Squaredy

I suppose the fundamental question is why are we still allowing our laws to be partly made abroad? Remember the Al Quaeda cleric Abu Qatada whom the government finally managed to deport after 13 years of trying, directly blocked by the ECHR. This one case alone cost the UK taxpayer an estimated £1.7 million. Don’t pretend the ECHR has no power!

The ECHR was established soon after the Second World War. Its aim was to stop the type of massive human rights abuses that occurred in WW2. Clearly it has failed in this objective. Funnily enough despotic regimes simply ignore it. Turkey are still signatories, and even Russia used to be until 2022. Therefore does it achieve anything? Of course it removes the ability of the countries that are signed up to it to govern themselves to a degree; by giving this power to unelected judges. I am sure we have all heard about the ridiculous cases like the man who couldn’t be deported last month because his son didn’t like continental chicken nuggets (I am not making this up). It also gave some UK prisoners the right to vote against our governments wishes. But does it ever achieve anything good? And why did we in 1998 incorporate it into uk law, so that any law now can be challenged by the ECHR? For instance if the assisted dying bill becomes law no doubt someone with an unusual condition will claim they are being discriminated against, and the original purpose of the bill will be amended.

Well I realised it was heavy just from handling it, even just offcuts, so I threw a small piece in a barrel of water to see if it floated, which it did, but only just. To be accurate I took a piece which was cut square edge and measured it, calculated the volume, then popped it on my scales. The piece was 0.0495 of a cubic foot and weighed 2.95 pounds.

Both these pictures are of rough sawn boards before any treatment. I will try and remember to take a photo of the finished article also.

Further update on the pine I have milled in the last four or five years. It develops nasty grey patches in the sapwood really easily, which makes it difficult to sell. But it is stunning timber nevertheless. As well as being far more durable than I expected it is super stable and the large knots are stunning. However, it is incredibly hard around the knots, and absolutely full of sticky resin, so a pain to work, and difficult to sand. And lastly it is really heavy. Heartwood is way heavier than oak. About 60lbs per cubic foot (not far off a ton per cubic metre). By comparison I usually recon on oak and ash being around 44 to 45 ponds per cubic foot. And yes, this is thoroughly air dried: about 18% moisture. By the way it is fantastic burning! And the smell as you work it is amazing. I have now added a photo of a piece I recently just managed to plane (the thicknesser has a two foot capacity) and this is now a work surface in a kitchen.

Yes it was a pretty stupid and potentially offensive thing to re-tweet. Typical though that modern public sector workers (or more accurately some of their unions) took it personally. The original post said ‘Hitler’s public sector workers’.

Of the two planned sites the main one started to be prepared, and then gypsies illegally moved in and have been there ever since. That is the one that is meant to have around 36 pitches (which we eventually found out means up to 140 caravans). The second one was fought by a housing developer who stated they would oppose it becoming a gypsy/traveller site and keep appealing and appealing and appealing; so sensibly the council dropped their plans for this one. Our village now has 1100 houses being built around it (this was approved many years before).

I was at the meeting. No-one made negative comments about gypsies or travellers, so presumably no-one was reported to the police. I wish I agreed with you, but times have changed. If I can work out how to post a link I will give some examples!

When my local council proposed putting huge new gypsy/traveller sites near where I live many locals were concerned. The local planning department arranged to have a meeting in the village hall for locals to have their say. The opening statement from the planning officer was that anybody who made negative comments about gypsies or travellers would be reported to the police. Do you still believe we have free speech?

Don’t hold your breath…. I can’t get the link to upload, but last month a man was arrested in Manchester for burning a Qran in public. You try to find an example of someone being arrested for burning a Bible… I wouldn’t defend doing such a stupid and offensive thing, but I thought we had free speech in the UK. The crime of blasphemy was removed from the statute books in 2008.

Yes.

I find the comparisons between Elon and the NAZIs distasteful and inappropriate; but I am glad people are allowed to express their view about him even if I disagree. Looking back at some of the comments in this thread at least one AT member needs to hope no-one reports him to the police, as they will certainly come knocking. Criticising Islam is illegal in the UK.

Amazing; well done Tom and Les.

If you use one of the tip sites listed on Arbtalk surely you are giving a third party your ‘waste’ to use. Therefore it is not waste. After all, if you let someone have logs for their wood burner that is not waste disposal. So when you tip chip you may think of it as waste but the owner of the tip site is taking it because they have a use for it. Am I wrong?

I wouldn't use hornbeam for anything outdoors. It will not last at all. I have personally never burned it but I suspect this is the most likely way to get some use from it. You may find buyers for the timber if you mill it, but it is a very niche market as it is not a common timber. If it is burry or pippy this would make it much easier to sell of course.