clima

More than that....they are very cleverly done, particularly the book box is away from the 'norm' and stands as a great idea but very nicely finished.

Excellent pictures.....the more the better !

May also be worth considering IF there is any root damage or soil/ Ph/ water changes due to the landscaping around the base of the tree. I have seen a few trees with similar conditions when their surroundings change, particularly if the ground was dug and any membrane placed beneath the gravel is not sufficiently permeable to allow water ingress.Also noticeable is that cars are parked on the gravel....is there any hardcore beneath it....if so, what might be in the hardcore, a surface capable of supporting vehicles first MAY have been dug and hardcore have been placed, therefore leading possibly to root damage. Just a thought worth pursuing with the owner.

Chris.... It's good to see someone with a conscientious attitude and apparent good work ethic...not to mention a time proven persistence at developing your skills.This at your own expense, financially and timewise. Potential good employers would see that you have wide ranging skills and experience, perhaps you have much more to offer for some of the bigger companies which would consider your skill base as being of great value to enable them to develop their own business plans. Maybe you still have training requirements as you suggest but haven't we all. The thing that stands out in your post is that you have the drive and passion with goals and have ambition enough to put yourself out there.....that to me deserves some positive feedback.Keep at it, make a list of companies within reasonable distance of your home base or further, contact them and sell yourself direct. Take note of seemingly negative comments and take heart from the positive ones. I think it's worth noting that there are those who prefer to work for themselves and those which prefer to be employed.....we all have our reasons for preference, I prefer to be employed....less hassle,not being pressurised to get tax returns done etc, can develop your skills as you go along, and maybe consider the self employed thing if you reach a point where you feel comfortable with that. Good luck with it.

Pitch pine tree is 'Pinus rigida'................... Mainly found in north America. It has been used for some time in construction, for example for roofing beams, trusses, etc. I bought several large beams from a demolition site/ old factory some years ago where there had been vandal activity, fires etc and the place was being demolished. The beams were very old but in really good nick.I used them for carving and to make seating/ benches and tables for a pub garden. I read some time ago that not all woods/ beams, etc called pitch pine actually were...in some cases other species were termed as pitch pine to supply a demand which became wider than simply for construction purposes....ie...not all 'pitch pine' is actually pitch pine.....if that makes sense !....(the wood can be made to look good for decorative purposes, a friend has his kitchen surfaces made from pitch pine which was cut from reclaimed beams and shelving).

Rather than look to take something that may go down well, its often better to appear to be working on something good but which is easy for you to tap away at whilst chatting with prospective buyers....a really successful day is one where you look the part, achieve free advertising for yourself and sell items, the piece you 'appear' to be carving may be best to have 3 stages of completion......raw almost untouched section, roughed out section and almost finished section.If you appear to be working on the roughed out section you can explain to people what the piece was like when you started, how it is while you are working on it and then what it looks like nearly finished by referring to each section. Always worked a treat and draws people into your display. Keep things simple Good luck

I think I met you a few times at Catterick....couple of years ago.Though one Jason was originally from Kielder and one was from the leyburn area....guess thats you . hope all goes ok with the N England people. Leyburn is tops.!

Jason, out of interest is it the North Pennines?.....if so it is a very large area covered, the Northumberland ANOB is much smaller. From past experience when surveying/ permissioning over there, I found that these areas can include specified places within the ANOB which are themselves designated as specially protected areas for various reasons, there can be one or more locally based groups which oversee these areas inside the ANOB...eg local wildlife group. To cut it short....the very best way to approach your task is to meet with Natural England as already stated, they have all relevant information and usually know (or know of) the people who manage these various local groups. I used to speak to an excellent guy at the Leyburn office of N E and he would supply me with all the information needed to sort out the permissions and work etc. On the whole, the requirements stated by the groups and N E were fairly easily implemented as they basically need to know that the proposed work is sympathetic to the location and addressed the issues as specific to that location.......the usual stuff. The best way by far is to speak to N E and get as much help as you can from them. (I only mentioned the northern ANOB's as I worked around that area for some time and linked it to you being up in Leyburn area. Hope it proves useful to you.....maybe go on Natural England website and select ANOB's then select the one you are dealing with, there may be some pointers for you to follow up....)

.....now that's some find..... vvverrrry nice. A club for axe spotters sounds great.ha.

Excellent Pat....ha....that was an accomplishment, finding the axe and managing to take the post for so many pages, I don't come close to that. Looked like a very good find that and as you said, the thought of someone so long ago involved in the wood business.....!

If you check out wikipedia 'broad axe' and scroll down to a thumbnail of 'french axes' it shows you some typical old patterns ,one of them at least having the elongated ferrule type arrangement in which a handle/ shaft would be fixed. It is also typical of many tools of older design....one reason being that a broken shaft can be very easily replaced as opposed to a'modern' day arrangement where the shaft passes through a tapered 'hole'....once wedges are forced into the tip of the shaft to secure it in place, it can be very difficult to remove the old shaft remnants, sometimes the easiest way is to burn the wood away. This can de temper the metal or simply be too much trouble which is why I used to buy loads of old axes and adzes at car boot sales for around £3.! The arrangement where the shaft can be easily removed has its advantages but the arrangement through a tapered hole allows for rear counter weight to be built into the tool for ease of use. Many french axes/ adzes have the'heel' of the blade turned downwards and in towards the neck of the shaft.This means that the user could easily work the tool from the wrist rather than from the elbow or shoulder, over a long work period this is very advantageous. some french adzes/ side axes/ shaping axes had metal weights fixed to the base of the shaft furthest from the cutting edge which was to further counterbalance the whole movement of the tool.Other than this, several styles of military axes and hatchets for field/ general use have the old elongated ferrule arrangement.I wonder if this is because it follows the same reasons as the native American woodworkers...their axes and adzes being almost considered sacred, the craftsmen would spend a season working in an area then when moving a distance to another area the cumbersome set of tools would have been too bulky on horseback or walking so they reportedly removed the handles/ shafts and held a ceremony of thanks for the help they had provided for the worker that season.A new shaft would be carved on reaching the next place of work, which would often have carved decoration of a spiritual nature on it etc etc....the purpose of this action is to make the essential working parts of the tools more easy to transport in the field and a replacement shaft could be easily fixed when required...in a hurry, the shaft might be a simple straight section of branch.The design of axe in the picture from 'lumberjack' is ok for basic hacking or hatcheting, mainly small firewood etc but its balance would have been poor compared with one with a rear counterbalance. I have used various patterns of axes, adzes and billhooks for carving purposes over the years and the pattern as shown in the picture is better used for knocking plaster off a wall prior to decorating or for splitting kindling.....!! Hope that long winded chatter helps a little and no doubt a proper knowledgeable guy will be more precise but I used to own and use many old tools regularly, several of them brought from France by a guy that used to go to antique street markets over there.Thanks to a certain element of society, most of my collection was stolen a few years ago but I still have a few interesting pieces such as a French root cutting froe and a German craftsman billhook from the 1800's which is like a razor and excellent for carving etc. A metal detector would be interesting to use at your site there lumberjack.

Monterey has large cones that are 'lob-sided'..... they do stay on for a considerable time though the one outside my house on the estate here is being battered by the winds again tonight and quite a few cones have been bouncing off the roof of a shed below ! ....Big cones for sure.

Hi mate, it's very good for the job.....non toxic and especially when green/ freshly cut it carves very well....less so when it has seasoned for a long time when it can be hard. just watch it when carving green that it doesn't dry too fast in case it splits. I prefer ash over other woods provided it's from a young or medium aged tree. Everyone has their favourite wood in the carving world.!

Clyde Muirshiel region and Greeto tributaries.......near you. Hardly a place in Scotland that doesnt have otters but they seem to co exist with people and other wildlife up here whereas further south ....parts of England...they are increasingly in conflict with the interests of people and their activities.Mainly we could sympathise with angling clubs and commercial fisheries but in many cases, those sites have an artificial stocking level in any case.If the otters had never been removed from the eco chain then our waterways would have had to develop in a different way to how we know them. Mink are far more serious a problem wherever they may be found.

Of all the advice given along this thread,this is possibly the most relevant.Age itself is not necessarily the issue and I have known climbers over the years that are 'burned out' at a young age, others that have bad joints etc at an older age. I started climbing some time ago but got my tickets when I was 44 when I went into arb work full time.....now 51 and over the past few years have worked all over the uk climbing .. The thing is that when you start late, perhaps you havent built up the collective damage to your body that some people have since their twenties.By their 30's some climbers are showing the strain. Also, given the working culture that was prevalent when I was younger, the word "can't" never came into it.I have worked alongside guys of 60 plus and learned lots from them....the good thing about getting older is that you become less likely to give in and more likely to forge ahead and prove you can do it.....so get in there and enjoy it mate.