ray s

i have approx 50 x 3-4mtr fir poles that were cut last year if that would be of use to you, we will be thinning another plantation ,starting in february,which potentially will produce a lot more. i'm not too far from you and we can get all wood trackside for collection. pm me if interested

anyone tried it yet?

i bought some wader studs to screw into a pair of my boots, they work a treat on the ice. look on ebay they were about £12 for 30 studs. you could prob do 2 sets of boots with that amount as i dont put too many in each sole.

you dont need a degree to start up a business and eventually employ people who also don't have degrees, and that in my opinion is what this country needs. get out to work and graft for your money. too many see university etc as a "lifestyle" choice. gap years and drinking cheap booze while being subsidised by the taxpayer. i have no objection to anyone doing a worthwhile degree in things such as health,law science etc but not things like media studies,art ,dr who and david beckham etc,get out there and get a job.

13" about right.

9 yr old hazel has probably got too big for a lot of uses, our hazel is cut at approx 7 yr rotation, we would be selling an acre for in the region of £100- £200 depending on quality and density, to be honest i would ask for little money for it and just accept the fact that whoever does the cutting is really doing you a favour by potentially improving the quality of it, providing it is cut properly. the long term health of the stools is the important thing.

yes i've heard of it before, a guy local to me swears by it, not just beer cans,he uses bean cans,dog food cans etc.

i tried to get out to calgary alberta a couple of years ago ,its not easy. each province basically has a list of occupations that employers can use foreign workers for. if the job that you have been offered is on the list you can get the employer to sponsor you for a temp work permit, the permits last approx 2 yrs, when this runs out usually you have to return home as you normally cant apply for an extension to that permit, you come back to the uk then have to start again, to get permanent residency you would normally have to either be very well qualified in your field of work or have close family already living there, also your quals might not be recognised,as some uk qualifications aren't. even fully qualified electricians ,plumbers etc usually have about 6 months to sit canadian exams to prove their knowledge. . have a look on the canadian gov website, it shows the occupations that are in demand and gives you lots of info on the visa process. good luck with it and i hope it works out for you.

there is one for sale in the classifieds bit, dont know if its still available though.

really nice job , what did you treat the wood with ?

doesn't appear to be used by bats in my opinion, usually there would be some staining on the outside of the hole and from your description it appears to be too low for them. i would guess a woodpecker created it , you may find an angry squirrel in there though!

01962 882020

try Holmes and sons, littleton nr winchester,i planted some hedges on the farm several yrs ago,we used them to supply, they've usually got a good selection,hazel,hawthorn spindle,dogwood etc. we spaced them fairly close ,about 12" apart in 2 rows and they,ve made real good hedges now, they also supply canes and spirals for them.

looks good to me, what size would you do them? you might find that you need a couple of sizes to allow for variation in the size of the wood your milling, i think its definately worth a go, get 'em made and slap the pics up !!

bob,just a thought but with the mini mill why not screw the rails onto something like a 4x2 or 6x2 and lay that over the wood,this could be fixed at the ends so you dont have to screw into good wood, i haven't got the mini mill ,so not sure if this would work,i've got a homemade version of it that runs on a piece of aluminium angle and thats what i do. might be worth a try

the amount of movement really depends on the height of the boards, the pics show the first set that i made. they dont have to be so high. its probably good to have a high set and a low set so you can adjust them to suit what your milling. it just gives you another option on mounting the ladder,i put a block in the middle of the run as well just to stop any sag that may occur, i've done about 8 or 10 trees this way and not had any problems so far, . (touch wood !!)

i'm not saying its better, it just seem to work well if you've got an uneven log or if you want to be precise with where the first cut starts and finishes as you can adjust the board to whatever height. its a lot more stable than it looks as the aluminium braces hold it secure. the only other advantage is you dont have to drill holes in your ladder, guess its just down to what suits you best.

rob, these pics show roughly how i hold the ladder on with the boards i described to you, like i said its possible to make a couple of different size boards to suit the trees your cutting, they're made out of 0.75" ply and drilled in various places to allow woodscrews. once screwed in and ladder is on they give a pretty stable platform for the alaskan. good to meet you at the oak fair today.

as well as the points the others have already said, i would say just watch your accuracy with the spray, good start ,good stop and not too much overlap of the spray, good luck:001_smile:

ouch !!!!

thanks for the comments, legs on the bench are jointed into the bottom of the slab and then fixed with screws from the top with oak plugs secured on top of them, bench is 6ftx1ft,and approx 16 inches in height, the top at its thickest part is about 4.5 inches thick, its only been rough sanded at the moment and no oil or anything put onto it,that may come later unless it gets sold as it is .

dont know what to ask for them really, gotta do a show in sept so will be taking them there to see what interest there is, will have a look about for some prices of other bits before then,

made a couple of more bits from some oak and ash that was slabbed out with the alaskan,great fun on a wet afternoon, this could get addictive:001_smile:

yes was gonna wedge it but ran out of time today, hopefully get them in next week,and give it all a good clean up. first of many hopefully

had a go at making a bench today from some oak that i milled a few weeks ago,the oak came down in 87 and has been in the wood ever since.quite pleased with the results, just needs a bit of a clean up.