Squaredy

Mmmmm I know kit is vital but so frustrating as well.

So it is - my mistake. I would say such an arrangement is a whole can of worms on its own. A lot depends on how well the drive was set up all those years ago and how much wear is in the pulleys and bearings etc. And what is the arrangement for stopping it? Do you have to go and switch the engine off or is there a clutch? Actually looking at the pics again surely it is a re-saw not a sawmill? Those rollers are meant to re-saw square edged boards and beams etc, not for logs to roll along. It might be good for re-sawing beams from your Lucas Mill into boards, but I wouldn't fancy pushing a log through that blade! If it had a sliding carriage that would be different.

Fair enough, if you enjoy setting up old hefty machinery like this. I do very much like old hefty machinery, but I am also aware how expensive some of this kit is to work on. If the main motor is past its best what would the cost of re-winding a 25HP three phase motor be? Probably more than the cost of the entire mill. I am currently trying to get my large thicknesser working again. So far it has cost me about £5000, and still no good.

Well of course it depends how you value your time, but dismantling is going to be a day for two people. Assembly if you have the skills will likely take somewhere between a week and a month. It is certain that it will have some faults and wear and possibly damage so getting it all working right will maybe take much time also and who knows what work will be needed? A three phase diesel genny of that vintage could be a whole can of worms, and again could cost thousands on its own to get working right. I will be buying a Woodmizer LT15 wide fairly soon and it is going to cost £7300 or thereabouts. That will be completely new, with support and warranty, and minimal setup. Nothing will be worn or broken. Bit of a no-brainer if you ask me. And I haven't even mentioned the fuel cost - how much diesel will the Stenner drink in a day? More than a little petrol engine that a Woodmizer has that's for sure. And from next year you will not even be allowed to use red diesel to run it. This is why there are so many old Stenners like the one in the original post available and why they sell for so little.

These old Stenner's often come up and are usually cheap. For good reason. 1) Transport and installation will take a lot of time (if you have the right skills) and cost around £5,000 or even £10,000. Or more if you have no three phase electricity. 2) Maintenance of a machine of this type that could have 100,000 hours of use could cost a fortune. 3) Blades will cost £200 each to buy and more to sharpen than a Woodmizer blade costs to buy. 4) Once installed no chance of moving or changing things around if plans develop. Now that portable machines like Woodmizer are sub £10,000 I am afraid this Stenner is simply obsolete.

Once treated they should be fine.

Generally the woodworm you find in a log will die once the timber is dried. These are not the furniture beetle which likes dry timber. Also the fact that the holes are black shows the ones in the photo are old holes from years ago. I would put them to dry and keep a look out for any new holes, especially in may and June and use a chemical treatment if there is any sign of new activity. The chemical treatments will only kill the beatles as they emerge but this will then stop them laying new eggs.

It can go a bit grey in places if it dries in damp weather. Otherwise really good drying - so much more stable than other native hardwoods. Especially good as wide boards, so I would say those slabs look great. Grain is more subtle than Ash or Oak, but very beautiful nevertheless.

I used to run a kiln to dry logs. You need to heat the logs to 80 degrees centigrade for about three days. And you need to constantly vent the air and therefore heat new incoming cold air. It is a very inefficient process that requires s huge amount of energy and usually has no heat recovery. I suspect grain dries quickly with low heat. Logs need high heat for a long time as they are very good at retaining their moisture. I am not being negative but my guess is the grain drying floor would be a total non starter for logs. I don’t sell logs any more by the way.

I sell Larch cladding by the square metre, and sometimes Western Red Cedar and Dougie Fir. I charge £15 per square metre currently. This is equivalent to £22.50 per cubic foot or £795 per cubic metre. This is for rough sawn totally unseasoned timber. I think I am fairly pricey, but this is what I need to charge to make it viable for me.

Or is this the rule for specialist vehicles other than tractors...? I may have got my memories a little mixed...! Are tractors OK as long as they are farming?

As far as I am aware the majority of farmer's tractors running on the road are not allowed to use red, even if they are actively farming. A few years ago I invested in a specialist book on the subject written by the leading UK expert on the subject (who actually advises the police on the law) and as well as being excruciatingly complicated I remember that farmers are only allowed to use tractors on the road for a very short distance (1 mile from memory) whilst traveling between parcels of land they own or farm. Even agricultural contractors therefore are not allowed to use red. I think it is a case of the laws are simply ignored by both users and the authorities, and in any case would be almost impossible to enforce. Sadly the newly proposed laws are going to make this whole issue even more complicated.

Potentially it might be worth milling, but I would post a photo on ArbTalk and you will get more informed opinions.

I think it will be fine, but I guess test it on a small patch first. Is it spirit based varnish? I have used traditional varnish on metal with no problems.

I would suggest Mark, work out a price per cubic foot (or cubic metre) for each type of timber and also for different grades. So for example good clear Oak with few knots and splits might be £50 per cubic foot, burry Oak might be £60, knotty and splitty Oak might be £25, or even less if it is really just 'garden grade'. Also take account of how long it needs to dry as it is taking up your space, so 100mm Oak maybe add 30% on as it takes so long to dry. But also don't worry about having a price for every species - if you can't work out how much to charge for Mulberry maybe charge the same as you would for Oak, or if you think it is highly sought after the same as you would for Walnut. If you struggle to get any takers maybe drop the price. Also I would suggest charging a premium for wide boards as they are more difficult to produce and keep flat and there is a lot of demand for wider boards. Over time you will learn what you can charge more for and what you need to charge less for.

Also beware of what is in the "empty" containers. They often have a little bit of something nasty in them, which is often three or four gallons. I ended up with about a hundred and fifty gallons of bituminous paint which was far too thick and contaminated to be sellable, and I had no use for. And remember if you ever need to dispose of the plastic bit of an IBC container it is classed as hazardous waste!

Interesting thread, and good on you squirrel removal guys. Realistically though we need larger scale solutions. The wood where my sawmill is based is over 3000 acres, even if you were nearer how could you clear an area of this size with shooting? It is always disappointing to me that Natural Resources Wales and the Woodland Trust who manage most of that 3000 acres do nothing about the squirrels at all. Yet they plant tens of thousands of native broadleave trees every winter, almost all of which will be adversely affected by the grey squirrels whilst young. Why do they not have more predators? Of course I know the answer to that - because they were introduced to the UK relatively recently and predators have not yet evolved or adapted.

Yes red also contains ethanol, but not sure of the percentage. My kiln is diesel fired and is meant to r run on pure diesel with no ethanol. I failed to find a supplier of pure diesel so I have always run it on red against the manufacturer’s advice.

Totally agree that a large farm will use a lot of diesel. I live near to a medium size haulage firm who have 100+ trucks on the road, and they would use easily 25,000 litres of diesel per day, and of course they have to use white diesel. And yet I can still pop to my local Tesco and buy enough food to feed my family all day for less than an hour's pay at minimum wage.

Is food so expensive? I would say food in the UK is generally pretty cheap, What proportion of our income do we spend on food in modern times? Certainly far less than when I was a schoolboy. One major reason it is cheap is the vast farm subsidies (I know we have left the EU but I assume the farm subsidies have not suddenly stopped). If food were more expensive perhaps we would eat less meat and more veg. Perhaps we would not waste a third of what we buy. New Zealand have managed to abolish farming subsidies completely I believe, and they still manage to feed themselves.

Well, yes it is subsidised as the industries which produce the fuel cause a vast amount of environmental damage which they generally do not clean up. The other way it is subsidised is that the pollution caused by burning diesel is not mitigated or cleaned up by the producer or generally the user. The cost of the climate crisis we are all facing is borne by us and everybody around the world, so yes red diesel is subsidised. As is aviation fuel, but that is another story. And don't get me started on the filthy stuff they use in ships! So thick and tarry it needs to be heated before it can be pumped out of the tanks!

Why should anyone use cheap red diesel? Abolish it and save a whole raft of bureaucracy. If we are all agreed that burning fossil fuels is so harmful let's not subsidise it! In the grand scheme of things what is the logic of having cheap diesel for running tractors, commercial boats, generators, etc, etc, etc. We are unlikely to look for cleaner methods whilst red diesel is cheap and plentiful... By the way I am talking as someone who does use red diesel at work, but I would be more than happy to pay for white diesel if there was no choice. My petrol for my mills and chainsaws is full price petrol after all.

Get some professional help. Chiropractors and Osteopaths are the available experts realistically. NHS may well be able to help, but you may be waiting for a year just for the initial appointment. Another MRI may be sensible followed by a chat with a NHS or private back specialist, but meanwhile I would see a Chiropractor or Osteopath.

I am no scientist, but petrol, diesel and kerosene are refined and designed to give a clean burn. Tyres are designed to give good grip. They are not designed to burn cleanly. Remember when petrol had lead in, which appeared to burn away quite cleanly; until it was realised it was harming the health of people living near to roads.

What has to be said is burning tyres - no matter how cleanly or efficiently - will produce more harmful pollution than burning other fossil fuels. And yes, of course tyres are a fossil fuel. What are modern tyres made from? Largely oil of course. But unlike burning petrol or kerosene or diesel, tyres are not designed to be burned, so are undoubtedly much more polluting when burned. Of course this pollution might pale into insignificance when compared with the tyre dust we must all breathe when we drive or walk near roads. After all, when tyres wear down what happens to the material that wears off? If it doesn't end up in the air it must be on the road and in the landscape. I drive an electric car, but sadly it still wears oil based tyres. Interesting isn't it that there is so much publicity about diesel particulate pollution, and more recently even woodburning stove pollution, but no mention in the main press of tyre wear pollution. Interesting article here Tyres: The plastic polluter you never thought about | National Geographic WWW.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK Because tyres are made of natural rubber and plastic, it’s easy to miss just how much they contribute to pollution in our... for anyone interested.