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I think that's a pretty good specification. I must admit, I was originally looking for a retort, to buy or build, but having failed to find one and with my primary purpose being biochar I ended up with the pit (flame curtain) method. It ticks all the boxes above except for being as efficient as possible, produces high yields quickly and actually if fed with suitably dry branch wood it will produce some reasonable quality lump charcoal in the burn, which I screen out. Alec

Yes, but to knit with it, it has to be removed from the sheep.

You could take up knitting?

Nah, according to Leonard Cohen you'll get over it eventually: I don't need a lover, no The wretched beast is tame I don't need a lover So blow out the flame Mind you, he was 82 and still hadn't retired. Alec

When I was a student I used to microwave pizzas and sausages. It was very quick, but I did not have really good results Alec

I'd be interested. Alec

It isn't oxidation, and they cope very well with paint. We have been developing a system for stripping the inner layer of concrete from nuclear power station chimneys during decommissioning - [ame] [/ame] from 7:30. It's a very high intensity burst of energy which, depending on the power, either instantly boils the surface causing it to evaporate away, or at lower powers is absorbed, causing the surface material to expand and 'ping' off if it is different to the substrate. With concrete, it boils water trapped subsurface and you can tune the depth. Alec

Tremendous thanks to Ty, who picked up the trees for me and dropped them off on a visit to the UK. They are now all planted (with some help!) Rather late when we finished, hence the grainy photos. Alec

Hi David, This may lie beyond the scope of the intended activities, but given my particular interest in management of veteran fruit trees, I had a look at the survey and I must admit I am struggling to see how to answer it. Orchard relicts are often the only survivors in housing development - perhaps because they are small enough to not be seen as a problem by the developer or the homeowner. Fruit trees also, being smaller, often don't call for specialist skills simply to access them. Their management is distinct from 'natural form' trees and this was recognised by the ATF in the video they produced. The recent thread on a storm-damaged oak generated a view that, although the general approach was similar, the strategy for reduction on an oak would be significantly different to that on an apple. There is also the factor that pruning fruit trees is often regarded as a black art. With this in mind, I believe fruit trees form an important part of the veteran tree population, but certification of competence in veteran trees may not automatically imply competence in their management. If it is your understanding that picking up this point through completion of the survey would be useful, I am happy to give it a go! Cheers Alec

I recommend a nice weekend in Whales.

There's a time and plaice for everything...

OK, bigger than it looks so probably more like 60 Hoppus, in which case as a single tree £120-240 depending on how much someone wants it. Note, this is a price for it as a sawlog, not a standing tree, so the buyer could be reasonably confident that there was no major internal defect. Alec

OK, I'll put my head above the parapet. Where did you measure the circumference? Just looking at the picture I would say 2' diameter about halfway up the clean length to the kink, which I would guess is 15'. If so, that's around 37 Hoppus feet. If it is part of a full lorry load you might get £6/Hoppus so £220 but as a single tree £4/Hoppus is more realistic so £150. However, if you want it gone and something in your pocket then accepting £2/Hoppus would give you £75. The above all assumes extraction to roadside - otherwise you are dependent on finding someone local with an Alaskan who wants some oak, in which case take what you can get. Alec

How many trunks/sections is she looking to have milled? Alec

Not sure I have anything useful to contribute but in answer to the original question yes, for about the last 25yrs. It seems to follow shortly after periods of high stress and can get bad; really bad. There are times when I can't string a written sentence together, can't make a decision, have no memory of what I am supposed to be doing and am in effect completely dysfunctional, although verbally I can still communicate. Have tried medication - didn't like the fact that it settled everything to a position just below neutral, ie always negative, so I stopped about 20yrs ago. Some anti-depressants were more unpleasant in their side-effects than others, none were worth them in my case. The only one I still have is Amitriptyline, which I actually have for a different, sporadic condition. It is evil stuff (Google the impressive list of side-effects) but it does coincidentally switch everything off for the night if I take it, which is sometimes a relief. I wouldn't want to take more than the odd pill though, probably one or two a year. Otherwise, walking long distances (10-15miles or more) at night when I can't face walking during the day, and mindfulness have been the only things that have helped. Like you, on paper I have everything - good job, nice house, good marriage, two brilliant daughters but at times that all just seems pointless. I think the worst bit is when I get into a spiral where I don't believe I deserve to be happy, at which point, by some twisted logic, I either avoid doing the things which would make an improvement or do them and feel guilty about it which makes it worse. Not very positive I'm afraid, but I'm still here, which is a start. Alec

We are keeping things relatively simple with internal combustion and unpressurized gas storage. Alec

It's Will Maloff's method. I have used it on knarly oak but it is a pain. It makes life a bit easier if instead of using nails you use coach screws. I used to use a set of 2,3,4,6 and 9" M10 screws as if they are in a couple of inches then there is enough thread to allow adjustment up and down to get the height right. The biggest problem I found was getting the line tight enough to keep it straight. Alec

I bet if you had sold it as a trendy new cooking method you could have made a fortune by running a combined charcoal retort/restaurant business! Alec

Fine by me. I'm watching Columbo myself, waiting for a shower to pass over before I go out and graft a few plums

That should work, with a thermostatic valve (e.g. vehicle radiator system) to stop it from running too hot or cold. We have been looking at extracting the huge amount of extra energy available during a charcoal burn. The main interest is in using the surplus gas to generate electricity (there is enough to run a 10kW genset for days!) but we have also looked at the surplus thermal energy and run a paper exercise on how much there is, how heat generation profiles with time and considered what you might do with it. Alec

What would help explain is a picture of the other side of each type of tooth. Alec

Square filed vs. round filed; full chisel vs. semi-chisel are two separate, independent things. In theory, the angle is more consistent with square grinding as the ground face is flat, rather than part of a circle. This means it is not affected by the minor variation in depth of file position which round filed chain is, so being a bit more even should cut a bit faster, however the trade-off is that it needs a different sort of file and file use is less efficient as you don't just move it round a bit when it wears. Semi-chisel has a rounded corner whereas full chisel has a complete, right-angled corner between the side of the tooth and the top plate. Full chisel cuts faster as the whole cutting edge is presenting uniformly, but the exposed outer corner is vulnerable to chipping off with a bit of grit. Once it has, you then have to take the whole top edge back to the depth of the chip, so typically you end up filing more frequently and removing more metal with full chisel, unless your wood is very clean. The photos are from the wrong side to see, but judging by the light reflections on the partly visible right-hand tooth on the lower chain it looks like square ground semi-chisel. The top one looks like round filed full chisel. Alec

If you want to send me your email address, I can give you some details of a current project we are working on with the Exeter retort. It is more complex than you would want to go, but the basic data should be relevant. Alec

The branches should be fairly flexible so you can tie them in to canes or sticks. Twine works OK but if you might need to leave them on for a while, strips cut from an old pair of tights are very effective! Check the ties around June/July and loosen them if they are starting to constrict the stem, take them off completely when the stems have grown to where you want them. Alec

Exeter still make retorts - they have become more sophisticated, to the point where the most recent version can I believe be fully automated once running on wood gas. The price has not come down though. Alec