Big J

Even the old one is pretty cool tommer! My wife was sat next to me when I found the article and it took a few moments for her to realise that I genuinely wouldn't have a problem spending that amount of money on it!

Mercedes unveils the Lego Unimog - BBC Top Gear I very nearly might ask for this for Christmas. I kid you not!

Some progress today. Spoke to the lease company, the finance company and the Nissan dealership. The dealers have a Pathfinder that I've been promised for later in the week, which is at least reasonably acceptable. I've not had to strongarm them yet, but I will if I need to. They are becoming increasingly helpful at the dealers as I suspect they realise that this is a fairly major issue, especially as it's been different faults each time. Jon - I'm glad I'm not the only one with rattles. After about 1000 miles I took it in to have about 3 rattles addressed. They managed to fix one, but the others remain. I just expected better quality of finish. The paint on mine's OK, though I have the grey metallic. It's already fairly scratched though due to forestry work and has a ding on the passenger side rear wing due to a gatepost that decided to shear off as I drove though it! The dealership will have about 2 hours worth of mud to carve through before they can even get to the car (it was washed 2 weeks ago). As well as the general forestry work, I got epically stuck today - right to the chassis, required John Deer power to rescue me! Rambling now.... Jonathan

Yep, 11 plate D40. I would love to send it back to Nissan, but they want to give me a Micra type car back as a replacement. It's like you lot who runs arb trucks with chip boxes on the back getting a Mini Cooper as a replacement!

Thanks for the speedy input chaps! It's tremendously frustrating really - I don't actually really want another car. I like that it's fast and comfortable, spacious (if you've met me, you'll understand why that's especially important!) and economical. I just want it to work. Fundamentally, I don't trust it not to let me down at the side of the road. I've already lost a good working day to recovery and garage visits. I shall call the garage first thing. I think what gets me the most is that it's literally brand new. What's the point in shelling out £353 a month for the damned thing if it's just going to let you down? Jonathan

I'm five months and 9000 miles into my Navara tenure. It's not going so well really. It keeps losing power (going into limp home mode) which is usually fixed by switching it off and on again. However, on two occasions, this hasn't sorted it, the engine management light has come on and the RAC have been called. This evening was a case in point. There have been various fault codes, and issues such as blocked turbo wastegate, dodgy earth wire and fuel rail issues suggested, but nothing seems to fix it. I'm really getting to the end of my tether with it as I got rid of my old truck to get something more reliable. Currently, the old Mercedes was more reliable than this Navara. Has anyone else had such issues, and what fixed them? Additionally, where do I stand legally with my lease purchase arrangement? The way I look at it, I'm paying for a product that isn't working, and honestly, I would happily give it back. Nissan don't seem too interested, and will only give me a Micra as a replacement vehicle. Not much use for towing or forest tracks Help!

Depends on whether you like the customer or not: Oak, Elm, Sycamore, Beech etc if you like them. Yew or Laburnum if you don't!

The trees that we were looking at were on occasion quite exceptional - perfectly straight and without defect. That said, it was only about 2 or 3 out of about 25 trees that had any lengths of that value. As an aside, in the round value seems to go way north of £8 - I was desperate for cherry the other day, contacted A and J Scotts in Wooler (big roundwood dealer) and they wanted bloody £15 a hoppus delivered! Jonathan

I'm sensing a theme here Mark!

I spent a day with a professional timber grader a few months back, and the going rate for the very best quality butts was around £8 a hoppus foot. The price reduced from there on down through lower grade furniture grade, good beam, rough beam and then fencing. Jonathan

That's lovely Rob - I'm a big fan of tree seats.

Whether it be ash, beech, larch or oak, Burn it wet and your fire will smoke, But left a year and burnt dry, Your fire will be hot enough to eggs fry. Chipboard, varnish, creosote and paint, Treated timbers will make you faint, With fumes so acrid they'll burn your eyes, That's no way to have a fire....

My friend just left his job as head of the manufacturing process in the tiddlywink factory. He was really disillusioned and said the whole job was counter productive.

Variety of milled Elm for sale, some of which is in the kiln at present and will be ready in 7 weeks. I have a number of Elm logs in the yard at present that can be milled to order. Additionally, I have some more characterful lengths that are ideal for turning. The elm was felled whilst alive, has a little burring and wonderful colour. No problem to send nationwide, either by pallet or by courier. Please message me for more details. Jonathan

Speak to Sandy at Treeshape near Linlithgow - they sell a lot of chip for biomass.

Very true. My first 088 (my first milling saw) was bought old and quite tatty off ebay, did hundreds of hours of milling (requiring only one trip to be repaired - carbs), started first time, every time and was sold earlier this year. My other 088 is cleaner, newer and doesn't idle as well. It also required a trip to the shop, though has done far fewer hours.

Precisely! The main problem these days is that we don't have cholera and TB to control population growth, hence the current problems!

That's some very burry Oak! My only advice would be not to put the boards on those metal poles as the Oak will react and discolour very quickly on contact with ferrous metal.

Elaborate.

Very good indeed. If I can, I use it as a firewood for when I am in the house and happy to stoke the fire. Like all softwoods I've come across, it doesn't lay down much of a bed of embers, and subsequently doesn't last as long as say, elm. Lovely stuff though.

It's a good and valid article, but it's not surprising. I don't know why people are shocked that those in power exploit it - it's always been the case. To say that moral responsibility is something that once existed in the wealthiest echelons of society and no longer does is nonsense. I would argue that one of the primary issues these days is the aspiration to things that are completely irrelevant. For instance, the celebration of celebrity culture, the aspiration to acquire wealth for no purpose other than to be wealthy and the goal to live the life of a footballer (no pun intended). Many of these issues mean that those at the top act without apparent thought to consequence, and those at the bottom seek to emulate just that. Or the other, simpler explanation is that most people are a bunch of merchant bankers!

That is a wonderful board. The beginnings of spalting, without the figure being too busy or overwhelming. For me it's a question of quality too. It's much easier to get good straight and clean beech than it is oak. I know of a tree about a half mile from my workshop that is only about 30 inches in diameter at chest height, but the perfectly clean and straight stem extends for about 50ft before there are anything more than twigs coming off it. Jonathan

Lovely stuff tommer! If only customers would wake up and realise Beech is lovely timber, rather than obsessing on Oak all the time.

Yep

What a lovely stick! If you can sort out another 5 tonne of similar quality stuff, I can put you onto a good buyer.