Squaredy
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Everything posted by Squaredy
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I do agree the foliage does look very WRC doesn't it! Sorry if I have got that one wrong. In which case that is a very nice Cedar. Next time I am nearby I will go and check.
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To bring this topic back on track I think Coastal Redwood is one of the best timbers as wide slabs. Shame they so rarely come up. It has the durability and stability of Giant Redwood, but is a stronger, altogether superior timber. It is a shame that so little of it is grown as forest trees in the UK, and the stands of it that I know of have not been managed properly so when milled they will have large dead knots all the way up.
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Please specify whether it is the tree or my lovely Wife you are reacting to..... PS: she doesn't smile like this all the time. Actually just reading up on the tinternet it seems Coastal Redwood are still the world's tallest tree.
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Myself and the Mrs in front of a pretty big Coastal Redwood in West Wales. They don't get such massive girth as Giant Redwood, but still very impressive, even babies like this one. Before we cut all the tall ones down they were the world's tallest tree...
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I am not sure that fluffy socks really give Class 1 protection, I think you will have to get some chainsaw boots. Correct me if I am wrong of course.
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I think you and Big J are right. Coastal Redwood though not Sequoia.
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I have to agree with this. I save money because I don't work out the value of the firewood I burn which is all sawmill "waste". I enjoy my woodburner partly because I love a real fire but also because we use it as much as we like without worrying about wood consumption, whereas if we put gas central heating on we would probably only let it come on for a couple of hours each evening. And my house gets really cold in winter so it would be miserable. As a small scale firewood seller I would say the majority of my customers just love their woodburners - very few of them are expecting it to save them money. It is a luxury item like their fancy car. -
Sounds awesome. I just hope your Garmin GPS is more reliable than my Garmin satnav.....!
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Just to throw another fly into the ointment of Drax burning woodchip sourced from the USA, there is evidence that some of the woodchip is being sourced from clearfelling virgin forest. It is meant to come from low grade material that is produced as a by-product of the huge logging industry in the USA but satellite imagery has given very strong evidence that some of it is actually causing de-forestation. This is a problem that the USA will have to fix of course, and our government won't care - the stats will still show an improvement in the carbon footprint of Drax.
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Yea close-up piccies would help. Anyone who said Larch however must have been looking at the pic on a very small screen....a phone perhaps. I have zoomed in on a decent size screen and I am way out of my depth. Certainly not a common native tree.
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I agree with what Big J says, but would also add that a lot depends on the log and how it is cut so to an extent if a board wants to twist or warp it will. To avoid movement you need to quarter-saw logs, or at the very least saw into narrower boards. Also straps don't really help as they will loosen as the timber dries and shrinks. I guess they may help if you keep tightening them. Also think about where you are storing the boards - out of sun and rain, but with good airflow. But to a large extent a good straight grained log without knots will stay much straighter than a knarly old knotty bendy log when milled.
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That is always the best way. But paying by PayPal does give some protection. It won't give protection against an item not quite being as it should or as you hope, but it will give protection against scams or indeed disorganised sellers who mess you around and fail to send your goods. It is always good to be aware also whether you are dealing with a business or an individual. The law gives quite a lot of protection when buying from a business including the right to return an item for a refund for any reason at all within 14 days (except for a few items like specially made or adapted items). From an individual however there is very little protection. On a PC it is easy to see if a seller is a business - on the right of the listing page just under the "contact the seller" link it will state "Registered as a business seller" if it is a business. On a phone I have no idea how you tell.
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I hope you have not been scammed. I would recommend always being suspicious when buying something unseen and paying in advance. I would be even more suspicious when the seller asks for payment by bank transfer. I would suggest requesting contact details from ebay (this is a standard right you have) and this may give you an address and further phone numbers. Or if the item has been listed by a hacked account it will bring this to light if you try to contact the real account holder. Also it may prompt them (if genuine) to reply to you and re-arrange delivery. Don't forget you can open a case with ebay, even though you didn't pay by paypal; though sadly I don't think ebay will refund your money.
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Or if you get lots of good size logs maybe sell them on for milling. I would offer but I am too far away from you. Or maybe they are not logs worth milling? I guess all this talk of large logs being ringed up for firewood makes me wince!
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Here is a nice picture I was sent a few days ago, offering me these top quality specimens. I am not buying softwood logs just now, so if anyone is interested I will pass the contact details on. I am not totally convinced they are fully mature and ready for felling though. Maybe the owner should give them a few more weeks?
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I can only say what I am currently paying. Small diameter Ash nice and clean and straight with not too many end splits I would value at £2.50 per hoppus foot roadside. Larch about the same size if it is nice and clean, maybe £70 or £75 per ton (which I would estimate to be around £2.50 per hoppus foot also). Larch has gone up a lot in the last year or so.
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If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck....
Squaredy replied to eggsarascal's topic in The Lounge
Yes the article quoted in the original post said he made six figure sums some years. That sounds like a self-employed wage not an employee's wage with benefits like sick pay and holiday pay etc. I bet lots of genuinely self-employed arborists would love to earn that money. For some reason plumbers have become very greedy in recent years. How often will a plumber work hard tracing a fault and rectifying it and simply charge you a fair hourly rate? More likely they will condemn your boiler and charge you £2800 to fit a new one. I am sure there are exceptions of course. -
If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck....
Squaredy replied to eggsarascal's topic in The Lounge
Yes it stinks doesn't it. It is only made possible of course by UK tax laws and employment laws being so complicated that you need specialists to interpret them, and even then those specialists often disagree. Maybe all income tax and NI should be abolished and we all keep every penny we earn, and then taxes increased on what we spend (ie VAT) to make up the difference. What a lot of time and administrative cost that would save. Luxury goods of course would be most highly taxed and essentials taxed least. -
It usually only affects large landowners who have land or property they totally neglect or fail to use. In many ways you could say it is very fair that if you allow someone to use your property for 10 years and treat it as their own and take no action then maybe you don't really need it. In a lot of cases the land is unregistered and the ownership has been lost in the mists of time. Of course if you go back far enough how did anyone acquire land......just by enclosing and using it.
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Here is an example. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3589749/Pensioner-s-anger-squatter-wins-right-400-000-house-faces-losing-flat-pay-legal-bills.html
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You might be surprised how common it is. Here is some info about it. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-land-and-2-registered-land/practice-guide-5-adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-and-2-registered-land-where-a-right-to-be-registered-was-acquired-before-13-october-2003 There have been some very high profile cases in the news over the years, where squatters have eventually taken posession of a large town house because the council who owned the house failed to kick them out.
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Actually no quite the reverse. You can indeed claim registered land. I think the timescale may be different but it certainly can be done. You have to prove posession for the required time. And you have to prove it is adverse - ie without permission. Funny isn't it that you can just start using someone else's property and if you get away with it for long enough you can make it your own legally.
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Any camera can act as a deterrant, as long as it LOOKS at least functional. But the real key to yard security is not in CCTV. I apologise as you may well be fully aware of this, but the most important steps are to do with making sure kit is not left at a vulnerable site, and/or the most "nickable" kit is in secure strongboxes; and maybe even getting a locakable shipping container. I find the most effective way is to have kit that looks old and knackered....they don't bother then! My experience of having a break-in and having it all on CCTV is you show the footage to the police, they say they will circulate it and nothing more happens. Unless you or they have an idea who the toe-rag is then what more can anyone do?
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Well if it is a council owned wood you should have a very easy solution. Contact the council tree officer and explain there are dangerous looking trees in their wood which you know children play in. It goes without saying they have a responsibility to keep their woods safe, so especially if you point out one tree seems to be moving. They will have their own professionals and sub-contractors whom they can easily employ to make it all safe.
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Agreed; a bit of clarity would be helpful. And consideration for others when parking.
