Squaredy

Yes I did say I understand lack of space in gardens....but what about huge roadside verges?

Yes now this is different of course, but most tree surgery waste is chipped and left on site (eg road verges) or removed and tipped simply to dispose of - hence the tip site directory on Arbtalk.

Yes I realise this, but what about when there is no need to remove waste, like my neighbour?

OK I know chippers are to chip brash and help clear a site. But what I really mean is why do tree surgeons and arborists generally dispose of waste with a chipper? Forgive my ignorance as I am a miller not a tree surgeon, but unless there is no space (eg a domestic garden) why not just leave neat piles of brash and small diameter logs? This would be far better for the environment and the thousands of species who need deadwood surely? Is this driven by the customers eg road authorities who think leaving piles of logs will invite trouble? I got to thinking this when a neighbour of my work site had a tree surgeon in to reduce a Red Oak in her garden; and the tree surgeon chipped all the waste (on to my site). It was totally pointless as I would have quite happily given permission for them to leave it all unchipped, and the forest where this took place has thousands of trees felled every year as part of forestry thinning and none of this is ever chipped. What am I missing?

Should be some nice slabs in there hopefully as long as it is not full of nails. I wish I could get hold of more walnut logs, but I am not willing to pay the sort of prices I would need to pay to get more. Yes the timber sells well, but so does Oak, Ash and Sycamore, and these can be bought in by the lorry load, saving hours of faffing trying to arrange haulage and I know they are forest grown not full of wire, and it is still highly profitable. Anyway, always interested to see it when it is milled....post some pics when you mill it....

Ash sawlogs have been the mainstay of my business for years now. Much cheaper to buy than Oak, and so much easier to dry. Unless you need outdoor durability Ash is a perfect choice. UK timber merchants import into the UK thousands of tons of American Ash every year - and you could argue home grown is far superior. Nearly every pub or restaurant you visit which has lots of lovely Oak on display - it is more often Ash. Same in shops.

A bit unusual - I am guessing it was not seasoned timber?

Sounds OK, hopefully should give you some good characterful timber. Yew is never clean and straight, but is usually very beautiful and characterful.

There is no real value to those branches - just offer to pay him what you think is fair for his time in bringing them to you.

Yes. Length only matters in that if they are too long they may not fit in the kiln. How long a board takes to dry is mainly all about thickness. A really thin piece of any wood (say half an inch) can be totally dry in a couple of months in good weather, or even less for easy drying timbers. An Oak beam 8 inches thick on the other hand will take 7 or 8 years or more.

You haven’t said whether the boards are freshly milled or air dried. Kilning from fresh sawn will take ages. Also thickness is very important.

Pleased to report the new parts arrived yesterday, we fitted them straight away and are milling again now. So simple in the end - if only we had checked for part numbers first. Thank you to RS Components who had the part in stock in the UK and delivered it to us next day. Never used them before but I am sure we will again.

Well the import duty on the parts from Canada would have come to about another £10 when they arrived in the UK. Aren't we lucky in the UK to have 20%VAT thanks (in part) to the EU. Purchase tax in most of the USA is around 6% in my experience.

Well there is a lesson here. My one employee and I were looking at this part this morning and Mike said "There is a number on here - it might be a part number". Not on the sleeve that I posted the photo of on Arbtalk, but the small assembly this fits into. So we googled it and it took us straight to a UK website where the whole assembly is available next day with free delivery. I have ordered six of them for £6 each and they should be here tomorrow. Touch wood they arrive tomorrow, but what a contrast to getting from the dealer. Incidentally I managed to get Norwood in Canada to offer to supply them and send them to me, but that was going to cost $100 Canadian dollars. Better than £200 that it would have cost from the UK agent, but even so, what a scam - £15 dollars each for a tiny bit of plastic weighing less than a gram and another $40 postage.

I had a good look today at a parcel of Oaks, felled and ready to mill which are available for a fair price. They will I believe be around £130 or so per ton delivered - full lorry loads only. I made a video showing all the 230 or so oaks available. I have just realised it is way too big to upload here, but I can share it with you if you are interested. In total there are about 340 tons available, but the minimum purchase will be one lorry load (about 27 tons). Also bear in mind you will have to have access for a full size 44 ton timber lorry to deliver them to you. The quality varies quite a lot - some are pretty good and clean, others are small and bendy. But they are all worth milling for anyone who is in need of some Oaks that are not too pricey. Of course if you want to go and cherry pick the best stems the price will increase - £130 per ton would be for a random selection. If anyone is interested feel free to PM me and I will give you the contact details of the seller. I am not getting involved or making money on this I would just like to see them go to a good home.

Thank you for yet more helpful suggestions. I will look into all these and let you know what I do!

Yeah, I have asked a friend of a friend so this might be an option.

Also very interesting and thank you. I can measure tomorrow, and I will look into this and let you very helpful Arbtalkers know. I think our governments should ask for guidance from Arbtalkers on a range of issues...

Thanks for that link. I will look into them. It might not be feasible to commission someone to make them as a one-off as it is not worthwhile for them for peanuts. I almost feel I just need to come across a tube of the right diameter and to fudge it. I will probably mess about with it for a few days and then give up and buy the whole assembly. But I haven't given up yet!

Birch is much used in other countries and is a very nice indoor timber. Ideal for kitchen cupboards, mirror frames, or indeed many items where great hardness is not vital.

Thank you for the suggestion. I have asked someone if they can produce them with a 3d printer. I can't think of anyone who could make it in brass - it is so thin I am not sure if this is feasible. I will post a pic of the assembly tomorrow. I have contacted Norwood in the USA who are meant to be getting back to me, but no joy yet. I somehow doubt they will help me as it would lose them spare parts sales. And the parts are all crazy prices - especially in the UK.

Now this may sound daft, but I need four of this part for my Norwood HD36: It is a sleeve which fits into a slider used to adjust the position of the adjustable blade roller. I have of course contacted the agent (Davies Implements) and they have the whole assembly there for around £200. Which is fine but these little sleeves pop in and out so easily it is crazy to throw away the whole thing for a couple of grams of nylon. Any bright ideas? I know it is the modern way to replace whole assemblies but I do resist it when I can as it is so wasteful.

Yes it does tend to split, but if you can get it milled or split the log down the middle so the two halves dry separately there will be usable timber there. And when you do make something out of it, the grain is amazing.

Well we need to cut some of them down and get them milled and turned into turning blanks as the grain is stunning. I know they rarely will have good straight stems but this won't matter for small scale craft use.

This website has dry weights. The Wood Database WWW.WOOD-DATABASE.COM Explore the woods, break out of the ordinary. Identifying and using hundreds of woods worldwide. And my old Woodworker's Manual has many, which I used to look up in before everything was on the internet.