Big J

Ganoderma it is then! What is the prognosis for the future of the tree?

It's definitely not any of those. I did have a quick look for the fungi directory Dave, but couldn't find it. Search functions on forums seem to be a bit hopeless. Anyway, here are a few photos. I think my memory exaggerated the size of the tree - it's probably nearer 80ft. Jonathan

Sorry for the very naive question, but my knowledge on common tree diseases and fungus is terrible. I've spent about 30 minutes on google and trying to search here for an answer, but to no avail. There is a large ash (3ft 6" dbh, 90-100ft tall) about 100 yards from the house in a small pocket of woodland that is in otherwise good health except for about 5 black, slightly bulbous growths afixed to the tree at ground level. They are really quite black (almost tarry black) and about the size of 1-2 fists. I've seen them numerous times on other trees, but I'm struggling with my fungi identification (if anyone can point me towards a simple resource for diseases and the consequences to the tree, that would be fantastic). I will get a photo in the morning of the fungus. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be too fussed about a tree in the woodland, but it is one of the largest ash in this part of the estate, a really beautiful tree, and within striking range of my neighbour. If anyone has a photo of what they reckon it might be, I would easily recognise it. Thanks in advance.

Just to add that I have done a few days work with Tom, and he is a gent to work with.

I think this advert warrants a 'what's a fair rate of pay for a sales and customer support person' thread......if there is a lot of lifting of boxes to be done, is there a tonnage rate?! In all seriousness, if you treat your staff as you do your customers, it would be a great place to work for the right person.

Try working it backwards from minimum wage: 9.5 x £5.93 = £56.33 + 3 litres fuel and 1.5 litres chain oil = £8 Wear and tear on saw, as well as sharpening costs = £5 a day (approx) So, in order for you to make minimum wage, you need to be earning £70 a day. I don't think that decent cutters should be on minimum wage, so go for £80 instead.

I've found larch to light tremendously easily - when I had a decent pile of dead standing larch, I used to light the full logs off newspaper.

Three.co.uk. £75 for the iPad and then £20 a month for more data than you can ever reasonably use.

Last I heard, he was being detained in customs. Something about a full cavity search....?

No, I wasn't fussed about it. The iPad 1 does everything that I need it to do and it was very cheap.

I must say that I've only had the iPad a few days and I am already hooked. I can see that it is going to be something that I rely upon each and every day. And that's only the Angry Birds game! Seriously though - it does, in many respects, completely negate the need for a smart phone. Have a good, tough phone, with long battery and simple functions for phoning, and keep that on you. When you need to do everything else, the iPad is in the truck!

Laburnum is lovely stuff - of quite some interest to wood turners.

Forestry thinnings (often quite small stuff, so the saw is idling much of the time) - 2-3 litres a day. Occasional rhododendron clearance - 5 litres a day Chainsaw milling - 5-9 litres a day, or thereabouts.

I would still keep it at full length if you can. If then you need to cut it down, you will be able to see where the defects are in it and work around that.

Ah, OK, fair enough! When estimating the volume of a log from a sawmilling point of view, I tend to just work out the actual volume, and then subtract a percentage based on the individualities of the log. Hoppus measure has it's uses, but relies to a certain degree on a uniform cylinder.

Could also be interesting Robert! I might well save that log for a couple of weeks as I've got Bigfell coming up from Dumfriesshire to do a bit of milling in April. I've been meaning to pop over to your neck of the woods and see how BishBash was doing! No Navara-mobile yet - gets into the lease company tomorrow and they then have to 'accessorise' it, after which it's delivered!

The worst thing to have in oak is shake, especially ring shake. This is easily identifiable by looking at the sawn end and if you see any shakes following the growth rings round, you have ring shake. Unless the log is in some way special if more or less renders it useless.

JPH - I'm not sure that it is as simple as that for hoppus. As far as memory serves, the hoppus measurement takes into account that larger logs have less waste in them than smaller pieces, so the value changes. I might be wrong though, and I'm feeling too idle to test my theory by working it out!

I would agree with kernowstu regarding pricing. I paid £7 a hoppus for a good 24 inch butt a little while back. If you can sell it for veneer then you are laughing, but hard to do.

Alas, but no buggiscopic - that's further down the line! For the time being I have a little Misubishi Compact tractor with a Mcconell forklift attachment. It will only lift about a tonne, but that is fine for 95% of my work. Jonathan

2 inches sounds like a pretty reasonable thickness. Things to bear in mind are: * Ash is a hard, dry timber to mill. My experience is that the mill will run slow, hot and with more vibration than most other timbers. Ensure that the chain is razor sharp, the oiler is working well (or that there is an auxiliary oiler) and the air filter is spotless! * Keep the tree in it's full length. 6ft isn't a particularly useful size for furniture makers as it's too short for beds, doors and tables on the whole. Let the customer decide where they want it cut! * Have fun! It looks like a nice stick! Finally, regarding shrinkage, I tend to find that timber cut at 1.5 inches will shrink to 1 3/8 in the kiln. Jonathan

That's very interesting Chris - so basically you are saying fell and leave it a week or two to sned the tree so that it's pulled all the sap out of the main stem. I will give that a go!

The Oak is certainly of interest - leave it with me whilst I figure out what to use it for!

Not a problem Rob! It's always a learning curve, and each time I do a decent amount of milling, I always take something from it that I do differently the next time. Quick question - can anyone recommend a good hygrometer that won't break in the heat and humidity of the kiln? Needs to be remotely viewable and happily operate at 35-40 celsius and up to 85% RH. Jonathan

Quick little update. Almost all timber from the first two kilns has sold (have perhaps 10-15% of it left) and the third kiln will open 3 weeks tomorrow. I decided to use a woodmizer for this kiln, and in many respects it was ok, but it did require the shaving down of quite a lot of logs and due to some metal work, some of the boards in the sycamore were wavy. Anyway, lots of lessons learned, and the fourth kiln fill (scheduled for the start of May) will be better still. All logs going into that kiln will be of ideal size for the woodmizer and I've now got my own little forklift to speed things up. This kiln contains roughly a third elm, third oak and third sycamore. Jonathan