agg221

I've never done it, but a lot of people register previously unregistered/registration lost classic vehicles (my knowledge is only of land rovers which seem to have been bought as estate vehicles and never registered). It seems it's fairly easy to do - simple form, chassis/vin number needed depending on age. If it's a classic and hence tax exempt you seem to get a bit more of a serious looking at to check it's legit, and getting the relevant owners' club involved seems to be the easiest route as they tend to get the job of vetting them eventually for validity anyway (this is now official policy). Otherwise it just means normal road rules (e.g. MOT if necessary) apply. Alec

At first glance I wondered how on earth you'd got those bits hanging on the wall... Nice slabs though, and come out very square. Alec

I think to some extent it depends on what you're trying to produce. A bandsaw takes a far smaller kerf for a given throat. A racksaw takes a bigger kerf but can, with care, go in from one side only to quarter up a log. Personally, I wouldn't go for a chainsaw mill on a carriage if I was building it, as for me the two points a chainsaw mill scores on are low cost for a given throat size and portability (offset against low speed and wide kerf). On a carriage you lose some of the cost advantage by the time you've built it, and all of the portability. Kerf becomes more important the thinner the section you're trying to make, so for inch boards it's a big issue but for fenceposts, gateposts or beams it's less of an issue. Not that it's the league you're thinking in, but the biggest commercial mill in the UK runs circular saws - one comes in from the top and one from the bottom, with a gang of them in parallel to cut all the planks at once. The reason is speed - apparently you can't run logs down a bandsaw line faster than about 120m/min while a circular saw will do 170m/min. Kerf is 4.5mm, which overall makes less of an impact than the increased linespeed on all out production. Alec

Of the species you mention, only ash is native. Mulberry might grow, but is pretty rare (certainly wouldn't find it wild). The others are US species. If you want good Scottish species, I would suggest substituting rowan for mulberry, oak for black locust and blackthorn for hackbush. Hickory, maybe replace with birch or alder? The above could all be found growing close to one another, particularly near the valley floor. Heartwood isn't a disease or fungal attack - it's the natural way trees grow, so they don't 'suffer' from it. Only the outer part of the tree's structure is active, carrying sap (sapwood). As the tree ages the inner part of the tree stops functioning to carry sap and the wood structure converts to heartwood. Heart rot is literally when the heartwood rots, which can happen to any species. It doesn't kill the tree in itself as it's only the inactive heartwood which is attacked, however depending on other loading on the tree it can make it more easily damaged by strong winds. Alec

Whatever you can get for free More seriously, if you want to use it outside and don't want regular maintenance you pretty much have to accept that it will go grey, or you will have to paint it. Oak, sweet chestnut, robinia and yew are the most durable, although some people would regard it as sacrilege to let yew go grey. Only reckon on the heartwood lasting, so if you leave it waney edged with sapwood and bark included, reckon on the design allowing for these to be lost. Larch heartwood is OK too, but has a tendency to move and crack even though it doesn't rot. Indoors, whatever you like the look of. Depends on whether your preferred style is chunky and rustic, smooth, clean lines or fine cabinetwork. Also depends on whether you're making to use, or to sell. Sycamore gives a good clean colour, ash is popular but I dislike it as it's open grained and goes dirty very easily. Beech is out of favour but good if you like the look. I wouldn't bother milling horse chestnut or willow though, or poplar unless you want to make weatherboarding (it takes up preservative well). Alec

Finally managed to get the combination of phone and charger in the same place at the same time, and took a couple of photos. There is no way I can think of to make lath look either exciting or artistic, but here goes! The laths in the first picture are about 3' long, 1.25" wide. Because I'm making mine out of offcuts, they're random lengths. I make up a load, then sort them into gradations of a foot in length (2-3', 3-4', 4-5' etc). I haven't worked out all my stud spacings yet, otherwise I'd sort for that instead. I then bundle them in batches of 8 as this should cover a foot width. It means if I pick up a 4-5' bundle it will cover 4sq.ft. The second picture shows bundles of them stacked away in the shed roof. Alec

In answer to your question on equipment, I would suggest a 36" Alaskan mill (it can be adjusted smaller if required), the biggest powerhead you can afford - 066/MS660 would be a minimum for regular use on anything much over a foot diameter and 070/075/076/084/088/MS880/090 are all good choices, depending on what you can find and afford. You could use an 051 as well for smaller stuff. Chain brakes are not a necessity. Buy a bar to suit - 36" or 42" and preferably roller nose not hard nose and a ripping chain. Alec

That and the Romanian entry...

You want plenty of organic matter in them (compost) as they need to hold the water near the roots without waterlogging. It's also worth putting down a path round it while you're at it - whereas with a conventional veg patch you walk on it between the rows and then dig it over, with raised beds you don't stand on them and you don't dig them over. That means you're always accessing them from the sides so it gets trodden down and weeds tend to grow against the sides unless you do something about it. Dig off the turf, put down some Teram and cover with chippings would be my suggestion. Alec

I don't know, but having just watched them on Eurovision I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Albanians. Alec

I don't oppose the control of vermin, protection of crops, or well thought through attempts to remedy an imbalance created through previous poor practice, e.g. eradication of introduced species which prove damaging to the ecosystem. I'm quite happy with the current grey squirrel cull in Northumbria, have shot a lot of pigeons and starlings (the latter to protect a cherry crop) and whilst I no longer shoot, I let someone come and shoot on my land. It is however important to understand the effects of any such 'intervention' through small scale trials with careful monitoring, rather than leaping in and creating a different problem. The ecosystem would maintain a balance if it was left alone, just as it did for millenia before we started to change it for our own ends. If the capercaillie, or grouse, or whatever else, were left to get on with it then a natural balance between predators and the predated would ensue in fairly short order, the overall populations being determined by the food available at each level of the food chain. If the land was not managed it would revert, the area of natural moor would be much smaller so the populations would reduce, but become stable. However, man has a desire to intervene. Your comment 'if we ever want good numbers of black game' is, I imagine, an implicit statement of 'if people want to go and shoot them for sport'. This is an area I have more issues with on two levels - Firstly because I think it's a morally questionable branch of the entertainment industry. If you try to work out the reasons why people want to kill things when it's not for food, protection of crops of defence of themselves or their family (and I've never heard of 'when grouse attack') then I can only think it comes down to the exercising of power, which is not in my opinion a good justification. I accept that it creates employment, but so did bear baiting and cock fighting, and numerous other things which are no longer accepted. Alternative use of the land may also create employment. Secondly, because whilst there is a level on which living in a capitalist society allows the wealthy to use their money as they wish, which means they have the right to buy large areas of land and manage them for their own entertainment, there is also a level on which it's reasonable to consider that the area of land is finite and if its use becomes too heavily skewed towards the benefit of too small a proportion of the population this is likely to result in economic damage. Consider that the UK has a projected demand for 60million cubic metres of wood per annum (10M construction, 50M biomass), we have ongoing demand for food production, and we have ongoing need for housing and you have a reasonable question to ask over appropriateness of land use. Although these points drift away from the original topic, they relate in that any outcome which recommends a cull on buzzards because of a correlation with decline in native species or damage to farming would be more defensible than one based on damage to game shoots. As an aside, I recall that as a child, pheasants outside of autumn were a very rare sight. With warmer winters they seem to be naturalising. It would be an interesting piece of research to see whether they are out-competing native species for food and habitat and in fact there need to be some control measures. Finally, I have heard it said that one of the favourite foods of the buzzard is the grass snake. It will be interesting to see if this is concluded in the study. Alec

Definitely an elm. There are quite a few types though and some hybridize easily. Whereabouts in the country are you? That would give some pointers as to which ones it's likely to be. If it's a mature or semi-mature tree which isn't completely crowded in then an overall photo of the crown shape would also help. Although elms were dramatically hit in the 1970s, the gene pool was fairly small as a lot of elms propagate through suckers and hedges were planted up that way. There is reasonable evidence from areas with a more diverse gene pool that there are some strains with varying degrees of resistance. It would be interesting to see if this is another one to add to the list. Alec

But have -you- already decided on the 'right' outcome? If the answer isn't the one you want to see, will you accept that good research has proved your preconceptions wrong, or will you reject the research because it doesn't suit your opinions and claim that the itself research is flawed. If you claim it's flawed, will you do so having proved this in an evidence-based fashion, or just assume it must be because it doesn't suit you? Alec

There is a chemical approach, based on drilling and filling, then waiting six months or so for it to permeate through, which makes them much easier to burn. It is very effective in the right situation and in pre-grinder days was recommended practice (I found it in a gardening book which dates from about 1880). For the record, it is also not notably environmentally damaging and certainly not persistent. However, unless you are really familiar with handling chemicals, the stumps are entirely out in the open with a good radius of clear, bare earth around them and you can keep a very close eye on them, I would strongly advise against it. This is why I haven't stated what the chemical approach is. Alec

The thing about good research is that it finds the facts. This is very inconvenient if you've already decided what answer you want to find and it doesn't coincide with the facts. At this point, people tend to blame the research, the researchers, the funding body etc. rather than accepting the evidence. Alec

Another option would be a large diameter gas pipe cut lengthways. It's weldable so you can weld end caps in. You can often get offcuts from the depot or roadside when they're renewing mains (we use them as mortars for firework shells). Alec

Excellent. Well, that's what I would have done to it if it was a badly overgrown apple.... Alec

I'd check if it's petrol or diesel, and why it was parked up. If it's diesel, and was parked up because they bought a new, shiny one, you stand a chance and it would be worth a go. Alec

I'm posting this with some caution, since this is not my field, but I can see a line through which I've posted below. It's a line based where possible on savage drop-crotch reduction. There are six cut positions shown. Working from the right, the first one appears to give a reasonable horizontal branch to cut to, the 2nd and 3rd are reasonable, the 4th looks a little thin, but there looks to be something coming off backwards and another to the right just below it. The 5th isn't great, but it's the best there is in that region. The 6th is good, but I can't see structure of the overlaid branches above to comment on where they would need cutting to bring it in balance. Just an (uneducated!) suggestion. Alec

The timing depends on your patience and budget, which relates to the length. As HCR has said, bare-root wants to go in when not growing, the earlier the better as the roots keep growing even while the top is dormant, so they get away better if they're established before the spring. Pot grown can go in anytime, but are a lot more expensive per tree. They will also need regular watering through the season if they don't go in when dormant. Alec

How tall would you like it to get, and what is the other side of it? Yew is good, but toxic to some animals. Holly can work well, and if left slightly more 'ragged' will also produce berries which are good for wildlife. Some of the modern cultivars can be variegated, some thornless, or if you need a good barrier then the good old-fashioned spiky sort is effective! Not evergreen, but beech and hornbeam will retain their (brown) leaves all winter. Choose between them based on the soil. All the above can be kept from about 3ft in height upwards, and can be cut back very hard and will happily green up again (unlike some conifers which remain brown once the growing tips are cut off). Alec

Following the boat-related ones (if that happens to be your thing) I would recommend 'How to Build a Wooden Boat' by David McIntosh. A lot of the techniques on setting out irregular structures, holding things in place, making things fit etc are common to other large structures and it's written with a very dry sense of humour. My favourite quote is 'the difference between an amateur boatbuilder and a professional is that the professional has almost enough clamps'. Alec

Yep, that would be mine. Some of the older Magnum models weren't originally available in the UK, which made getting them interesting before the world domination of ebay. I bought mine at 2am to make sure of bidding on it! The extra power is useful for milling (I couldn't afford an 084 at the time). Alec

It's hard to see, but that tree looks like it has effectively been pollarded. If so, there may be an option to tidy up the cut locations and have it maintained as a pollard. It would required regular work but keep it permanently manageable and should be able to form a decent shape from it. I'd be talking to David Humphries or Tony (Hamadryad) about that though. Alec

There is an excellent trick for this. Turn a belt-sanding belt inside out and slide it over the pole. Then stick a rubber covered drum in the chuck of your electric drill (ideally make one with an extension rod beyond the drum, and slide a loose pipe over the end, to give you a second handle). You can then run the belt over the pole, tilting slightly to slide forward and backward, and moving the drill from side to side to get the whole pole as you go. Not my idea, I nicked it from "How to Build a Wooden Boat" by David C. McIntosh where the device is illustrated on p.206 for rounding off masts. Given your boat-related interests, I can thoroughly recommend this book anyway, as it's full of useful hints and written with a very dry sense of humour. Alec