Big J

It would hurt me and my business somewhat severely. I source some timber from England, but more than half of the timber I sell goes south. There is no scenario in which an international border is going to help this.

That is an perfect example of pie in the sky idealism. Rose tinted glasses, head in the sand, and all the other expressions along those lines. Such a simplistic point of view just isn't accurate. Costs will be much higher than you are expecting, revenue far lower. As I always ask fiercely pro Independence Scots - how exactly do you feel that the current arrangement is negatively affecting your life?

Well said Dean.

I don't know about how much better all steel band wheels are, but the Logmaster runs on crowned 30" wheels and there is no vibration from it. Easier to keep clean too - you would have to clean the belts every time you changed the band on the WM. The Logmaster has a brass scraper that does it for you. Jonathan

Nice butt on that last beech!

Have you reconsidered the Woodmizer LT35 Marcus? You needn't have any dealings with WM UK - a chap locally has an American sourced LT40 and he won't touch WM UK with a barge pole. Might be the cheapest hydraulic mill to get you started.

Fair enough. You have to decide based on the issues that are important to you. As an Englishman north of the border (we've been here for nearly 10 years), I can assure you that I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the UK. Scotland has in the wilderness and natural beauty that I'm so fond of. I would still leave if Independence went through though, that is how strongly I feel about it.

Very glad to hear that. All the best for a speedy recuperation. Jonathan

Daltontrees, whilst I respect your opinion, and the fact that you expressed it rather eloquently, I fundamentally disagree. Prominence on a world stage is of benefit to the people of Scotland. This is only achievable as part of the UK. When was the last terrorist attack in Scotland? The Tories are in at the moment, and whilst I'm no Tory, I have more time for them than Salmond and Sturgeon. They aren't nearly so evasive or dishonest. Come next general election they might not get in again. Not agreeing with the politics of the party in power is no reason to leave a country, especially when the politics of this country are so mild (try Ukraine for contrast). The two main industries of Scotland (oil and financial sector) are so volatile that basing a countries future on them is lunacy. Oil/gas is in decline and the financial sector is highly mobile. Many will leave in the event of a Yes vote. There are so many reasons to stay part of the UK that I could sit here and type for hours, but I always end up going round and round with Yes voters that my efforts would be best spent on undecided voters. Are there any undecided voters here?!

Have you considered importing a second hand Logmaster Marcus? A reasonable number floating about in the States. Wouldn't be too hard to organise, and there isn't that much to look out for. Jonathan

There is a definite connection between a person's economic activity and propensity to vote Yes or No in the referendum. My best impression is that most people who are in work and understand the interconnected nature of our national economy can see that separation will not benefit anyone except for Salmond and lawyers. Jonathan

Nationalists always seem to follow the same line in pursuit of power. First convince the people that there is a problem (or identify a preexisting problem), then find someone to scapegoat it onto. Salmond and the SNP have chosen England and Westminster. The claim geographical and cultural differences are nonsense. The UK is a tiny country and if you have ever met any of the land owners in the Highlands, I can assure you that they are very much represented by Westminster. This is not an issue of nationality, this is an issue of class. Salmond is using Nationalistic politics to fight a class war, one which I think is very dangerous. He is targeting all of his policies at the lower social classes, and that is where he sees the most gains. Socialism indeed. The problem is that the vast majority of Yes voters do not read behind the headlines, and their only reason for voting Yes is one born out of prejudice. The issues that they have in day to day life have got nothing to do with oppression from London. The issues they have are the issues commonly associated with being part of the socio-economic class that they are in, and Independence will only worsen that. Should Salmond achieve a Yes vote, he will simply say that it is unaffordable. Or, worse still, he will jack up the tax rates on the people actually creating the wealth and they'll all leave, resulting in bankrupt Scotland. This is very thin ice which the Nationalists are walking on. There isn't any turning back from this, and if it goes wrong they will only have themselves to blame. I'm optimistic about the outcome though, as I barely know anyone who is a Yes voter. That said, I believe it's a class thing though, and most of the people I know are in white collar jobs.

I'd say that a 550xp on a longer bar would be ideal. Stay away from the new generation Stihls as they just aren't competitive with the Husqvarna offerings.

Similar thing happened to my uncle in a 90 with a digger behind him. Ended up flying backwards down a steep hill in Luxembourg, luckily not hitting anything, but lord knows how.

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You are right in that respect. It's a lot slower on knotty stuff, but I just avoid that. If I'm splitting round wood I just make sure to not buy tough stuff. Sawmill off cuts are nearly always very easy to split as they are quite thin.

There is little that is quicker at that price range, in my opinion. I've a self made cone splitter, 20hp v twin powering it, total cost about £1000. Split 2 cubic metres of poplar (cut to 10-12 inches) in 35 minutes the other day by myself. How much money do you have to spend on a hydraulic splitter for that production rate?

About 25 miles or so. East Lothian is very nice - lovely county with rolling hills, a pretty coast and a lot of big trees. I'm in West Lothian, and whilst it's a better place to be, business wise, is altogether a good deal shittier.

Look forward to seeing it in action Clinton - you should have stopped by in Edinburgh and we could have played sawmill top trumps!

I had some Oak like that once - very odd stuff, and we never fully nailed down the specific species. Very hard to cut, dried badly - slowly and with lots of movement. Here is a plank of the stuff I had: And a block that is now our coffee table. It's moved hugely since this photo:

I'm not usually one to be negative, but I cannot see a useful application for it. A 12 inch diameter log is too small to be useful - it precludes the sawing of just about all hardwoods with the possible exception of Oak for mantels and posts. The kind of people that will spend £7k on a part time sawmill are going to want to have the capacity to cut longer lengths and greater widths. A manual bandsaw would be the default choice and would be no slower. I'm very happy to see a British engineered product on the market, but just wish it was more useful for the general sawmiller.

I'm replacing my 11kw Bullerjan with a circa 17-20kw stove from The Champion Stove Company. I've got the 4kw stove of theirs in my office and it's very well made and good on firewood, as well as providing me with far more heat than I need. He doesn't do larger stoves off the shelf, so this one is just a scaled up small one. At £400, I'm not complaining for a well built, British made stove. Champion Stove Company Jonathan

19-20 cubic metres since mid August. And I'm about to put in a larger stove. Reckon it will be 35 cubic metres a year when all is said and done.

I'm sorry to hear that. Hoping for a speedy recovery

Artic.