agg221

I'll post the answer up at 10pm, but it's none of the above. Hints: It's not native, but it's been grown in Britain for at least 400yrs. This is the top bit and it's still about 10in across - the base is about a foot across. Note the really bright pink streaks - these are not spalting, they're the natural colour. Alec

I was given this by an elderly friend of my Mum's who had to clear a number of trees as part of the sale condition on her house. It was growing in Croydon. There's a little bit of spalting, but the colours are real. This is the short bit - about 4ft. I've got the 8ft length of it to do yet. Anyone care to guess the species? Alec

Oh yes, it will be kept, and used, but not abused. Alec

When Dad retired, he asked his colleagues for a chainsaw as a retirement present, and they bought him a Husqvarna 136. He died shortly afterwards, and since he hadn't got round to buying any PPE by the time he got ill, all the saw had done was run through a single 3" log just to check it ran and it has spent the last seven years in Mum's garage gathering dust. I have only ever had Stihl saws - nothing against other makes but the first saw I bought was for milling and the side-mounted chain tensioner made it easier to fit to the Alaskan. Since then I've just stuck with them for convenience. Anyway, when I was down there this weekend I thought I'd get out Dad's saw and give it a try. Firstly it was nice just to be using Dad's saw - I think he would have liked to see it being put to good use at last. Secondly, I was seriously impressed. It's only 36cc but I reckon it would give my 026 a run for its money. I was cutting up apple logs, up to about 10" diameter and it flew through them, no struggling or bogging down. I reckon it might be a good bet for a lot of people looking for a home use firewood saw. Anyway, I don't think it will be sitting idle for the next seven years. Alec

Several thoughts on this one, based on several saws including an 044 which I rebuilt a year or so ago with a similar problem. Is it possible to tell what instigated the failure? This is key - otherwise you may well find out by ruining a set of replacement parts. It sounds likely that the first thing to fail was the rings, which can happen, but it's good to know why. One thing to check - is the piston a Stihl part or a pattern part? Also, was the piston installed the right way round? If not then it's possible that it failed the first time for a different reason, new piston installed incorrectly and failed immediately so given up as a bad job. The point is, the history before the present failure is important. Secondly, you are in for a long and tedious process removing all the bits of ring from the crank case. Can you turn it right over? If so, it's a good sign that nothing too severe happened. You need to flush out with a little bit of petrol (doesn't have to be 2-stroke) and then wipe kitchen roll round through the crank case, by using the crankshaft to drag it round behind the web. Keep doing this until it runs clean, as all the oily residue will otherwise be trapping little bits of metal which will gradually work free. Once it's clean, you can swill it through and let the residue collect at the bottom of the case and wipe out the remains with a long cotton bud until there are no more shiny little flakes. This took me two evenings. The alternative would be to split the crank case, which is probably quicker but something I personally avoid doing as it requires dismantling bits I don't like dismantling. Once you're confident that the whole thing is clean, you can finally check for play and rough spots. Test the big end bearing for play by pulling the con-rod up and down (not wobbling it, it's supposed to). You need to do this at every position for half a rotation while holding the flywheel to stop it rotating - it shouldn't move up and down. Test for rough spots by very gently rotating the crankshaft using the con-rod and feeling for any sticking, grating or lack of smoothness. Assuming all is OK then you've got away with it. You could replace the bearing end cap seals for good measure, or you could leave them alone. Once you're confident that everything else is OK, and reasonably happy as to why it failed in the first place, you can rebuild it. Personally, I don't have a problem with pattern parts if you can get appropriate ones. Gardenhirespares or Mr Solutions both seem to offer reasonable quality, can't speak for anyone else. Given the use you're putting it to you will probably never wear them out. I have run an 044 hard for milling for a year with no problems on a pattern pot and piston, although it did blow the muffler gasket a week or two back which was a bit annoying. Once it's rebuilt and you've got it started and running, but haven't revved it up hard, it would be a very good idea to get a pressure check done on it. This is not a compression check - it's fairly predictable that this will be OK as it's a new pot and piston. The pressure check establishes that there are no air leaks to weaken the mix, which can cause seizure. Given the failure you know the saw has had it's worth checking that this isn't an underlying problem. Also worth setting the carb back to factory settings, or getting it tuned properly. Factory settings are 'safe' and fine if you're pottering about. Tuning will give you more power without risking damage. Hope this helps. Alec

Do you mean robinia pseudoacacia (the very durable one)? If so, I've got the timber, but I'm a fair way from you. Let me know if it helps. Alec

Yes. Alec

I'm looking for reasonable sized cherry to mill. I eventually need to get together enough to make some bedroom furniture out of - wardrobe, chests of drawers etc. The bedrooms in our house are inserted into the roof (thatched so steep pitch) so I need to make custom furniture to fit against the slope. I fancy using cherry as it has a nice colour and grain but isn't too dark. The original poster is quite near my in-laws, and I know there are some decent sized pears down that way, hence the original enquiry. I'm looking for one to mill for boards to eventually make an ebonized longcase clock case from in late C17 style. In both cases, standards from old orchards would be an ideal size. Alec

Don't suppose there's any pear or cherry in amongst them? Alec

I like the 026 - solid and reliable. Also made in great numbers so parts availability is good. Are they offering any kind of warranty, and do you know the people in there? You can pick up a runner on ebay for about £120-150 (or a bit less if you keep an eye out. There are a couple on there at the moment, one with 7hrs to go at £64. A new pot and piston will be about £40 (just checked, £42 from gardenhirespares). If you take this (and postage) into account then £200 is good if there's either a formal warranty or you know them well enough to be confident that they'd sort you out if a problem arose in the near future. Otherwise, the ebay route is cheaper and no worse. It's also worth checking why they're changing the pot and piston. Was it in good running order but they're changing it because it's slightly scuffed or just for good measure, in which case you might as well ask them for the original pot and piston, put them back on until they do wear out and then use the new one. I reckon you'll probably buy a new saw first unless you have a problem. Alternatively, had it really worn it out, in which case that's pretty high mileage and I'd want to check the condition of the big end bearing. Or, was the original one damaged, in which case how? If it's on the inlet side then it suggests an air filter problem which is cheap and easy to sort out. If it's on the exhaust side you want to be pretty confident that the problem has been diagnosed and fixed (bad fuel mix, carb problem, air leak etc). Otherwise the same thing may well happen again in pretty short order. For comparison, I bought my 026 on ebay last year for £100 as it was badly listed. It was in good working order (although the chain was on backwards!) and it starts first pull. I also bought an 044 (to run the bandsaw mill) as a non-runner (seized) for £98. The end of a piston ring had snapped off causing it to seize instantly. Easy diagnosis, easy fix, quick pressure check and away. If the fault had been less obvious it would have been off to Spud to diagnose and repair and would still have worked out a better price than an overhauled one with no warranty. Just a thought. Alec

I would be wary of the 084AV - very good saw for the job but parts availability is tricky, and expensive. Don't forget that you rack up the engine hours milling in a way that you don't typically when big saws spend most of their life sitting in the shed and only come out for the odd big fell/ringing up job. What do you need for the £400 budget - powerhead alone should be fine for this (should get you a nice 075 or 076) and it's coming in to the season where the prices drop. It's unlikely to buy you an 084, but just might. If you find an MS880 for that then I would be very suspicious (and if it's genuine and there's more than one, and they're not nicked, let me know!) Afraid I can't comment on other makes. Nothing against them, I just decided life was simpler if everything was Stihl as some parts are interchangeable between models. If you need the bar within the budget, still possible. You should expect to be budgeting for ripping chains separately. Alec

I'd agree with you on current generation saws, but I suspect the available budget may not run to them, even secondhand. Alec

I've just converted a couple of oaks and have the inevitable offcuts. Nothing very big, but either bits up to a couple of feet long and an inch or so thick by up to about 6inch wide, or up to about 6ft long and an inch square. Some of it has some reasonable grain. It's all relatively green but will season in about 6months or so. There's a reasonable pile if anyone wants to come and pick through it for anything, or I can set bits aside to be picked up in the next couple of weeks. Otherwise I'll be cutting it down to kindling lengths. It is, of course, free! Alec

Which country will you offer me for my gear? (I'm not interested in Belgium). Alec

The 181 is 80cc, so would be very painful on a 36" bar. It will do it (I've used my 044 which is 70cc) but it won't like it and you will wish you hadn't started! Alec

On the 070 the tanks are on opposite sides, so filling up in a cut is not an option. On the 075/076 they're both on the 'up' side when milling. The fuel filler is on the top so can be 3/4 filled using a funnel; the oil filler is on the side on the 076, top on the 075, so again it can be filled up if necessary. Alec

At that size and low budget, best bet is a Stihl 075 or 076 (effectively the same saw). Parts are easy to get for them too. You definitely need over 100cc. Could go for an 070 if one turns up. The cheapest ones will be without bars - for some reason they always make much less on ebay. You will still need to budget about £250-300 unless you're prepared to carry out daily ebay searches on a whole load of obscure search terms though. Alec

Meant to mention actually, when you get that annoying edge bit that is thick up near the buttress and thin at the top end, it's worth collecting these up as you go along and then setting the mill to either an inch or an inch and a quarter and running up them. The cut is so narrow that it's very quick to make. Take each board in turn, look at the outer, narrow face and chalkline the best straight line through. Offset it an inch to one side and re-chalkline, rip it with your circular saw and then once you've made a straight edge on all your parts, set the fence on your circular saw to 2" and go through the pile to rip them all down to 2"x1" or 2"x1.25" batten. These are thin enough and narrow enough not to cup, and come in handy all over the place. I've already ripped the planks down for this, but if the rain holds off I'll try and video the ripping down process. Alec

Yes I do have a camera phone - next time I'm doing one I'll remember to take a set of pictures. May be a few months though as I am concentrating flat-out on building the extension and any milling/carpentry is focussed on that. Just got the joists fitted on Saturday, too wet to build today so milling up some more oak batten (until the saw band snapped, at which point I declared it time for lunch!). Now back off out to change the saw band, make the last two cuts and rip down the battens, then run the 6"x9" ridge beam through the thicknesser on my own. I suspect my back will ache in the morning. Alec

Cheers, as it happens mine will have no truss clips - whole thing will be wooden. I think I've found my answer - I need housed birdsmouths with external pegging. Agree with you on strapping down the wallplate. My rafters are at 400mm centres - roof was engineer designed and is probably overkill but will definitely not fall down! Slightly back on track - the method I described for drilling the holes slightly off line so they pull up tight is called draw-boring. Alec

I've seen those - didn't know what they were called though. Very nice. On a derailing note, don't suppose you know the correct way to fix a rafter to a wall plate do you? Cutting a birdsmouth is fine, but there's something rather unsatisfactory about banging in a pair of crossed nails! Alec

Nope. Fit the joint together, drill through the first cheek of the mortice with an auger wood bit with a good screw point on it, using a depth gauge on the drill to only get the screw point into the tenon. Knock down the joint and complete the drilled hole through the mortice (through or into the other side, depending on whether it's a blind or clear hole). Then mark a point slightly further down the tenon from the original mark. Down in this case means the point that would have lined up if you had pushed the tenon slightly further in. In a 3"x4" I'd be drilling the holes at 12mm or half inch and go for a point about 1mm further down (yes I'm mixing metric and imperial so you can have 1/32" if you prefer!) and drill there with the same drill bit. Before doing this, make a dowel plate by drilling a bit of 10mm steel plate with a metal bit the same size as the wood bit. Take a block of fairly well seasoned oak about 6" long (could be a bit of firewood) and split it up into squareish bits about half inch square, which can be done with an inch wide chisel and a mallet. Trim the ends of the squareish bits to a slight chamfered taper to give them a start and whack them through the dowel plate with a mallet. If they get stuck, turn it over, knock them back and trim off a bit more of the stuck corner with a chisel, then back in and carry on. Trim the end to a slight taper again and you have your dowel peg. You want to use them quite quickly after making them as the fibres are temporarily compressed by passing through the plate and will swell back up, which is part of the point. When you put the joint back together, the slight taper on the end of the dowel will let it clear the step on the edge of the two not-quite-aligned holes and as the dowel is hammered in it will pull the joint very tight. No glue needed and very effective - you just need to play around with how much offset to put between the drilled mortice and tenon holes and how much taper on the dowel, to make sure it can all be assembled. It does work though and is a very elegant approach. Alec

Mortice and tenon isn't too bad to cut. You can drill out the mortice and then whack in a chisel to clean the corners. The tenon only needs cutting at the base - chisel runs down the sides fast enough. I must admit I like stainless steel coach screws though. Alec

I do not in any way miss the early mornings on the river. Well, OK, it was sort of nice and quiet once you'd got on the water, but dragging yourself down to the boathouse at 5.00am in the January rain for a run before trying to manhandle the only remaining planked boat with iron fittings out into the water is a memory that will remain, thankfully, only a memory. If it had been a sport undertaken at some civilised hour with slighly less unpleasant weather I suspect I might have kept it up for longer. Alec (former No.7)

You're welcome A few more points which might save you some grief later - as they're the kind of thing which if you don't realise you can make something that starts out looking great and soon looks really bad, whereas if you take them into account you can make it work first time. Wood is most stable in the direction from the centre to the outside of the tree (quartersawn). However, cutting all boards this way is very fiddly and wasteful, so you tend to 'through and through' saw, which means taking your log and cutting it up into a series of horizontally cut slabs, working down from top to bottom. Wood is least stable the closer you get to 'round the rings' (the outermost slab if you're through and through sawing). The outer rings shrink more than the inner ones, so if you're looking at the rings on the end of a piece of wood and they're 'smiling' it will bend downwards at the edges; if they're 'frowning' the edges will lift upwards. This is called cupping. The very middle of the tree often contains pith, and cracks will tend to start from it. So, say you're making a picnic bench, using 3" slabs for the top and the seats and 3"x4" sections for the A-frames. If you just slab it up and use the widest board for the top, it will crack in the middle. If you use the narrower boards from the edges for the rails they will tend to cup. However, if instead you skim the top of the log so that it's just over 6" wide (6" of heartwood preferably), then take off a 4" slab and rip it down into 2off 4"x3" they will be pretty stable (same from the other side when you get to it). If you rip the centre slab in half up the middle it will make two very good, stable seatboards. If you then use the board (or boards, depending on width) just off the centre as the top, and place them so that the grain is 'smiling' the edges will dip down so that the rain tends to run off, rather than ponding, so it doesn't rot so fast. Hope this is clear, and useful. The same principles apply to other work. Alec