Mike Dempsey

Hi Dean you could check out this group in the States. very interesting and one day I will eventually do their course. Log homes & log cabins from scratch - Don't buy kit log homes I found this site a few years ago via a google search whilst looking for info on log home building. Mike

John You have a pm

Some of her decisions like the privatisation of national assets were scandalous and we are still paying for the mess. We have one of the worst rail systems in the world - fragmented, heavily subsidised, foreign owned and bled dry by shareholders rather than money spent on improvements and safety (even the older Tories agree with this). Our water companies are now just about all foreign owned and ripping us off as well as being highly inefficient. We have only one deep mine still open despite the country floating on a sea of coal. I could go on and on though. Having to rely on foreign companies for our water, gas, electricity, half our communications systems, airports and other basics doesn't make for a country on a sound footing and these national assets should have all been put in separate trusts for the good of the nation. She did however have balls and wasn't scared of a fight unlike our present leadership. During our current economic crisis we need strong leadership and a sense of purpose instead of the muddle through approach that this country is getting at the present moment. When we eventually get through this crisis it will be despite the current coalition and their policies and not due to them!

I have a throttle spring on order from Jonsie to fix my husky 281XP. Is there an easy way to do this or is it one of these strip down half the saw to get this located properly? I have checked the maintenance manual and it looks pretty straightforward but I know it probably wont be!

Here's one that I was involved with. I made the stoppers from the cask and laser engraved the cask number onto the circumference. The oak block is quite big and has metal lettering stuck on the front and the block was spray lacquered. The tolerances for all dimensions is +/- 0.3mm. The only snag is the price - at £3000 a bottle its a bit pricey! It has just won the best design award at the world whisky design awards.

I have actually mixed stihl and husky 2 stroke oil in the one container and I am using that no problem in 4 saws. Been using it now for the last 3 months or so.

I have recently given away some birch burr to an old friend who is a woodturner. Woodturners like that kind of wood but as most of them are pensioners and pretty tight with their money the chances of selling it are low!

and a big crowbar to remove it and half the wall when your other half wants something different there!

The beauty of the method I described is that it is easier to weld some spigots to a flat bar more accurately than to drill about 4 holes into a wall at 90 degrees in both planes. If you want to get some flat bar and spigots welded up you can bring them down to me in Glenrothes sometime and I will drill the wood accurately for you. Mike

cant see any method there which will prevent the wood from coming away from the wall. There would have to be a method of stopping this happening. I have seen something like this once and it was at the Famous Grouse visitor centre near Crieff a couple of years ago when I got the job to make all the new furniture for the marrying and blending room. They had a 8' long heavy shelf floating and it took me a wee while to work out how it was attached. Basically there was a long piece of flat bar which fitted into a groove in the back of the plank. This flat bar was screwed into the wall with the steel spigots sticking out and the plank had corresponding holes drilled into the edge. The plank was slid onto the spigots and butted up against the wall. From the underneath there was an allan bolt screwed through the wood and into the spigot after a hole was drilled and tapped in it. This stopped the plank being pulled of the wall. The shelf was so secure you could actually stand on it and it didn't move. Due to the fact the public were coming into the room it had to be over engineered to make it idiot proof but it did work. Whilst this might be overkill for what you require even a couple of spigots would do you. It does require accurate marking out and drilling whichever method you use though.

Who would be liable then if someone doing a job for free, say for instance felling a 40-50' oak or whatever for firewood and it landed on your house. More than likely they wouldn't be qualified or insured and would disappear pretty quickly from the scene. Would the homeowner's insurance company pay out. If I were the insurance company I would be asking to see the quote in writing in order to follow up with recovering the payout in court. Would they even pay out if they knew it was someone dodgy doing the work. What would happen in this situation if someone got killed even? That's quite a big can of worms being opened and I know what I would say to the homeowner if I was the insurance company.

you could try Timbmet. They have a depot in Oxford but do deliver.

£10.35 delivered Sorted. Hopefully get it tomorrow.

Thanks guys, its good to get some feedback on a new supplier. There are so many copies out there, some good and some crap. Will give them a phone in the morning. Thanks again

I am after a carb diaphragm/ gasket kit for a walbro WYP-4A. I know the official supplier for walbro carbs is Rowena Motors but I am looking to see if there any other suppliers that I can compare their prices to, when I phone them in the morning. Cheers Mike

Dundee City Council (and its predecessors) have run a successful sawmill for years based up in Camperdown Park. I met the guy who ran it many years ago and he was very good at what he did. He had first shout on any trees that were down in the area and they were delivered to him. Any surplus timber was sold to the public. I believe it either broke even or made a profit. The guy was just left to run it with a couple of other blokes and did a good job of utilising what would have otherwise been ringed up for firewood. Falkirk Council give their trees to Falkirk Wood who plank it and kiln dry it. Councils can be involved in successful initiatives such as these but it takes a bit of initiative and commitment, but it can be done. Its certainly better than landfilling trees or carting them off for these monstrous biomass plants.

who grassed on them to Ebay. I was quite looking forward to winning it and going along to look at it . This would be the first time Ive had a chance to look at a dodgy item as it is supposed to be only about 4 miles away from me! Mike

As it is only about 5 miles away (as long as its location doesnt move to Shetland) I might stick a few quid on it. Dont know what I would use it for though. Might make an unusual coat rack in the workshop!

If you are any good at doing websites how about britishgasisshite for a web address and plenty of good photos up on it with a good explanation. Bad publicity is what these cowboys hate and they spend millions every year on marketing. Every time someone does a google search for british gas this will pop up on the screen as well in the searches and would put a few people off from signing up with them.

Just told a couple of Irish 'travelling salesmen' to go forth and multiply when offered chainsaws and generators for sale. They werent very happy and gave me a mouthful of abuse. I am based in Glenrothes in Fife so no doubt they are travelling over the east coast of Scotland just now in a newish Range Rover. They are both very well dressed and probably will sell a few to the gullible - which doesnt include me! Didnt get a chance to see what they were offering but no doubt fakes or boxes of bricks. Mike

I hate the stuff. When doing my HND in Furniture Design and Construction we had to hand cut dovetails in the stuff. It crumbled like an oxo cube and is the worst wood to work with for fine cabinet work. The yanks use it by the bucket load and normally paint it. A lot of cabinet makers buy it in this country because it is cheap and light and they use it in place of softwoods because it doesnt warp like our softwoods do.

Love to be a fly on the wall when the discussion about who's liable and paying for it all starts.

Hi Lyncombe climber If you check out special offers you will see that there is a special offer of 40p each plus vat for Arbtalk members. I will post some pics of cards that I have done for members. Mike

No chance ever!