agg221

Well, after a month or so puzzling out why the thing wouldn't start, I finally got round to diagnosing it on Saturday, driven by the failure of the ride-on and the rapidly increasing height of the grass. A few bits of sorting later and this was the result: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQSgp_dg77Y]YouTube - ‪Allen Scythe‬‏[/ame] On Sunday I cut about a third of an acre, and it's now stopped smoking having burnt off all the old oil. Running on Aspen, and it's really clean but I now have new aches it muscles I had forgotten I had. Time to go and cut another bit tonight. Thanks again Geoff, my character is developing rapidly! Alec

Yes, but when you're the one wielding the big chainsaw, not many people are going to point this out (to your face anyway) Alec

You're staying strictly ground-based aren't you? If so, I find chaps OK if you're not moving very far. They're heavy so you get hot if moving, but for mainly static jobs like cutting up or milling you can put them on while working and take them off easily afterwards whilst stacking/carrying etc. This means they're less likely to get snagged or damaged, and my Stihl ones are pretty robust anyway - probably lasted about 15yrs. Alec

I would do both. If you have a big pile, I would bring in a sawmill to clear it. The Alaskan is fun (in a masochistic sort of way) but you really don't want to do a lot of trees with it at a time as it's extremely hard work. Once the backlog is cleared, I would then carry on with the Alaskan. If you do buy one, get a 36in mill with a 36in roller nose bar. This will just cut 28in without taking the spikes off, but be prepared for a bit of de-barking here and there (a small sideaxe I find to be very useful). If you also keep a lookout for a 36in hard nose bar to fit, this will give you an extra 3in or so, which can be fitted from time to time when you need it for very slightly bigger stuff. You don't want to use it regularly though, as it takes a bit of power out of the saw which slows it down. Alec

Not having a biscuit jointer, I use dowels. They have to be fairly accurate, but I find I'm close enough with a power drill, with a jig to hold it square. I scribe a true centreline, with good spacing accuracy, and drill one side, then stick temporary steel rods in, with centrepoints that just stick out, and push the two parts together to get marks to drill the second set to match. I tend to do heavier stuff, sometimes correcting some tendency for distortion in the board at the same time, so I can use stainless steel dowels where necessary. I do tend to do my final finishing after joining - lets me take out up to 1mm or so of inaccuracy, and I'm never worse than that! Alec

Full skip goes (in sequence down the chain) left cutter; missing cutter; right cutter; missing cutter etc. Half skip goes left cutter; right cutter; missing cutter etc. Alec

Thanks All for the comment. I definitely notice with a 36in bar on the 076 vs. the 066M that the range between the chain running and bogging down is greater on the 076, so it may be something about depth of bite per tooth on the high torque saws. I think I'll give the skip tooth a go - then if it doesn't work I can follow Rob D's advice of trying both, and follow Armchairarborist's advice and give the skip tooth to my daughter for some skipping practice Rob D - does your discount apply to chains? If so, I'll drop you an email before ordering. Alec

You could make a saving, albeit minor, by rather than going and collecting them, going in something small, with low fuel costs, and arranging to meet the courier there. If you took the necessary to pack them properly for collection, say a couple of pallets, some wire, cutters and something to tension it with (I presume you have this as you're planning on using the posts for fencing) then you could at least guarantee pick-up would be achieved, both for yourself and the courier. I reckon the fuel costs for a 400 mile round trip in a small hatchback would be about £60 and even if you can't borrow one they're only £35/day to hire (round my way anyway), so whilst it would cost you an extra, say £100, plus the time, it would at least be a certainty, with the added bonus that, once everything was safely loaded and the courier had driven off, you could express your opinion directly to the bloke in whatever terms you thought appropriate! Alec

A couple of thoughts: Metford Stevens: plant hire - groundworks - landscaping - scrub clearance - note they're available to hire, and state they're good for swampy ground. However, from personal experience it's one thing getting it down, another getting enough of the roots of the scrub out to stop re-growth and make it handleable with normal mowing equipment. If they're prepared to pay the extra to get it done to that standard, I'm sure there's an outfit down in Kent which runs a tractor mounted unit that mulches through the soil to about a 4in depth - just can't find it at the moment. Alec

Any thoughts? Most of what I mill is structural oak, up to about 3ft dia x typically 20ft long. I use a combination of the Alaskan to break down the butt into 14in cants which I can then mill with the Ripsaw. I typically split the butt in half, using the wider kerf of the Alaskan to get rid of the very centre, so I'm usually making at least one full width cut. With these cut dimensions, most of what I'm looking for out of the Alaskan is speed rather than surface finish. Until now, I've mostly used the 066M with a 36in bar, which pulls a full complement 3/8chain well enough when sharp. I recently picked up a Stihl Duromatic 47in bar at a good price, which I can fit to the 076. For anyone not familiar with this saw, it's 111cc, slower revving than an MS880 but with a lot of torque. This will make the job a bit easier as I won't have to do any edging on the butts to get the mill through the bottom end. I now need to buy a chain to fit and, given the above, wondered if anyone had any experience as to whether the full complement or the skip chain is going to be a better choice for the saw/bar/timber combination? Thanks Alec

Ninemill, whereabouts in the country are you? This will have a significant bearing on what grows happily. Alec

Getting the acid is straightforward, so if you're not in a rush I would clean up the pot first and then decide what to do. I wouldn't be hopeful though. I would then anticipate buying a non-genuine pot and piston from ebay. I would also be swilling the crankshaft round a lot with a bit of petrol in the crank case, up to just around the crankshaft, to flush the bearings etc. of any bits of metal that may be lurking down there. Tip it out and then wipe a bit of kitchen roll through under the crank and look for shiny bits - repeat until there aren't any. What I would really want to know though is why it failed in the first place. Without knowing, you may well get the same thing from a new pot and piston in very short order. Btw, there were two models of 034 - 46mm dia and 48mm dia bore, while the 036 is only 48mm dia. The stroke matches in all cases though, so it's likely that an 034 pot and piston will fit whichever size it is, just drop the power a little if it's the smaller one. Alec

Dia looks good but a bit short for what I'm after - I'm looking for the trunk out of a standard really for planking up to make a longcase clock case. Alec

Sheet bend is good for joining ropes (same or different diameters) in situations where the tension goes on and off the rope as it doesn't work loose (unlike a reef knot). A sheet bend is preferable to a reef knot in all situations other than a guaranteed tensile load, with similar diameter ropes, where rapid release is desirable. Alec

Reef knot is good for joining two similar thickness ropes which remain under constant tension - only comes undone when slack. Alec

Make sure that your CV is spell-checked, grammar-checked and neatly formatted. If you're not so hot on these yourself, get it done by someone who is. This has nothing to do with the relevance of these specific abilities to the job, but shows care and attention to detail - even if someone else does it it still shows that you recognise these things to be important. If your interviewer doesn't care about these things, nothing lost; if they do then they will appreciate it. Alec

How big is reasonable size (length of clear, size at top). I may be interested. Alec

If you can give us the width and depth, we can tell you the height to fill to. It's likely that this is less than full height - if so then measure the right height internally and a line of duck tape round at the correct height should give you a fill line that will last for years. Alec

The wood won't be any more saturated than when you started, unless it's a rotten bit of sapwood. The rain of the last few weeks will only have penetrated a couple of mm at most. Entirely echo bella wood's comments - I use 3/8 sticks in summer and stack with bark on the exposed side, then lean something up against the face with an air gap behind if there's any chance of low angle sun. In an ideal world you could even drop plastic sheets over the exposed side in the morning, then roll them up in the evening, but I've only gone to this extreme once when I had no choice but to mill a load of oak floorboards in mid-August (it worked, not even any surface checks). Alec

It may be of interest that I'm working on the issue of recovering genuine pots. I work in the right field to investigate the feasibility of this - we should be setting up some trial kit in a few weeks and if it works I'll report back - may be worth hanging on to any really expensive pots for a bit. One thing that would help if anyone knows - a composition for Nikasil. To start with I'll use nickel, which will be chemically compatible and fill pits and scores if the process is going to work at all, but although it will create a seal it won't be as wear resistant, so I'd like to get closer if I can to sort out matched properties. Alec

Excellent. I have a particular liking for Teles, as they were originally from Saffron Walden which is near me. I would particularly like one of the really big 2-man ones with a Villiers engine - I reckon it's just the job for occasional milling! Alec

Thanks Megatron, very interesting comment. Alec

I used to keep bees, until I discovered I suffered from anaphalactic shock (never got stung by my own bees though!) There are an increasing number of diseases around, which means a regular care regime. You also want a known queen with known tendencies - get one with a swarm and it's pot luck. The queen passes her tendencies on to all her worker bees, so it controls whether the hive is aggressive, or whether the bees follow you down the garden after you've been working with them. Starting with a swarm and then buying a replacement queen is the common low cost route (buying the whole colony is very expensive). I would say the best bet is to track down your local branch of the British Bee-Keeping Association as they're likely to have an apiary and at this time of year it's where the meetings will be. It gives you a good way to see what they do, how much effort is involved and whether you like it. Certainly the one near me was very hands-on for visitors if they wanted it. It's ultimately your best route to a swarm-derived colony too, when everyone has as many as they want, and they may have a selection of books to borrow. The kit can be expensive. The hives themselves come in various standard sizes - they vary in likely yield, how heavy the boxes are when full and how vigorous the colony needs to be to sustain it. If you're handy with woodwork and have a router, making your own is straightforward - see if you can get some cedar for the boxes and spruce for the frames, then buy the wax foundation that the bees draw out into cells for storing honey or breeding young. You will also need a smoker and overalls/protective gear. If you get a yield, you will need to extract the honey. Again, worth seeing if the local club hires out an extractor as it's an expensive, bulky thing to have sitting around for one or two outings a year. One thing, get two hives rather than one. It's easy to split them then and keep continuity if one colony gets wiped out. Alec

I think it's horses for courses. It definitely cuts faster when sharp, but the combination cutters are more fiddly to field sharpen. If you bring trees home to mill, and have a couple of loops to switch between, it's probably a good option in time saved - if you regard time as money, or have limited time for it as a hobby and want to get the most possible done in short bursts. If however you don't have your own extraction gear and everything you mill involves going out for the day, lugging the lot half a mile in a wheelbarrow then I prefer the simplicity of 10deg each side and a quick touch-up as I go along. Alec

5-10 years ago I would have agreed with you entirely, however today I'm not so sure. If you look at the factors involved, it's a combination of quality control on the alloy (affects thermal conductivity and strength), coating (affects thermal conductivity and wear) and casting tolerance (particularly affects cooling as the fins are most affected) and machining tolerances (affects compression and, to a minor extent, compressed volume). There are many threads on here bemoaning the decline in quality of saws from the big name manufacturers, and I think it's reasonable to assume this arises from a cost driver, which will be passed back to their Tier 1 suppliers, possibly at the price of cutting corners, which could apply to each of the above. Meanwhile, 5-10yrs ago I think the majority of chinese copies would probably have been dodgy to say the least, both in quality of metal and in precision of finishing. Chinese manufacturing has now come on enormously in all respects - a lot of medical devices are now manufactured there, as are an increasing number of aerospace components and, as an aside, so are Omega watches. As such, I would no longer be certain which represented the higher quality product. There's also the point that most people couldn't actually measure power (unless you're set up to do it, e.g. building race saws). For most users it would be masked by factors such as chain and bar condition anyway, along with accurate tach tuning for peak revs relative to altitude and air pressure etc. I suspect that within the tolerances involved here, it would be indistinguishable. Sorry, derailed your thread a bit! Alec