Canal Navvy

Overcampacted clays are pretty resistant to water being able to get through. Plant roots (not just trees) can desicate clay to the point that rehydration is into years or decades. I have worked on structures that have sunk on desicated clays and are still supported on boulders of dry clay with cracks that water and the odd root use as a passage to the moister clay below. Old houses would have a well in the cellar so the water level would have been artificially lowered. Rain water butts and watered gardens were fairly normal. Old houses get bought by a different sort of people and adapted, ground water level rises and the building experiences changes that it hasn't seen in a a couple of centuries and people are alarmed to see a few cracks. Generally the problem is in the building industry particularly since it's been possible to get ground works signed off by an independent surveyor with no local knowledge of the local pockets of soil types, rather than the good old local building control. On puddle clay liners of canals it takes water something like six years to get from the top of a two foot layer to the bottom! Different types of clay have very different behaviours, some are good engineering materials, some are unreliable and some are destructive. It is quite easy to get a bit obsessed by clays 🙄

Subsidence and heave are terms related to how a clay soil acts on a man made structure, shrink and swell go on every year without anybody noticing. Railway tracks on Victorian embankments can change level seasonally by three inches and the speed restriction is just called engineering works. When a building sits on the ground it helps the shrink cycle and hinders the swell cycle, as Dr. Biddle puts it "a ratcheting effect"

Not actual comeback, but observation of a circa 1800s farmhouse being "underpinned" post removal of a monster leylandii. My best guess is that the corner of the building affected had previously been underpinned due to moisture deficit and subsequently returned to closer to the original level. In effect the house had only been made vulnerable to heave by attempts to remediate seasonal settlement, it probably would have been better historically to have diverted the downpipes to that corner to keep the clay hydrated 😉

The conservatory predating the tree is good. If there are no signs of settlement cracks on the conservatory then the risk of heave is minimal. The property is only about five miles from the site of the infamous candyfloss foundations so your client is going to be nervous 😉 It's generally accepted that phased fells are pointless 🙂

It would have been interesting to have seen the saw blade up against the marks to see if the lines were the same pitch as the saw teeth 🤔

The inevitable does feel uncomfortably close. I rather hope that those in power have reliable information about Putins state of mind/health and are prepared to make a wise judgement. Possibly the worst job in our country at the moment is being the captain of a vanguard sub equipped with trident.......would you want to wipe out the Russian people for the sin of not being able to control their leaders ? 🤔

Had the 4 speed zf auto in my land rover for years, don't really like towing with a manual now. Just select a lower gear before a hill and still get plenty of engine braking. A bonus is that if the trailer starts to wag at speed clicking down a gear stops the sway better than trying to brake 😉

If Russia is seen to get away with moving against the Ukraine then China has no reason to worry about making a move on Taiwan 😟

A good example was on a narrow path between a canal and a stream, the trees were getting tall enough to give concerns that they could uproot and empty the canal into the lower level stream. I took a third off the height of the trees that left them completely covered in ivy so then reduced the ivy to let the light into the newly exposed stem to encourage new growth. Some were completely cleared by stem severing and the plan was to observe the difference between the two approaches. The retention of ivy was being evaluated as it is viewed as being valued habitat by the ecologists who have a big say in future permissions 😉

A quick appeal to guerrilla ivy cutters......... Please look up to see if a climber has been up and reduced the ivy, proper soul destroying spending a couple of hours doing an ivy reduction only to find that someone has subsequently cut the stems at the base 😬

How else are they expected to power the factories to make all of the kit to satisfy our green energy goals ? 🙄

I find them the same fit as Haix (when some others had to have Haix a size up). The fell hunters do feel a bit big and clumpy when new but soon ease up and it is good to be able to walk through deep slop and keep warm dry feet 😀

I'm now on my fifth pair of Arbortec fellhunters and so far they have remained usable to the bitter end, start off as best boots and end up being beaten to death in the workshop. Used to wear Haix but found the soles parted company and the steel toe caps fell out. My other half is a keen trail runner and recently had her favourite pair of shoes resoled in Vibram by Cheshire Shoe Repairs mail order service ..... very impressed with their workmanship 🙂

Manheim Gloucester Auctions seem to get a lot of ex fleet vehicles. Little Vauxhall Corsas from rail track or open reach, VW transporters from the AA & RAC, ex council tippers and loads of end of finance vans. Their on line auction catalogue gives you time to make a short list based on mileage and service history and then it's a good day out eating bacon sarnies and seeing how they look in the flesh. The trade buyers will be looking for forecourt appeal to turn their money quickly so vans that are not cosmetically perfect can be a really good buy 👍

A few years ago Morrisons supermarket where giving out Sambonet knives on a loyalty offer. The other half has some and I'm probably as happy with them as I am with the German beasts 😁

Another Zwilling Henckel user here, got the stainless ones. Stay sharp well, use a steel to tidy up the edge and a screwfix diamond card to thin the edge every so often. 👍

A ground helmet has a chin strap (if fitted) that breaks too easily for climbing and does not perform with side impacts so can never be used up a tree. (EN 397) Climbing helmet lacks the peak that adds to kick back protection and the chin strap is considered too strong for ground use. (EN12492) Loads of people use a climbing helmet on the ground with no problems, if you are using a saw up a tree you ought to be pretty competent on the ground is the view 😉

A scaffold tower built on the back of a trailer might have worked. Can be built to overhang with a bit of ingenuity and firmly ratchet strapped down for stability 🙂

You say "not cutting uniformly" , on your machine do you have to do every other depth gauge and then turn the chain the same as sharpening the cutters ? . Not that hard really to hand file a single depth gauge down just far enough measured with the filing gauge and then set the grinding wheel to just kiss the surface 😉

Worth noting that duty rebated means it is a reduced rate taxation, those of us who have up to now been paying road fuel duty on non mobile machines are now going to have to pay full duty due to the misuse of the mobile users 😡 And to rub salt into the wounds the offenders get to keep their economy fuel ⛽

Our local supplier has the pump set to cut out at 99 litres to check if you have a registration card in their files. It'll be interesting to see how it develops as they are in an area with a lot of off grid dwellers and so have good reason to keep supplying duty rebated 🙂

Do we actually know how the off road use of duty rebated fuels is going to be regulated, at the moment we have only concerned ourselves with the acceptable use of such fuels on road. As it stands anybody can purchase at the pump duty rebated fuels with no questions asked or any record being kept below 100 litres and use it for anything off road other than inland boating. I rather fear that the extra level of confusion caused by the upcoming changes is aimed at finding a good reason to totally withdraw the good old red diesel ⛽

Comes under forestry so still usable 😁

Bath has form for putting their signs in obscure places, at one time a single bus lane was a fairly major revenue source for them 😠

Anyone knows what happens if the road you were going to use is shut and the temporary diversion goes into a zone ? 🤔