agg221

Got the day off today so I decided to do a bit of milling. I need a curved beam for the extension - after a few months looking I found one with the right curve and hauled it back on the trailer. Set to with the mill - rot streak right up the middle. Back to the searching. Alec

You're most welcome. Alec

Some suggestions, to follow or ignore as you see fit: Find out how long you've got first. There's a very big difference between 20mins, half an hour and a whole hour. Also find out what the usual format is - talk in one section, break for refreshments, then more talk, or straight through in one go. How long should you allow for questions? You can then work out how much information you are trying to put over, whether it should be divided into sections of particular length, and how much content you need. Find out how you're presenting. If you have it, I would suggest putting everything onto Powerpoint (if they have a projector!). Don't use any animations, or anything fancy, just pictures and simple bullet pointed text at most. Anything else just goes wrong. The advantage of Powerpoint is that the bullet points give you a cue as to what it was you wanted to say - it helps you tell the story and you're not shuffling notes as they're on the screen. If you are just using pictures, have a text set of bulleted notes, say 2 or 3 with each picture. Powerpoint also allows you to flick back easily if you get questions later about a particular picture. Plan on one slide/picture per minute. You will tend to rush the first few, then as you get into your stride the later ones will take longer. It will work out on average. I would pick a subject where you 'know' rather than are 'developing theories'. I wouldn't worry if it's not that academic, you're speaking from experience rather than presenting a research paper and you've never pretended you're an academic, so your audience is expecting to hear from you, not something you're pretending to be. Practical observation over a long period, coupled with enthusiasm, will be interesting to anyone - your audience will relate to it whatever their level. If you want to see a good example, try going along to your local gardening club (seriously) and you're likely to see what a good speaker can do with a subject that you didn't think would be that interesting, unless of course you get a bad speaker turn up... I would start by working out what your message is. Then work out what you have that shows this - what evidence do you have? So, for example, if it's reductions and your message is that, done right, you can hit trees a lot harder than most people would dare to do, you could show evidence of a couple of sets of 'before', 'just after' and 'doing nicely' shots. I'd then consider the advantages of doing this, so again for reductions this might be retention for amenity or habitat value. The subject also relates quite well to pollards, which are the ultimate in hitting trees hard - including beeches (Burnham) and willow, tied to some historic evidence of the practice. With permission from the owner (and courtesy crediting on the picture), you could supplement your own pictures from others posted on the relevant threads, or put out an appeal thread for what you need. A bit of expansion on how - comparison and selection of methods such as drop crotch, moving on to the experimental use of axe notches to initiate epicormic growth etc. When would you use each method? You've posted on this quite recently, so it's the same message just expanded a bit and illustrated with pictures. There may also be something here about timing and response. If you want to bring the whole thing together, a couple of 'case studies' can help. Trees that you know well, have recorded over a period of years, and show a number of the points you've made above. When you've said what you want to say, come back to the message again, summarise it, state how what you've presented illustrates it, thankyou and any questions! Once you've written it, stand and deliver it at home on your own. It will be really bad - don't worry about this! You will keep thinking of things you wish you'd said, or hadn't said. Note them down and move on. It will also be the wrong length and you may well find that some of the slides are in the wrong order, so afterwards it's time to tweak it around as necessary. The whole point is that, when you repeat the exercise the next day, it will be better. Do it again a few more times and you're done, but remember it won't ever go as well on your own as it will on the day - you can't fake the right atmosphere, so the time to stop running through it is when you know what message goes with each slide - you're not learning lines in a play so you don't have to memorise a speech, just have a good idea what the slide is doing there. When you come to do it on the day, if you realise you missed something out that you were going to say, or said it too early, don't dwell on it and don't try to go back or fit it in, just move on. The audience doesn't know that you ever planned it differently! Just take a sip of water, read the next bullet point on the notes and pick up from there. The time will fly by! Alec ps. Note that the above three things I suggested to cover are taken, literally in order, from the Rudyard Kipling poem - I Keep Six Honest Serving Men - take the six questions, 'what', 'why', 'when', 'how', 'where', 'who'. Work out which are relevant to what you want to say and give them in that order - dot-to-dot presentation writing.

So, anyone else been to see 'The Woman in Black'?

March to August to avoid silverleaf. I would go with blossom time if you need to thin as it makes seeing the structure easier before fully leafed out. Also keeps the waste down a bit with no leaves to chip. Alec

Thanks for the heads-up. My elder daughter will love this when she wakes up tomorrow. Alec

Just think how much effort David Humphries and team go to to create fracture pruning like that! Alec

Yep, agree with that. I milled up some 20ft x 2ft dia oak butts once, into 2in planks for the boat. Not doing that again! Someone did borrow my Alaskan once to make some 40ft beams. Rather them than me. Alec

Poplar and birch can be surprisingly durable if treated - they're porous so it soaks in well. You would need to use something fungicidal and penetrating (e.g. creosote substitute or something suitable from Sovereign) rather than a coating stain or paint. I'd say it's worth getting a portable band mill in - get a quote, ask how much they think they can do in a day (this varies depending on number in crew, power of mill etc. which is why I'm not just suggesting a figure) and compare with the amount you would spend on board in the next few years otherwise. Also factor in stacking and sticking to season it a bit as you don't want it all shrinking and opening up if it's close-boarded. Alec

Very nice Eddie! Out of interest, how do you attach the rafters to the ridge and wall-plate beams? I've got to do something similar shortly and am trying to work out a traditional approach. Alec

There is a natural line to follow on this one, at least from the angle shown in the picture. Goes as per MattyF suggests with a little bit top right. Alec

I agree with you on this, but it does get a bit harder to justify when you start buying vintage ones too... Practically speaking, have you considered what sort of use you really want to give it? If you're going to swap between saws as a matter of course during a job then it makes sense to buy something new. If it's going to spend most of its time in the van and only come out occasionally then secondhand in good working order may make sense? It would dramatically cut the cost (reducing the amount of capital you have tied up not working for you) and if you're not using it much then it shouldn't give you any issues associated with rapid wearing out of an already used saw. If you do go this route, I'd go for an 044 or 046, wouldn't worry about the age as condition is more important, and inspect it carefully before buying. If it starts easily from cold, idles well and revs up nicely, picking up chain speed well and then the engine note doesn't climb in a long cut you're not taking too much of a risk of something major being wrong with it. Alec

12in diameter suggests the tree is probably about 50yrs old on crab stock. It is very likely to recover, although you'll get an enormous amount of epicormic 'water shoots' that go straight up. You want to create as flat a top as possible, so yes, remove the water shoots (June/July) and with your selected upright branches, look to take them to a wide spreading shape, like spokes out from an imaginary centre. In a conventional tree this centre would lie along the axis of the trunk, but if your trunk isn't straight you have to create one wherever suits best! If you struggle to imagine one, stick a pole up against it, vertically, and keep things that radiate out from it, ideally at about 45degrees from the vertical. If it dies, you could plant another apple, but dig out a decent area of soil, say about 4ft across, 2ft deep. This isn't commercially viable (which fits with Rover's comment) but for a one off tree can be done. If it does go this way, I would suggest going to the trouble of getting a tree on MM106 stock. It's a semi-dwarf stock which is far more tolerant of neglect of the type they inevitably get in gardens than the really dwarf ones (doesn't need a permanent stake, will survive if the grass grows right up to it and it gets no fertilizer etc). It will also cope with most soil types and will make a tree that's big enough to look like a tree without being unmanageable. Alec

With reference to the original question (legality), yes it's legal to operate. You are usually insured if it's not for hire or reward, under your own domestic contents insurance, even on other people's land. It's in the public liability clause. Reward in this case means you're given something in exchange for doing the job for somebody else. If you're cutting up a tree which has become your property (bought it or been given it) then you are still covered. If you just cut up a tree for someone as a favour then again you're insured. I use this route myself, which is why I'm familiar with it - you can get a letter from your insurer to confirm this if someone needs to see it. As soon as it's for hire or reward then you would need specific insurance if you felt it was necessary. In truth, a tree in the middle of nowhere, with no public footpaths/roads/buildings/livestock nearby is unlikely to do any damage to anything other than yourself and your tools, so insurance is not likely to be necessary (other than life insurance!) Alec

20" dia is a reasonable size - on the edge of useable for other things. Have you had one down yet - is there a wide band of sapwood? Oak can often develop a very wide band of sapwood (4"+ so approaching half the diameter of your 20" trees). If it's very dry sapwood this can be extremely light, and burns very fast (your straight up the chimney scenario). If it's very dry heartwood this will burn really well, fairly slowly and very hot. If the sapwood band is fairly narrow then it's worth thinking about using any decent straight bits for other things such as fence posts or even milling - 8' lenths can be very useful and should still have plenty of firewood out of the tops, knotty bits and offcuts. Alec

Very nice Rover! Since I'm only doing my own hedge and cutting my own binders I use anything that comes to hand (not just hazel), so I tend to select material with a low fork, then put the fork round the end stake. Not as pretty, but works. Alec

If your material is 15ft high and fairly closely planted, don't be afraid to take out a fair bit completely if it isn't in the line you want. 10cm is a nice diameter to be working, 15cm may be a bit heavy to lower. Are you cutting in with a chainsaw or hand tools? I would suggest you at least start with hand tools until you get the "feel" of how much to take them back by. Leave too much and the pleachers crack. You have only taken too much if they fall off, but they tend to start falling of their own accord, at which point you want to be gently lowering them in and if they start cracking they're a bit thick still. If you find this keeps happening, make the cut longer top to bottom so that there's more of a strip to bend, rather than a hinge. Don't worry too much if the pleachers split away from the stump at the back - not ideal but won't do any harm. If you have any thin areas, followed by a couple of good candidates close together, make the cuts at different heights (one a foot or so higher than the other) so they fill in above one another. You WILL get scratched, a lot. If a thorn goes in, get it out quick or wait until it goes septic! Alec

Thanks David, points noted. It will probably get done shortly and I'll get some pictures going. Alec

Yes David, the ring barking. It's a slightly odd one. My side boundary is very low lying, with an old overgrown railway embankment along the far side. It's got a line of very high willows (between 2 and 3ft dia, ~80ft high) along the boundary drainage ditch, which naturally lean away from the embankment, overshadowing my land making it difficult to get anything established and upright. Some of the willows are really nice specimens, others aren't. They technically belong to the owner of the embankment (my neighbour) but he is quite happy for me to do whatever I like with them. The whole area is semi-wild, so the decent specimens have been haloed back with fracture pruning. The others could do with pollarding but I'm happy to leave dead wood as my other high dead wood (elms) is gradually dropping off and we have a few birds of prey around here. One tree in particular presents a problem - I don't climb and someone's had a go and can't get up it as the trunk goes horizontally sideways about 10ft, around 25ft up. I was therefore thinking about ring-barking it at about 10ft where there are a few side branches, not all of which are dead. If it re-grows below then great and it could eventually be reduced further, to, say 8ft for a conventional pollard. If it dies then nobody is too bothered as the one next to it is decent. Eventually the top will of course rot and drop, but there are no targets (well, me walking around my land I suppose, but I know it's there and will avoid it in high winds!) Any thoughts? Alec

How much do you already know? It's difficult to offer helpful comment without a baseline. Have you decided which style you're using? What's the mix of species and the spacing? How long is the length? Alec

Don't suppose you've ever come across this tried on willow have you? Alec

Entirely agree, particularly on bigger stuff where the bar doesn't go right through the gob so you have to cut from both sides and can't quite see where the end is round the curve of the tree. A bit of trimming up makes for a much cleaner and more predictable fell. Alec

Some people round here insist on screened.

Horse bedding. Alec

Most people seem to buy the powder and make it up themselves. I prefer inorganic approaches to permanent protection, organic for temporary. This is because organic chemicals will eventually degrade, inorganic ones won't. I'd rather not have boron (Wykabor) hanging around being turned into dust during planing, sawing etc, but am happy with it being permanently embedded in the fabric of a building where it won't get disturbed. I particularly like the fact that, if there are ever any issues with leaks, the timber is likely to survive it when a bit damp, as boron salts wander around towards the damp bit. Alec