djbobbins

I was involved in a previous life in the E.ON biomass plant at Lockerbie. That had short rotation coppice planned when the project was built, as I recall, but it just wasn’t viable - it would have taken thousands of acres to fuel a 44MW power station. Agree about growing nitens and leylandii in the UK though - if I had some land I would be planting a bit of both, as part of a mixed selection, to get some earlier yielding stuff for firewood.

They told me I would never be able to do poetry because of dyslexia. I’ve just made a vase and two mugs - so fuck them!!

Erbauer Sabre Saw; I think mine was about £40 from Screwfix with a carry bag and a few different blades. Handy for lopping up pallets for firewood, recently used mine to also cut spiked ends onto 40mm x 5mm angle iron which it did with no fuss and a lot less sparks / din than a grinder would have made.

The problem is that the customer claims the costs of the work against incomes for the rental property - so saves on paying tax on the net profits from the rental property. It is tax evasion and by taking part as a supplier is knowingly helping them commit an illegal act.

Yes, that would do it - thanks!

To be fair, in the past I have paid for softwood arisings then dawn and split them myself. However, the wood I bought was all much more manageable (biggest diameter about 12”, most of it more like 6-8”), cut into lengths that were liftable by hand on my own. And critically, three piled-high MPV loads, which did us a winter’s worth of logs for our stove, for £23. The lot I posted the link to above will, I expect, come down in price as reality bites. There seem to be a few homeowners around here advertising wood for free at the moment; maybe the effect of more garden projects being done and recycling centres having been shut?

£120 for some pine “logs” that will need a good sized saw to ring up, plenty of splitting and probably a few months to season too! https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/366177541005155/

I’ve got the X27, a cheap maul (Chinese car boot stall job) and some wedges. TBH I’ve got to the stage that if I can’t spilt it with the X27, I give up and noodle it with the saw, or leave the bigger knotty pieces for burning in the garden chiminea rather than the stove. Lots of using the maul or wedges with 14lb sledge knackers my shoulders, whereas I don’t get that with the X27. Incidentally, one of the best things my father had when I was a nipper - and still has, as far as I know - was a thin but really sharp wedge - about 10” long and 2” wide, but I’d say only 1” maximum thickness on the end of the taper. For splitting big rounds with knots in them, or that were part seasoned, that was really helpful as it could be used to open up small cracks, with only a lump hammer or 7lb sledge. Either of those could be held with one hand, meaning no risk of the sharp wedge bouncing out. If anyone knows where I could buy such a wedge now, I would definitely be up for it. Sadly I think my father’s is a one-off, it looks like it was hand made!

There’s a biggish table circular saw for sale by Eddisons at the moment; bidding is only at a tenner... If only I had a workshop to put it in. Dominion Saw Bench AUCTIONS.EDDISONS.COM

Mmm, paint fumes. No wonder it burns well... [emoji85][emoji23]

Landlord is definitely good, I also like a bottle of Greene King Abbot Ale every now and again. Not tried the Beartown IPA, which is ironic as the brewery is only about 5 miles from where I grew up. In general I am drinking less during lockdown - in normal life I tried to have a rule only to drink at home on a Friday or Saturday, but would be sociable with a drink in the week if out to watch footy or staying away overnight with work. Seeing as footy and work travel are both off, weekday drinking is too - replaces from time to time with alcohol-free wheat beer from Lidl!

Can anyone recommend a vendor for a baffle plate for a DRU44MF stove? Or alternatively, tell me if it might be possible to weld a v-shaped piece back into one?! (Suspect this might be tricky as it is cast iron).

Got a link, Felix?

Could have been worse, my father told me a story of a bloke using one who had the bright idea to convert it from belt drive to PTO. The higher revs caused the blade to overheat, split a chunk off and (owing to higher centripetal force) sent it into his skull.

Don’t know - but I had a couple of occasions in the last two or three years where some bug of another fancied dining off me. Mozzies whilst on holiday in Italy and then some kind of mites / ants / spiders when I relocated an old concrete coal bunker and had the panels against bare skin during doing so. In both events I ended up at the quack, as the bites had circular spreading bruising from them. The doctor said on both occasions it was probably a bacterial infection and gave me antibiotics, which cleared it up. In the interim there was a good spray which I got from Boots which helped soothe the itching a bit - it’s called magicool plus.

Looking at some hols in Germany next year and just seen some v. cheap flights come up - return from Luton to Dortmund for under £60 per person, for flights on the Friday before a bank holiday weekend, then back on the Monday evening. This particular one is with easyJet. I guess one of the key reasons they are so keen to sell ahead is to get some cash through the door now. Just wondered what people’s thoughts are - will the airlines actually survive into next summer?!

We have exactly the same make and mode of stove; it took it a lot of burns from new to stop smoking off, plus even now after a few years when we first light it after the summer it can give off a slightly oily / metallic smell. Ours is also on 5” flue where it leaves the stove, socketed into 6” concrete liner in the chimney breast. Smell issue does not sound as bad as yours though. For what it’s worth, we burn predominantly wood, sometimes smokeless fuel but only if we need the stove as a source of heat 24/7 when the central heating goes on the blink. Mine needs a clean and re-blacking!

Seems to be lots of thorn blossom this year?

Finally painted them a few weeks ago; definitely look better but it was a complete PITA of a job. Not difficult, just really fiddly. Need another coat really but I’m going to have to be supremely bored or desperate to start on them again!!

Plenty of blossom on the apple tree in my back garden; just having a few minutes sitting on my sawing horse and listening to the bees buzzing around hopefully helping the flowers set!

I built a raised bed in our back garden out of pressure treated 9” x 1.5” boards, two edged up against each other with about 2” into the ground and 16” above. We moved in 2007, I think I built the bed in spring 2008 (might have been 2009) but by 2017 it was falling apart. 2” x 2” pegs pretty much rotted out and the tops of the boards fragile to any weight, owing to rot at the level of the top of the soil. So either 8 or 9 years life. I got rid of mine and rebuilt a bed out of engineering bricks, 5 courses of bricks laid on a base of about 3” concrete. I’d never laid bricks before so the finish isn’t something a brickie would be proud of, but it’s passable when viewed from a distance and I’m hoping it’s going to last a while!!

I like to think I am a pretty good judge of a person, although I have a tendency to be too trusting. I have got no time for Johnson at all, I think he’s a charlatan that doesn’t have the sense of duty to undertake the role he’s in. I don’t doubt his intelligence but I think the whole buffoon thing is part affectation, part consequence of not being interested in any detail that isn’t self-serving. I posted a link to the Sunday Times article on my Facebook yesterday evening (of which I have a few as FB contacts) and am yet to hear a dickie bird by way of a comment in Boris’ defence. Initial gloss wearing off??

I said to the wife last night, “are you going to put that nurse’s uniform on again?” “Why”, she said with a wink, “are you feeling a bit frisky?” “No” I replied, “we need a loaf.”

We’re on day 6 isolation here. Food stocks are going down and it’s going to be interesting to see what meal combinations we are on this time next week. Meanwhile, my log store is full after a bit of effort on Saturday, but needs the felt replacing when I get a roll / some shingles. Lawns need mowing, some bits of broken fence to replace etc etc.

Depends on what you want... looks, build quality or combination. We went for a DRU-44 multifuel when we had our lounge done in 2012 and it’s been pretty good but isn’t without a couple of niggles either. The good bits: it’s rated at 4.9kW output (so no need for a separate air vent) but allegedly throws out up to 7kW maximum. It’s also multi-fuel and manufacturer approved for 24 hour running, which has come in useful when our oil-fired central heating has had a problem (invariably when the weather is cold!!) meaning that we have switched over from wood to smokeless fuel and run the stove constantly for days at a time. Niggles - design of the over-fire air inlet could be better. It’s controllable but would be much better as a screw system instead of the push-action (you’ll get my meaning if you see one in the flesh) and has a bit of a background noise when the stove is drawing lots of air.