set up kiln you'll have to work hard to get 9%. How are you measuring the moisture content? As I think your meter may not be measuring accurately IMO.

Seemed he was a really experienced pilot as well. A tradegy.

Witch hazel is good for bites and stuff like that... but haven't used it on a wasp sting yet. Found it the best for bites and other itches. This is after trying all the usual anthisan and such. LIFESYSTEMS® Travel Healthcare - Expedition Insect Repellents - Bite & Sting Relief and you can buy it on ebay LIFE SYSTEMS BITE AND STING RELIEF on eBay (end time 15-Feb-10 15:26:51 GMT)

That could have gone badly if you had taken his helmet off before putting him in the recovery position !

That's a good looking bench... how is the back leg fixed to the seat?

I've been using a polytunnel to dry wood and it's worked really well. Started off using builders bags but am now using the mesh vented ones. I had crammed all the builders bags together and so the bottom logs got a bit mouldy..... but on the whole the system works well. With these new mesh vented bags, sat on pallets with the doors open the wood will season in 12 months pefectly. Can't rave about the mesh vented bags enough though..... little handling and they look built for the job. I'm sure the customers are going to love them!