Mike Dempsey

The word 'celebrity' is much over used We had a young girl who was 22 year old and stayed 5 doors away, she died from heart failure after suffering from heart disease all her short life. She was three months pregnant and had the loveliest smile and a good morning to everyone she met. That's tragic! She didn't make all the headlines in the news or on the web, she just went about life with a cheery smile and carried on as normal. Mike

I use the same argument for Europe as I do for Independence for Scotland. Are the Germans and French etc going to stop selling us BMW, Mercedes and Citroen cars if we aren't in the EU. Are they going to stop buying whisky etc if we aren't in the EU. Don't think so. The EU as an institution is one of the most corrupt and unaccountable bodies you could ever imagine and then multiply that by 100! They have not had their accounts signed off by the auditors in years - try doing that as a business and see what the tax man says. They want to micromanage every aspect of your life and are succeeding with layers and layers of red tape. Its jobs for the boys, just look at Peter Mandelson. I could go on and on. I struggle to think of any good things that have come from that. They should have left it at the EFTA.

Hi Dan I knocked out a few cards in sycamore and cherry. Been selling well in the workshop open weekend

Anyone have an idea of how much the cost?

The greenheart would be the best choice for your purpose. I know it isn't a native timber but it is available. A local company here in Glenrothes which make a lot of bespoke stuff with the best of gear , running to several million pounds worth of machinery, wont touch it after it blunted saw blade after saw blade. They had to get a local tree surgeon to cut it with chainsaws to approx. sizes and then use the cnc machinery to plane it down to size. That job cost them money

The reason for the price difference is that we like being screwed and there's nothing we can do about it. Doesn't matter the product, 99% of the time you can buy it cheaper in the States.

Try worldpayzinc. Had it since it started and its pretty good. Pin machine links to your phone via Bluetooth. Excellent bit of kit from a big company with a good reputation. You have to be taking thousands a year in card payments before a mobile all in one card machine is cost effective.

I milled up some 2 inch planks last year for a customer who wanted the cheapest possible planks for outdoor benches. The logs were about 18 inches in dia and 8 feet long. I don't believe its very durable and you would have to slap a lot of oil on it. I only milled that to try out the new winch on my Alaskan mill. I wouldn't go out my way to mill any for myself or stock as white wood is the same kind of crap that the sheds sell. Mind you if I could get the same price as they do I would never be out of my local woods!

Try explaining how that injury happened down at your local A&E!

Housing Association houses or council housing is not subsidised by the taxpayer. All the loans taken out , normally over a 60 year period are paid back through the rents. The councils aren't allowed to cross subsidise public housing through other revenue streams. Thatcher stopped all that many years ago in the 1989 Housing Act which also allowed you to buy your council house. The revenues from which went back to the government instead of to the council which would have allowed them to build more houses - and that's when council house waiting lists exploded overnight! But don't get me started......

I have only ever milled up one walnut, several years ago as they are quite scarce up here. It was lashing with rain and it was sited on a 60 degree slope which I couldn't move it from. I knew if I left it till a dry day the woodturners would get it and cut it into little lumps! I got it ok and a bloody good cold as well. Timber was fantastic and one of these days it is going to end up as a grandfather clock. Only made one item from the smaller planks so far -a casket for the ashes of a neighbour's brother. Looked beautiful as well with the laser-engraving on the top. My advice to you Gobbypunk is to get it asap before someone else does.

I used to watch The New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abrams a few years ago on the Discovery Channel. In several episodes he has been with a company that had divers search for these old pine logs and they were quite successful in recovering them from the bottom of rivers and lakes. The were from the old days when they used to have a sawmill several miles downstream and the logs on the hillside were put into chutes and dumped in the river. They were all tied together and floated down to the sawmill. Some of them would escape and end up on the bottom to be rescued 100 plus years later. Compared to todays logs the old grown trees were a lot denser and the rings were so close together it was hard to count them. Was the timber any better? Due to the fact they were pine, which is obviously a softish wood, you would have thought there wouldn't be much difference but there was. It was harder to work and quite nice figuring due to the tighter rings. The sap in the timber was also replaced by the water in the lake which made it a bit trickier to season properly (bit like bog oak) The real value in the timber was due to the marketing of using old growth timber and the fact that it was salvaged from the bottom of the lake where it had lain for over 100 years undisturbed. The costs of recovering it using divers, boats and cranes etc would certainly make it more expensive than the usual felling a tree and carting it off to the sawmill!

Looks more like St Paul's scarlet hawthorn to me

If Scotland is costing so much money and is a huge drain on the economy why is the Westminster government desperate to keep us. If the oil is running out as fast as they say it is you would think they would be quite happy for us to get Independence and be shot of the liability. Maybe someone is telling huge porkies?

We have had 4 really nice and sunny days in a row up here in Fife. Daffodils are ready to come out now!

I would be in favour of becoming an independent republic without the monarchy and hangers-on.

The oil which is in Scotland's territorial waters will be Scotland's oil. Not too difficult to work out. Most of Europe may like to stake a claim but that would be the same as the UK staking a claim in the oil in Norway's territorial waters, not a chance. If, as it has been suggested here and other places that Scotland wouldn't be a member of the EU, there is even less of a chance that any other country would be able to access it or the fish or anything else. At present Salmond has said he wants to be part of the EU. Salmond might not be in power as the SNP will dissolve once Independence has been reached. A new Government might wish to hold a referendum on EU membership (something you are not going to get down south in a hurry btw). Nothing is cast in concrete and many things may change over the next few years if independence is gained. Its a brand new entity and there will be opportunities to influence and make policy. I just hope it wont be the bankers and finance men who get to dictate what happens like they do down south!

If its for internal use it needs to be dry before you cut it up into the finished article. That could be as low as 8% moisture content. If its for outdoor use it still needs to be dried but only down to about 14% moisture content or so.Trees are living plants and are full of moisture when cut up and the planks can take years to air dry or a few weeks if it is kiln dried. Plenty of reading material available on the web.

Cracking day up here in Fife, beautiful sunshine and no wind, just like yesterday. Typical winter's day:thumbup1:

If you won that auction you would own the trees. What happens if you didn't want to cut them down and just leave them standing? What could he do about it!

Chuck it in the fire Dan, native timbers are much nicer looking. That stuff is boring, has no figure and will have you wheezing possibly when cutting and sanding.

Hi Bob That could be something I could supply. Need more details of what exactly he is after. Mike

If we get independence up in Scotland Steve will that qualify us for our own sub-forum:thumbup1:

The 'F' stands for former.

I don't think that there will be too many problems with trade. The French will want to sell their wine to us and the Germans will still want to sell their BMW and Mercedes cars to us. In return we will still sell our whisky to them. Would be quite interesting in a few years time if Scotland were in the EU and FUK was out!