Squaredy

7 minutes ago, timberdelf said:

Back again had a good think now thinking of going the bobcat way with appropriate grab fortimber ? Not this machine but similar 

I have considered skid steer also.  I believe they are good but they do make a mess of the ground if it is soft.

1 minute ago, Stumpy Grinder said:

I’ll just leave this here:

 

Well I guess we should be grateful it isn’t carved in any way.

2 hours ago, Stephen Blair said:

I started mine when I was 16, I was told my pot will be over £450k, 27 years later at £150 a month my pot might make £180k.  I put £1800 a year in and my annual payout will be £1500 a year in 2041! 

Your maths is a bit wrong somewhere.  Depending on what age you retire and what options you go for a pension pot of £180k will pay a yearly pension of around £5000 to £9000.  If you were to delay retirement you could get substantially more than this even.

Maybe you are looking at a projection that is based on the fund value now not when you retire?

1 hour ago, Ian C said:

does it really matter? does it make you feel less wanted?

 

from a "senior member" ?

The level of bullying of Junior Arbtalk members by Senior Arbtalk members is now completely out of hand.  Whilst it is nice to be recognised as young and virile we also want to be respected for our great experience and wisdom.  

I propose that a new category is created of Dynamic Progressive Member to make us Junior Members feel loved again.  If I wasn't such a dinosaur I would set up voting buttons on this thread to gauge members' opinions and add a few crazy emojis....

8 hours ago, westphalian said:

i've noticed for some time that "junior" member and "senior" member don't seem to show any correlation with how long someone has been a member or how many posts they done. And it certainly isn't on age.

how is the seniority worked out?

cash in an envelope to one of the Steves?

Clearly no-one knows, not even Steve.  I think we should start an elite group for us rare junior members.  I wonder how many of us there are?  Maybe just the two of us?  The plot thickens...

19 minutes ago, westphalian said:

i've noticed for some time that "junior" member and "senior" member don't seem to show any correlation with how long someone has been a member or how many posts they done. And it certainly isn't on age.

how is the seniority worked out?

cash in an envelope to one of the Steves?

That didn't work for me...

8 minutes ago, swinny said:

Sorry but its 4 years on assets  look on gove website says it clearly

Yes well spotted, but only six months for services.  And as it says only for the business now registered for VAT.  So in reality if the business has only just been incorporated I assume you would not be able to go back even one day.

2 hours ago, donnk said:

go ltd.

 

lend the company £14k to buy the van off you.

 

company buys van (V5 in ltd co name) pays you back the 14k you just lent.

 

Company now has a 14k debt on the books. Repay this before taking any earnings above your tax code. £11k ish.

 

Repeat for all your tools, gear, computer etc anything business related.

 

Same for a portion of heat, power from h ouse for running a home office.

 

If you go vat registered and can find receipts you can claim back VAT on purchases upto 7 years ago.

Most of this is true (when you register for VAT it is only 18 months or so you can go back claiming past paid VAT on many items not 7 years and then I doubt you could do it before the company was incorporated).

However compared to being self employed it is all a lot more hassle and paperwork. 

Having been self employed and had a limited company I would say being self-employed is a lot easier overall.

1 hour ago, Mr. Squirrel said:

Hey guys, I've searched various other forums for advice with this and think I have the answers, just thought I'd run it past arbtalk...

 

I've been self employed for 7 years now, up until our current tax year purely subbing. So books were always dead simple, invoices minus business expenditure, booyah. 
In the 2017-2018 tax year though I bought a van. My mum died that year and I received £10,000 from her pension, I borrowed a few grand from a family member on top of a grand or so I had so I could get a bombproof vehicle for work. So ended up spending £14,000. As what I borrowed was a private loan with no interest etc. I just paid it back out of my drawings. Seems legit to me. 
As it's a transit it's undeniably a commercial vehicle. Do I put that in my balance sheets for 2017-2018, but not include it in business expenditure, and then just put it through in my annual investment allowance? 
It was a poor year for business, as I took the first 6 months off work caring for my mum. So putting the full £14,000 through in one year will see my profits well below the approx £11,000 figure at which you start paying tax.  Can I put a portion of it through for 17-18, and spread the rest over the next 4 years or so, aye?

 

Looking ahead I'd almost be tempted get it done with in a single tax year and take the hit on the tax front in subsequent years. It'd mean more realistic profit values and possibly really help with getting a mortgage in a few years time.

 

From April my books will be done through a chartered accountant linked into Sage so I won't be asking tree surgeons for help haha I'd ring him up to chew this one over but I feel wide calling up a couple weeks before tax return is due having a flapper. 

 

Cheers for any advice in advance, and please guys, be kind. We aren't all accounting wizards... 

I would advise you ask your future accountant.  Vehicles usually have to be written off over a number of years, though there have been a number of schemes in recent years to allow the full allowance in year one.  You could of course ask HMRC - I think you will be surprised how helpful they can be.

1 hour ago, Eriknick said:

Hello Squaredy, a debt of gratitude is in order for your answer to my worry I examined above however you didn't consider me important, I extremely like on the off chance that you can answer my asked for the inquiry.

Hi Eriknick, I am afraid I have no knowledge of Sandalwood so I don't think I will be able to help you.  However we do have a very active member on here who knows everything about everything as he watches lots of Youtube videos so I am sure he will tell you everything you need to know.

Did you write the instructions for my new CCTV system I bought off eBay a while back?

1 hour ago, NickinMids said:

Hi

 

I have some log weight charts based on green oak but not sure where I got them.

I could do with some from a recognised source as I have to do a full method statement for some crane works

and need to justify my conclusions regarding predicted weights etc for the lifts

 

Does anybody know where I could reference some from etc

 

Thanks

Try TRADA.

1 hour ago, mikedrums69 said:

Anyone know if there’s any price difference ordering from Australia rather than America? 

I guess you would have to say what type of item you are thinking of buying.

That is a very mixed bag you have there with clearly some good timber, but maybe also some not so good.  It is very difficult to judge the volume from the photos but it looks way too much for say a large Transit, it looks as if it would need a flatbed lorry to remove it all.

I would forget about trying to sell it to individuals, as they will want to pick out boards that suit there need (who can blame them).  Even local joiners etc will be just a waste of your time as they would not want such a mixed lot, even for a very low price - it would take up a huge space in a workshop and take many years to use.

Timber merchants will not want it as they want specific species and sizes etc and it would not be worth paying someone to spend a week or more trying to sort it out - in any case not many people would be able to be certain about what species they all are.

I think your best bet is to either enter it as small lots in an appropriate auction or offer it to your nearest wood recycling project.

Entering it in an auction will mean spending a lot of time sorting through it and deciding what goes in each lot, and you may have to wait a while as you need an auctioneer who holds regular timber sales so you may have to wait until their next sale.  I know of such an auctioneer in my area but there may not be one near you.

Your local wood recycling project will be delighted with it and may pay a reasonable price for it.  This is by far your easiest option as they should simply come and take the lot.  You should expect to receive a low but fair price from them - maybe £150 per 3.5T van load.

If you advertise and try and deal with multiple buyers you will find it will take a very long time to shift it all as timber buyers are generally very specific and sorting through quantities of timber is very time consuming.

Good luck with the sale - please let us know what happens.

1 hour ago, Rough Hewn said:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-46790365/ces-2019-hands-on-with-mui-the-smart-plank-of-wood

 

Looks like rippled Sycamore or Maple to me.  If that could be incorporated into something like a sideboard it would be sort of cool.  Also sort of ridiculous  - imagine going to your furniture maker and asking him or her to incorporate this board into a piece....but please do not cut it, router it, sand it or put any finish on it.  And what about the power lead?  

Much as I love the look and feel of wood maybe some things are best left uninvented?  Is there such a word?

57 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

 

Many moons ago I milled some heavily spalted beech, they were forgotten about for the last two years in storage, finally took them out yesterday to find some have a substantial bloom on them. The wood itself, while light is not spongey, but very light for beech. I guess it had lost some of its density before being felled anyway. Basically what I am wondering is;

1. If i plane up this wood and store it in drier conditions for a short while will the fungus (presuming it's a fungus) die off?

2. If used indoors (I have a shelving project in mind for it) could this regrow?

Some boards have quite a covering, some are virtually clean, the airflow in storage was poor but it has only affected the beech, and only from this particular tree.

 

All wood rotting funghi need moisture to survive.  If you now let it fully dry the funghi will disappear.  The light wood will be weak but may still have lots of uses.  Parts of it may be ideal for shelves etc, but parts may be too far gone.  Test it by digging your nail it - this will show you how soft and weak it is.

This seems to have become the "Items made from Elm" thread....  So here are some Elm boats...  Amazing that they can still find good clean straight grained Elm to make them.  Every boat in this photo is made of Elm.

On 29/11/2018 at 19:53, Lumpupatrunk said:

Are you after a buyer for the main trunk and branches?  If so where is it?  Not a burry trunk but I am sure someone will take it off your hands....!!

4 hours ago, AJStrees said:

Incredible! They don't get that big over here. 

They may in time.  All the ones in the UK are babies still.  Outside of their natural range the UK is their most favoured habitat.

1 hour ago, aspenarb said:

Its between eight and nine tons but as far as telehandlers go its very compact. It will trot down the road at a fair pace and if its local that what I do, it normally has the grinder up its chuff on the same job so it gets put on the truck. The lower deck on that trailer is 30` so the telehandler without contraptions is about 15`

 

Its a Sambron, there is a cheap one up for grabs on the bay of thieves https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FDI-Sambron-Telehandler-Telporter-Jcb-NO-VAT/292864726804?hash=item4430191714:g:hDAAAOSwEVtcEYPx:rk:1:pf:0

 

 

 

Bob

 

 

 

Ah thanks, now I see how you can move it to site.  As a lowly sawyer rather than an exulted tree surgeon I couldn’t afford kit like that.  ?.

If you were in my area I would ask if you wanted to use your nice kit to flog me logs for milling but as you are about four hours from me that may not work!

48 minutes ago, neiln said:

with all the gumtree/facebook group etc ads you see for a few bits of rotten timber/piles of painted or treated wood, broken fence panels and general mess, I sort of think they know its worthless but are trying on in the hope some mug will not know better and will clear their mess away for them, but this?  WTF?  they've had a tree felled and asked for the wood to be left by the looks.....do they actually really think its worth money?  50 quid if delivered, fine, but to collect?  Oh dear. 

They are guilty of a very quick bit of google research or maybe taking too much notice of a bit of heresay and thinking that ash firewood is like gold.

Maybe the seller looked at some other eBay listings and just assumed that every item for sale finds a buyer at the advertised price.

There are a lot of muppets out there.  

2 hours ago, aspenarb said:

For on site moving or loading timber about I dont think you can beat a telehandler, keep away from exfarm machines because most of them have had the transmission ripped out of them pushing into stacks. Ex site machines are normally only used as a forklift, the set up below can scoop brash,pick up whole trees,load timber trailers and still be used as a forklift. They tick a lot of boxes and our guys insist on taking one on clearance work.

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

That is a useful looking machine.  Is it a full size telehandler?   Just being nosey how do you get it to the worksite, surely it is way too heavy to tow on a trailer?

10 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

As I said Caterpillar failed to get it to market yet.

 

My ex colleague went on to work on solid oxide fuel cells  in conjunction with gas turbines  and told me they were months away from the market producing electricity at 70% c thermal conversion efficiency, RollsRoyce made him redundant last week and the business was sold to LG in Korea.

 

My £25 one is still going fine after 3 years, not sure it distributes much heat though. The thing is the little Peltier effect devices they use were developed for cooling as they have a big market for cooling electronics (and beer ;-)) thus they became available cheaply. The problem is they break down at 200C, so if you get them too hot...

 

Dedicated heat to electricity ones use much the same effect but named  after the bloke who described it, Seebeck, and presumably survive higher temperatures, but probably much more expensive.

 

These semiconductor TEGS   convert about 5% of the heat passing through from hot to cold side into electricity, metal to metal ones less than 1% but withstand much higher temperatures.

Sounds like I have cooked mine then.  As you say it doesn't seem to achieve much anyway - when mine did work I wasn't aware of any noticeable improvement in hot air getting into the room.

46 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

For those that have ecofans on their stoves here's a step up

 

http://he-energy.gmbh/en/seebeck_eng.html

 

It actually knits in quite well with solar PV for off grid as it would provide light and IT if you use a laptop and LED lighting and at this time of year the PV gives very little.

 

I was following Caterpillar's  development of a truck which had no alternator but derived 5kW of electricity from heat passing through the exhaust using Seebeck TEGs but that has gone quiet. TEGs seem to be an order of magnitude mere expensive than PV  for a given installed capacity.

 

 

Interesting but is it practical?  

My fan only worked for a year or so - big fat waste of £60 that turned out to be.  Looking at other AT threads they seem very flaky.  Is that the case with all these electricity from heat devices?

2 hours ago, szophee said:

I think you are right Paul.  The seeds they drop look like Sycamore seeds.  

 

It's quite sad if this has been done for the benefit of someone's car.

Street trees are usually topped on a regular basis and can be very attractive managed this way.  I wouldn't worry they will be fine as Steve said.  This is the right time of year to do the work as they will re-grow spectacularly in the Spring, and in a year or two you will be amazed how healthy and normal they look.  Sycamore in particular will re-grow well.