Squaredy

Quizz question: which decade has or had the highest proportion of electric cars actually on the road?

Agreed. In fact I would go further and say that there should be low tech electric cars. Why do the manufactures think that because you like the advantages of an electric car you want every conceivable bit of technology?

Although I do sometimes listen to a wider range of channels in my modern car, it is such a pleasure to get into my old Peugeot van and press 4 for radio for and 5 for radio five. Trying to navigate the touch screen on the Kia with its hundreds of radio stations whilst driving is not good.

Mmmmm that is a very good point.

I like my electric vehicle and generally it is good inside, mostly the controls are OK. But as I start to think about my next vehicle I am looking around and most electric cars have a massive touch screen fixed to the dashboard like this: It looks like they have gone to a car boot sale, bought a computer screen and fixed it on with a couple of screws. And the thought of having to use a touch screen while driving to adjust the radio or heating I think is positively dangerous. If it were a smaller integrated screen then I might forgive them but I feel this is just terrible design. Hopefully the motoring public agree with me and this is just a fad, but what do you Arbtalk members think? This is my current car inside - still annoying to change radio station - but at least it doesn't dominate the view!

A close photo of the grain would help. Sure looks like elm grain, but when you zoom in it gets a bit blurry.

Lovely timber. Not sycamore. Elm?

They are just cheap combined hygrometers/thermometers like this: Digital LCD Indoor Thermometer Hygrometer Humidity Meter Monitor Sensor Office WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Humidity Resolution: 1%. Daily Alarm Function. 12/24 Hourly Clock. Calendar Display Function. °C/°F Temperature Switch Display.

Yeah I was wondering if the claim culture is not such a thing in Sweden maybe? I am with NFUM and over the last twelve years I have noticed they seem more and more obsessed with every little risk. I do get the feeling we live in a society where we are becoming experts at finding things to claim money for. I wonder how many claims FC are dealing with at any one time?

Wow. If you tell us the schools are great and health care superb and the streets free of litter and yobs, I will conclude you are actually posting from heaven.

Have you used a moisture meter on your walls?

What type of cavity wall insulation is it? I had mineral wool, which was acting like a sponge - so I paid to have it removed.

Yes indeed. The problem comes when the customer wants a long unsupported span. If I were cutting a 4 metre or longer beam for a customer I would ask them first if it needs to be straight. If it is to be fixed in multiple places to other beams or used as a sole plate etc it will be fine.

I have six hygrometers in my house, all giving humidity of about 50%. Guess I don’t need a PIV system then!

Interesting video. He basically says he has carried out loads of steps to reduce the humidity in his home, most of which are common sense, but even with the PIV unit humidity still high. I will check when I have finished my bath what the humidity levels are in my thirties house which has several roof leaks and penetrating damp but a wood burner lit daily. I also found it an interesting concept that he says blowing unheated air into his house would somehow lower his heating bills!

Is it a new installation? If so have you spoken to the installer?

Like most of the other replies from other members I can't comment from personal experience. BUT, all a PIV system is doing is providing ventilation. This can be done well with windows. The reason you don't want to simply leave multiple windows open in your house may be to do with security and heat loss. So there is the problem, it may work well, but in cold weather you are losing all the heat from the air being pushed out of your house. In extreme heat the opposite problem will occur. If like my house you have areas that stay cool as they never get the sun, these will get hot as you are pushing the cool air out. Unless I have missed the point and it actually heats the incoming air. In which case how does it do this? If by electrical resistance heating that will be very expensive. So using logic, it may well work, but at a high cost except when the temp outside is the same as the temp inside. I am sure you could easily "prove" that it is an efficient system if you only measure the cost of running the PIV system and not measure the extra cost of heating the house. Or measure the performance in warm weather! Imagine running this system in the current UK weather conditions...

If they do bow at least they can be cross cut shorter and still good for something else. Good luck with it.

If you can just square off the log it should remain pretty straight. If the beam you end up with is just from one side it will bow as soon as it is cut.

How are you going to ensure that the beams are straight? Or have you told the customer that they most likely will not be straight? That is surely more important than price - if you go to all the effort to cut them and the customer rejects them?

I also have never had problems with it. Agreed it is harder to mill than the UK hardwoods. As is Pine, but I would say easier than Douglas Fir. Bought my first lorry load of Larch at least ten years ago, and probably had 12 loads since. Worst case I find is big logs with horrible resin pockets. These can be a pain to cut. Other than that milling Larch up to about 20 inches diameter always seems OK. Not sure about the itch from the fibres - never noticed this.

Yeah agree with the other comments - good log to start on. Should be some nice timber in there, and hopefully nothing else, as it is clearly growing in a wood. Also good straight piece, but as has been said think about the length - if you don’t need it long mill it in sections - it will be so much easier to handle.

If you can find a small sawmill nearby they might be willing to mill it for you if you can get it to them. You will have to convince them it has no metal in it of course. And if it is not forest grown then who knows what it may contain. Also you will have to cross cut it into two pieces. But then I would suggest doing that anyway - rather unlikely to find a buyer who needs twenty foot slabs. The mill then might just charge you by the hour; or my local mill charge by the cubic foot. Research needed in your area.

I bought the Norwood HD36 new in about 2016. With hindsight I should have saved up just a bit more for a manual Woodmizer (which is what I have now). The Norwood is so badly designed and built it is amazing it is still being sold. Also as you say the ceramic guide rollers were dreadful. Parts were incredibly expensive, so I would always try and source them other than from the agent. The ceramic guide rollers were about £600 just for one set for example, which you might knacker in a week. And don’t get me started on the assembly - 170 pages of instructions if I remember rightly - and not all of that was accurate. Woodmizer on the other hand was nearly fully assembled, and the quality is far superior. Parts are also very reasonable - little point in shopping around as they are already not bad. So far (one year on) no complaints about the Woodmizer - oh except the little spring which enables the setworks computer to detect up and down movement of the saw head. But so far the dealer has sent me new ones very quickly under warranty and been very helpful about suggesting ways to try and stop the part failing. Chalk and cheese as far as I am concerned. And yet the difference in price was only about ten percent. £7150 vs £8000 or thereabouts. I then later added the setworks computer and debarker to the Woodmizer. Actually I am not comparing like with like as the Norwood was Petrol powered but the Woodmizer is electric.

Incredible the things they can deduce these days with modern forensics…..!