Squaredy

Can't argue with any of that. And you haven't even mentioned the decades of bodging that blights our houses even more. My 1920's house is stifling upstairs at the moment because plastic windows were fitted in the late nineties with very few openers for instance. It also has many damp issues made worse by the government sponsored cavity wall insulation fitted in 1999. At least these issues can be fixed, eventually and at a cost of many thousands. So to add to your ire about housebuilders I would add much frustration about cowboy builders, window companies etc.

I made a mistake with my first Bandmill. It is a Norwood HD36 I bought new in 2015. Regretted it from day one.

Yes that is hefty I agree. As the OP said if a couple could come over at the same time it might be more reasonable. I think the high cost is due to the fact it comes as one fully assembled. Having had to assemble my Norwood from a box of bits I would def pay $2500 to avoid doing this again....!

Mmmmm that is impressive. I will need to replace my Norwood at some point and that does look a lot of saw for your money. To be able to cut up to 32 inches wide is impressive for a saw of that price. And I do agree with you, parts should not be a problem. In fact I often find it quicker and cheaper to order parts from the USA even when they are available here in the UK. I needed a new carb for my Lucas Mill a couple of years back and I tried to get it about a week before Christmas. The local guys said things like...."Ooooohhh you won't get it until the second week of the new year." So I found a dealer in USA who I spoke to over the phone; he had the exact correct spec OE Kohler carb on the shelf, and it went in the post the same day. It flew to Heathrow Christmas day and even with customs clearance it was in my hands late December.

First log milled earlier in the week with my Peterson. To begin with the blade was diving but we adjusted it and got it cutting straight. This batch was done without sharpening the chain and now I think a sharpen is needed. So far so good.

Sadly I think it is too late for the ones felled four years ago as none of those species are durable. Even the Red Oak will be starting to rot. There may be some pretty spalting here and there, but also many soft bits. There would be some good stuff probably, but whether you would ever get enough timber to cover the milling cost is doubtful. The freshly felled Oak will be fine of course. They would give you a number of rustic beams or low grade planking. This might be a better bet for your garden table, although there would be rather a lot of sapwood.

Oak has gone up a lot recently and seems to be around £5.50 per hoppus foot for the cheapest grade. And that is going to be knotty and wasteful. You might be better off trying to find Sweet Chestnut - much cheaper and cleaner, just check for ring shake. Or use Oak for the posts only and Larch or Douglas Fir for the rest.

Yeah that is pretty much what I was thinking. Not sure whether to mount the winch or have it loose for flexibility. And as you say a ground anchor will be necessary for bigger logs.

Oh wow that is a price. No the one we use is Axminster £200 or so.

That is pretty much it. Wonder if my Dachsunds would be able to do it.....? They have a very low centre of gravity....

Well it is a good idea and I have mulled over this, but it would be an expensive job to do this properly. To be honest I think I would struggle to find someone willing to do it. The professional guys would not want to get involved with old kit, and cowboys would probably make a mess of it.

I have for years been wanting to get a fast tow trailer for transporting logs locally, as I am offered lots of good logs that are uneconomical to pay someone else to collect. They very rarely come up second hand and I think at £13,000 or so new this is just too much for a piece of kit I would use maybe a couple of times a month. I therefore will probably stick to a dropside Ifor Williams trailer and a winch. Has anyone got a great winch they would like to suggest for the purpose? Also methods and tips would be handy. Bear in mind this will be for good size logs, not firewood so each log will weigh half a ton or sometimes over a ton. I have for four years or so used my Transit with a crane, but this is starting to develop problems and is expensive to keep on the road, and I no longer need it for anything else so it is going. Suggestions appreciated.

We use the Axminster Power Cap for milling, but I can't get your link to work so I don't know if this is the same as the one you are referring to. Can you put a photo on?

Here is a pic showing the Alder cupboard doors. Worktop is Beech.

It looks like the love-child of a Range Rover and a Skoda Yeti. I think the gap in the market that someone needs to exploit is for a rugged practical well designed vehicle that is a bit more back to basics. There are already countless luxury off road vehicles including Range Rover, Evoque, Disco, plus offerings from virtually every other manufacturer that exists now. No one is offering a simple rugged well built vehicle. The major purchasers of these vehicles as far as I am aware are utility companies and military. Do they really want all that style and comfort? A good chassis and power train, coupled with a practical versatile body and reasonable comfort inside. Focus on durability and reliability and repairability and it would sell to the world. But then again are Land Rover actually capable of manufacturing a reliable vehicle?

Resistance to Dutch Elm Disease has recently been discussed in another thread. It seems Ulmus Lutuce is a very good choice. Have a look at this wiki article: Ulmus 'Nanguen' = Lutece - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG Are you having the old elms milled? It is usually very beautiful timber.

Ah good tip re identification. I think the Scottish Elms are just a bit behind the ones further south. Many are felled each year as they succumb to the disease. A few years back I received an invitation to bid for Elm saw logs being sold by Edinburgh Council, and it was 130 trees - and that was just a single season's worth of felling I believe. So I would say enjoy them while you can

We did indeed enjoy your rock thank you. Had some lovely Mackerel from just off the Needles, and some dinosaur bone fragments from Compton Bay. Couldn't go into any of the museums but still a very nice break. We did see lots of tourists, but apparently it was much less busy than normal. Didn't spoil your rock however!

Well we stayed in a lovely quiet spot near the Needles (last drive on the right before the touristy stuff), but we visited a few areas of course. Best of all we were able to have a drink and a meal in a pub. Yes - IN A PUB! Us poor Welsh are not allowed to do that in Wales yet....

Yeah Brighton have managed to stay free of DED so there are apparently 30,000 or more healthy mature Elms there, and I guess the majority are English and Wych Elm. Must go and take the family to do an Elm tour there....how can I sell that to my little boys....?

I was on holiday on the Isle of Wight last week and I couldn't help noticing the number of Elm trees. Mainly they were just hedgerow trees, which I am quite used to, but it got me Googling, in case the Isle of Wight was a Dutch Elm Disease free area like the Isles of Scilly. It turns out Wight does indeed have the disease and has been devastated like the most of the UK, but I found some fascinating stuff about disease resistant Elms that they have been planting on the island since the mid nineties. I did not realise there are such varieties, but apparently Ulmus Lutece is not only fully resistant but also very good for the natural fauna such as the White-Letter Hairstreak butterfly. If this is true this is great news, and maybe everyone else knows about this. Why do we not plant loads of these? Maybe we do? I am not a forester so I would love some of the forestry Arbtalkers to comment. Anyone out there planting Ulmus Lutece all over the place? 5000 have been planted on the Isle of Wight and are looking promising apparently. Here is the link: Elm Trees - Gift To Nature GIFTTONATURE.ORG.UK Elm Identification: Click here for a handy guide from the lovely people at the Natural History Museum. Elms were once the characteristic mature trees across much of the Island’s... By the way I am not totally confident about my ability to identify Elms and not mix them up with Hazel - so here are a couple of pictures:

No, VAT on top but half of that can be reclaimed.

They may offer me the chance to buy the car but otherwise that is that. It is a lease not a purchase - my limited company are just leasing it for four years.

After a full year of waiting after paying the deposit, I finally took delivery of my brand new fully electric car on Wednesday. It is a Kia E Niro, and we call him Robert, of course. Early days yet, but I think I am happy. A lot of the technology inside is frankly ill-thought out and annoying. Even potentially dangerous in fact. But the overall package of an electric car which does a realistic mileage, drives well, and costs so little to re-fuel that it makes up for the crazy purchase price is a good one. The service from the dealer was appalling (Wessex Kia) and they are so incompetent that they failed to take my deposit last year, even though when I reminded them they assured me they had it! The leasing company I will be paying each month I suspect will be a little more organised.... If you are wondering, it was £2000 up-front followed by £345 per month for four years. A lot of money I would say (especially for someone who usually buys a 12 year old vehicle for thrupence and keeps it on the road as long as possible, patching it up as it falls apart). On the other hand, compared to my old car I am saving: £25 per month road tax; £10 per month insurance; £70 (average) per month maintenance and MOT; £150 per month fuel, so not so very different after all. Plus of course the financial risk of car ownership and hefty repair costs lies with the lease company not with me.

They will have to make sure they use dissimilar metals (aircraft aluminium and steel) so that they cause each other to rust. That was genius from Land Rover.