Mike Dempsey

Looking to purchase a few logs of lawsons cypress. Need to be min dia of 15" and preferably not been on the deck for more than a few months. I am located in Glenrothes at KY6 and would be happy to travel all over central Scotland, Perthshire, Angus for good logs. Will be cutting them in 24" lengths approx so not too worried about length of log. I will be transporting them in my Trafic, so a couple of decent logs at a time will be sufficient but an ongoing requirement means I can shift a few every year. Mike 07769703520 to discuss.

In politics its called getting a Peerage, normally preceded by giving the Tories a suitcase full of used and untraceable readies!

I like it. Good to eventually see a table on these pages that doesnt have 10 litres of resin slopped over it and wooden legs instead of these horrible metal pins!

Forgot to add photo

Finally got my Border Terrier yesterday. Just over 8 weeks old and a wee cutie. He's a 'proper' dog!

You are better off down the east coast as we dont have any midges in Fife!

Took my daughter who is a student nurse to her hospital placement in Cupar yesterday for a 07.15 start. Went past Kingskettle (home of the famous Singing Kettle) and it was -15C in the freezing fog. It was -6C in Glenrothes when we left. Funny how there can be so much of a temperature difference in about 6 miles.

In a normal year about half the kids who go to the local primary school pass the front of my house. It cracks me up to see that the majority of them are obese and they are followed by their big unhealthy obese parents. I have advocated free sports for kids for decades now as the benefits far outweigh any financial costs. The argument against that has always been about cost. This last year's expenditure has shown that where there is a political will there is a way. From every small town upwards there should be big sports barns where sport could be played all year round so that the weather doesn't put people off. I'm not just talking about the football and rugby type sports as well. Everything from sailing to skiing and hockey to scuba diving. Teenage girls love dance. Nothing difficult in organising any of it. The capital costs may be a few quid in getting facilities built, but its creating employment as well. Get kids hooked on sport at an early age and combine it with advice on diet, give them free proper food at sports weekends/camps. Think of the money saved from keeping them fit and active twenty or thirty years down the line. There are also the savings to be made from the social work/criminal justice side, decrease in property costs regarding bored teenagers and vandalism. For anyone who doubts that this will work, I have actually been involved with youth earlier in my life for over 20 years. Property Services Dept in the council gave us £10k to devise some projects over the seven week holidays. They saved more than that due to the reduction in property repairs to public buildings. It was just unfortunate that these projects couldnt be expanded as nobody was willing to fund them. It has to be the way forward.

Looks a good buy at £255 plus the postage

Yes. As part of the first process you can heat the timber inside to 70 degrees centigrade or higher.

Just to let people know, I have now posted up the advert for the saws etc in Arbtrader. Mike https://arbtalk.co.uk/classifieds/category/1-chainsaws/

Just to let people know, I have now posted up the advert for the saws etc in Arbtrader. Mike

Half a tree table would be extremely heavy and would warp and twist all over the place as it was drying out. Still an expensive table but a bit of a fake

Its difficult making money as a woodturner. There are literally thousands of blokes in sheds all over the country with very little overheads, giving stuff away for nothing. This is mainly to do with their wives fed up with their stuff cluttering up the house so its given away as presents. The ones who seem to make any money are the ones who are good enough to teach and write about it!

Are there no outdoor ones near you? I have done lots and even been up to Crathes Castle near Aberdeen (100 miles away) and just north of Inverness (150 miles away). In fact there have been so many I have had to choose between up to 3 or 4 on the same weekends. I got a good 3m squared gazebo a few years ago and have a couple of tables for putting my stuff on. I also got a nice Swift Kontiki motorhome so I dont have to stay in hotels and it gives me a bit more flexibility about where and when I do events. I think at least the first half of 2021 will be outdoors only for me again. Farmers markets are really good place to go and you dont have to be selling food at them for a stall. You need to be a bit creative and think out the box. Wheres your nearest posh town. Lots of folk have money to burn as they arent spending it on expensive holidays and are saving money from not commuting. Get a street traders licence and a gazebo!

Firewood the euc. It dries pretty fast.

Euc is one of the worst woods for splitting when it is drying. Might be worth chopping it for firewood and save yourself some money rather than paying for it to be milled, unless he is doing it for free.

The actual kiln itself I am in the middle of breaking up as there is no way of getting it out the workshop as the laser is nearly 2 meters wide and in front of the double doors. The Sauno kiln mechanism I will sell. I have done quite a few loads over the 10 years or so I have made the kiln. I built a frame which I then lined with 6mm plywood and then fibre glassed the insides to make it moisture resistant. I used 3 inch celotex for insulation and then used 10mm sterling board to cover it all. I could kd 8 feet long boards up to 36 inches wide. I made it the maximum cubic footage that is recommended by Sauno, I will dig out the exact details later.

Hi Mark The bed is 1.6m by 1m and it has twin lasers Of 125 each. It can cut half inch acrylic no problem. The offer that was made to me was a no brainer so the kiln has to go. It will take a few days to set up but it's quite exciting to be able to do much more with it. Mike

Just got a new laser in the workshop. Didn't realise it was so big and there isn't room to operate my sauno kiln. Unfortunately it's very heavy and as I don't have any means of moving it, I am having to break it up. In the new year I will be listing my ms880 and two 50 inch bars along with my Alaskan mill rails for a 50 inch set up and a few chains. Another reason for stopping milling is that I am having to do it on my own now as my logging mate had a heart attack a few years ago and rarely has the time to do any milling. I got into Alaskan milling back in 2000 and having done in now for 20 years, at the age of 57, I have to be a bit more careful of things like my back.

What a lot of shite. Gave up after 4 minutes. What was the purpose of that video, because I cant work it out?

As a massive sceptic of these kind of devices, I finally bought one for a mice problem in the house, when poison didnt work. I got a Pest Bye Advanced Rat and Mouse Repeller. It was about 5 years ago and think it was about £25 of Amazon. Product code PB0002. This is a pretty good bit of kit and works really well. I get them in my attic and in the void between the ground floor and upstairs so it was a pain in the arse putting out bait. I only use for about 5 weeks at a time as the electronic noise annoys my older son, but a couple of weeks on the initial phase to wind them up (apparently a mother mouse wont leave any you behind) and then 3 weeks on the normal setting does the trick. It will cover the whole house and its what you need. It also claims to get rid of spiders as well so thats a bonus. No affiliation to the company, just a delighted customer.