Big J

If you would like to send a box of stuff up, there is a really nice little gallery in Linlithgow that I've put the odd bit in. They don't seem to take that much commission and they paid straight away.

Lovely work, as usual, but I am most jealous of the fact that you seem to have sunshine! Have you upped sticks and moved to the Med by chance?

Glad we aren't the only ones with attrocious weather!

Haha! Can do you any number of Elm or Oak burrs! Anything else on the wish list at the moment? Got lots of stock, some of it even dry!

We've now got all the halves in the pictures there milled - cracking quality Elm. Genuinely the best straight grained elm I've milled and I've seen a fair bit now! Just waiting for my lackey to send me the photos and I'll get them posted.

PM sent

Really sorry to hear that Justin. To echo the views of everyone else here, I sincerely hope they are caught and you recover at least something.

Hi Josh, Thanks! Not an MS660, but an 088 with a 50 inch bar. The scale is just all screwed up as I'm 6ft 8!

Second set are from my yard, milling large halved Oak lumps. Almost the same size of log as the first, but done more quickly on the Woodmizer. Strange thing about this lump was the face that had appeared in the mould on the end of the log. Looks like a cross between Jay Leno and the Joker to me!

A couple of sets of pictures from milling Oak a bit earlier in the year. The first are on site just south of Edinburgh chainsaw milling a big old lump of Oak that had been effectively ringbarked by pigs kept in the field. I didn't expect it to be as nice as it was - lovely clear timber. All milled to 2.25 inches except for two slabs at 3.25 (on a customer's request). The slabs are about 40-42 inches wide and 8ft long. Would have liked to have had them longer, but the butt was 24ft, and there was no way we could have lifted 12ft slabs.

Hi all, I was wondering if I might brain storm some ideas here for helping an elderly chap called Albert Brindley I used to know when I was growing up in Derby. He used to run a little pet shop in Littleover which I went to for about 10 years from the age of 8 onwards. I used to buy all my things there for my pond and fish tank and in turn he used to buy Loach I caught in the river for a few pennies that I just spent in his shop again! He is a lovely and kind gentleman and I just found out that he was at the receiving end of a huge and elaborate 3 year scam by a truly evil conman. He has lost everything - his savings, his house and even his furniture: Albert Brindley was swindled out of his home, his business and his life savings, totalling nearly 400,000, by conman Sean O'Farrell. | This is Derbyshire I am planning to speak to a few furniture making friends/customers to see if I can exchange timber for some simple but well made furniture. If anyone else can think of anything that can be done, ideas would be hugely appreciated. How someone can meticulously and clinically worm their way into someones life for three years, and then systematically destroy it is beyond me. It's almost one of the most cruel acts I've ever heard of, particularly knowing what a nice chap he is. Any help appreciated

Very nice Josh! Just one thing I noticed on the first picture is that the nose end of the bar is lifting a touch, resulting in the mill not sitting on the wood on that side. Just make sure that you have an even pressure on the mill so that all four corners of the mill stay in contact with the wood. If any of those lift up (as they are inclined to do, for all sorts of reasons that are usually inexplicable), you will end up with some sort of inaccuracy. Keep up the good work!

I honestly don't care about women's tennis. It's very poor to watch compared to mens - not only is it generally less skilled, it's slower (yet the rallies don't last as long) and the majority of the competitors spend half their time a moment away from crisis grunting and screaming like porn stars. They don't play for as long, resulting in a strategically less interesting match, and to make matters worse, they get paid the same. Until they do the same work, I don't think they should earn the same. Finally, there is no consistancy at all in women's tennis. There is no one dominant player, and whilst an occasional wildcard success is entertaining, trying to figure out which new Eastern European/Russian lass is going to do well this time is tiring. My two cents only.

I'd pay up to about £5 a hoppus foot (£140 a tonne, or thereabouts) roadside, so factor in your felling and extraction costs and go from there. Average quality would maybe be £110 a tonne roadside, £30 a tonne to fell and extract, a profit for you for the effort of doing your own felling - £50 a tonne standing?

Pictures of a couple of the halves. They have been cut a couple of days, so the colour has faded a little. They are darker fresh cut (and subsequently once finally finished).

Firewood or butts for sawing?

I'm on the lookout for one that can install a tipper back and can tow an boat mounted chipper! I guess it's easier for the milling though - no telehandler required as I can just float the logs into the mill!

This is a shout out to our part time resident weather guru - when will this incessant rain end?! I am considering changing my target customer group from furniture makers to Ark builders!

If you could get it roadside, I'd be looking at £4-6 a hoppus foot, depending on quality and how long it had been standing dead.

I'll be halving some of the largest logs tomorrow with the chainsaw mill tomorrow to allow them to pass through the Woodmizer. I'll take some photos of the halves, as it's a finished milled surface, it will give you a good idea of what it will look like. Rare logs these - seldom see three foot diameter elm logs these days. All felled whilst alive, so colour and quality is second to none.

In my experience yes, but my chopping board is made of Wheatly Elm, which seems to be a very dense and heavy variant. That's the stuff with the distinct area of dark heartwood and light sapwood.

Good and interesting poplar can be worth a bit: POPLAR BURR 4.5CM 0839-7/8 Lanarkshire Hardwoods are another member of ASHS (Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers) and they actually do most of their business in England with finished timber. Something to perhaps consider?

I've 25 tonnes of lovely elm sat in the yard if you run out and need some more!

I have a couple of large Elm chopping boards at home and a beech worktop. The elm is durable and doesn't mark easily, the beech is starting to stain and scratches. Elm all the way - it's a more aesthetically pleasing timber anyway!

That's stunning Rob - not something that we come across much up here!