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I would try dropping Big J on here a line - he sometimes has less decorative elm and oak at lower prices. Alec

One suggestion for you, based on the cheaper kitchen worktop jigs. If you draw the letters on a piece of mdf, say 12mm thick, and then freehand straight through using a 12.7mm cutter this will form a jig. You can then use a 1/4" shank 45degree cutter with a half inch bearing above. Set the bearing to run in the jig and it should work fine. I have just done all my kitchen worktops with a 'jig kit' which worked like this and hockey stick corners have come out fine with plenty of life left in the jig yet. One handy tip with mdf jigs running bearings - if you do manage to nick it, car body filler such as Isopon soon has it fixed and can be rubbed down easily back to smooth. Alec

It is ash, and it can be milled (anything can be milled!) but whether to bother or not depends on your plans for it. If you were planning to sell, I would make sure you had a buyer lined up as otherwise it could sit around for a while. If you want it for your own use, it can make a nice, lighter coloured floor which looks good in a more modern house, or simple, plain-lined furniture (think Scandinavian). Whilst it's overkill, it is also superior to something like spruce for general construction of sheds etc. so if you have plans in that direction it will save you money overall to have this milled rather than buy in the timber from a builder's merchant. If you do go this route, bear in mind that for anything which needs to pass building regs you will need to ensure compliance with visual grading standards and this can be a tricky argument to have as building control officers are not likely to be familiar with it, or to trust you. It's also important to make sure you have your full cutting list worked out as you can't exactly nip back and get another bit. If you do use it for anything even semi-structural such as shed frames and rafters, bear in mind that it is not naturally durable so I would want to treat it all heavily against insect attack before it was installed. Wykabor just after milling, before stacking for seasoning, would be my choice. If you do mill it, don't write off the bends. They can make good frame sections if you want a rustic look in a shed, or if cut the right way they can be handy for handles on tools such as axes. Alec

Hi, some 'chipping in' from me From your picture with the ladder in, it looks like you are treating this like a conventional tree - lifting the lower growth, taking down the top to create a neatly rounded shape etc. Fruit trees need different treatment, particularly if the aim is to get some fruit. You want low growing, horizontal (or below) branches. You want to leave shoots (epicormic usually) along all branches, kept cut short to form fruiting spurs, and you want to thin the whole thing out to let light and air through. If you do this too fast, it will just 'bolt' again, like a pollard, which will mean it doesn't fruit until it has settled down again. You would normally spread the work over 3-5yrs, depending on how vigorous the re-growth is the following year. The usual approach with something like the one in your picture is to take the regrowth back to primary based on diseased or crossing and the most upright shoots out first, h, then the following year the next-most vigorous etc until it is right. The pile in front of it is about the right amount to take off - any more and it will bolt, it just may not have been the right bits. Given where you are with this one, I would look at branch tying as an alternative - picking the best placed regrowth branches and tying them down in an arc to form an extension canopy rather like an umbrella - probably on trees of that size in a single tier. I would want to form this tier within picking height from the ground, so if there is nothing suitable or the primary growth is already too high I wouldn't be afraid of heading back to promote epicormic growth lower down which will ultimately form the new branch structure - this could be something which isn't even growing yet (fruit trees are a long term and ongoing project, although the work does decrease each year). I would advise the customer to keep a 4ft circle around the base of each trunk clear of weeds - not by digging as it will damage the roots but rather by killing the grass - either using weedkiller or mulching out with cardboard covered in matured woodchip or bark mulch. If weedkiller is used, I would still advise a mulch. I would also give a general purpose slow release fertiliser in spring - something like blood, fish and bone. You might find this thread (and those linked from it) give an idea of what can be achieved: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/98216-management-veteran-kentish-orchard.html Alec

Bear in mind that I am in no way qualified to offer advice, so please take this rather as thought to initiate discussion. From the pictures you have posted it is hard to get a sense of scale, but the tree clearly has a distinct crown break, rather than a centre leader. If this is at a suitable height, it looks like all the branches are currently small enough to initiate a pollard? Not to everyone's taste I know and it will require regular management on a suitable cycle. If the break point is too high (over about 10-12') it will look rather odd. However, if the owners like having the tree then it could be a way to enable long term retention as the sail would be minimised and think how many pollards there are with highly dysfunctional main trunks. The ecological benefits would also be significant. Alec

My main milling saw used to be an 066 and it was reliable and achieved as much as could be expected of a saw that size. With the chain set up properly (sharp and even) it is certainly not painfully slow so long as you don't try to go much above 18" diameter. At 14" it is quicker than the 076 or 090 (higher chain speed and not bogging). These days it tends to be used on the mini-mill with either a 24" or 36" bar and I have used it buried full depth on 10' long cuts without any problems. Chainsaw milling is inherently slower than bandsaw milling, particularly when you have the sort of machine Big J does, but it's horses for courses - I can mill a tree in a back garden accessed only through the house if necessary, whereas for a lorry-load of butts roadside it really wouldn't be the right approach. Alec

What species? Alec

Not psychic - just a good guess from your User ID I have also read the heated arguments on SII forums. Not sure which way it would go but I would certainly be prepared to go to 4000kg on air brakes, bearing in mind this would be towing sawlogs slowly on back roads, so not actually any worse than common practice on agricultural registrations. Alec

I find willow re-sprouts surprisingly little from stumps. It's odd, as if you pollard it, or top it, or coppice it from very young, it grows back vigorously but cutting down anything over about a couple of inches across to ground level it just seems to give up. Alec

Yep. I believe if you have a towing vehicle with no stated maximum towing weight (not sure on the date for this but I know it applies to S2 land rovers but not S3 so must be post-1973) then simple train weight applies, so as long as you have appropriate braking arrangements you can tow over 5000kg. Not sure I would want to, but I know people who have done this with boats, I believe carrying written confirmation of legality. Alec

The fact that plated weight rather than actual weight is used is, at times, frustrating. My plant trailer, unloaded, is under 750kg so someone with a post-97 licence could legally bring it to a site unladen if it wasn't for the plate. I have contemplated having a second, de-rated plate made up since they are only fixed with a few aluminium pop-rivets (has to be 'permanently affixed' rather than bolted). It would be the work of 5mins to swap over for the occasional emergency use and so far as I can see would be perfectly legal? Out of interest, does the 'braked' requirement apply to plated or actual weight? Is it legal to buy a trailer plated at over 750kg, unladen weight under 750kg, with faulty brakes, and tow it home empty? Alec

Very nice - good coloured elm that, where did it come from? Alec

Completely agree with the dangers of the collecting bug! I like them as they represent a balance of aesthetics, craftsmanship and engineering and pretty much all of them are still practical to wear on at least some occasions. There aren't many mechanical or engineered items which can be over 100yrs old and yet can still be used today as originally intended. There are some serious bargains to be had in secondhand watches - Smiths De Luxe and Imperial models for example are ridiculously cheap and come in a wide variety of colours/styles. I bought one last year dating from the mid-1950s which had never even been out of its box! The trouble is that earlier watches tend to be less robust and harder to keep running due to parts availability (with a few exceptions such as Smiths where a proper dismantle and service can still be had for £35), unless you have something top end such as Patek Philippe - rather like owning a Bentley where it doesn't really matter what age it is but at the same time you don't ask the price. The movements in most mechanical watches are pretty robust after about 1950 but I tend to keep an eye out for stainless steel cases which are robust and easy to re-finish, rather than the more popular gold or chrome plated ones. Girard-Perregaux are quite a good bet for this. The real problem is the crystal - acrylic was the norm and although it doesn't break easily, it does scratch really badly. Sapphire glass starts to come in from the 1970s but you really need something from the last 20yrs to be sure. I think to an extent your choice of watch can make a statement about who you are - there is anything from basic functional fit and forget to cramming as many gadgets and functions in as possible to engineering masterpieces, styled as plain, understated and functional through to maximum bling. I caught the underground from Oxford Circus rather than Green Park today to indulge in a bit of window-shopping in Burlington Arcade Alec

I wear watches and have quite a few which I choose between, depending on what I feel like. I tend to go for mechanical watches, mostly automatic movements and generally older. With your budget, I suggest going for a good quartz rather than a cheap mechanical movement which won't last well and will be impossible to repair. You could have a look at Christopher Ward which are UK designed and based, although the movements are Swiss - view all and sort by price and you'll find they start at your budget although the choice is limited https://www.christopherward.co.uk/watch/view-all-watches?dir=asc&order=price#maincontent . I have one of theirs (automatic movement) as does a friend of mine and they are bombproof - it has been up mountains, worn whilst angle-grinding etc. and is still decent (and the lume lasts well - still glowing in the morning). Alec

I'd think down the line, based on what you tend to do with cars and whether this one suits. We tend to run cars right into the ground. My wife and I have only ever sold one vehicle between us. We tend to find things we like and then look after them and know how they have been treated so buying a nominal 'like for like' wouldn't have the history with it. I currently have an '03 plate Volvo V70 with 215k on the clock. I have had 6yrs and it went through its MOT today with nothing more than a couple of bulbs and a pair of windscreen wipers. However, in the last year I probably spent its value on major work (steering rack joints, intercooler, injectors, aux pump etc). But, if I had a newer car I would be losing money on depreciation, and actually I like my car - it's big, comfortable (heated leather seats ), tows a decent sized plant trailer and has good fuel economy so it's everything I need and the service back-up from the Volvo dealer is exemplary and not too expensive. The key point is that there isn't anything I would rather have, so why change until I have to? However, if you are the type of person who changes their car because they get bored with it, or you never really liked it anyway, I would cut my losses and sell it for what I could get but it might still pay to get an engine in. I do think you should be able to get an engine fitted for a lot less than that though. It's not a very big job in a Corsa - I didn't ever do it but I had the gearbox off one once and changed it over in a weekend singlehanded with no engine hoist so for an untested unit (which is all you really need to sell it, so long as it's a runner) you should be under the £500 mark fitted I would think. Are there any scrapyards in your area? Any option to go and have a look at one, check mileage on the clock and take it away? It would be a lot cheaper and you would know mileage even if not history, and if there is obvious accident damage it would be a fair bet it was at least running when it was scrapped? Alec

Anyone remember Porterhouse Blue? Probably my favourite is still Father Ted though - my wife's family is Irish on her Dad's side so describing it as a documentary does not go down well... Alec

More acquaintance - I had dinner with him last year when we were both guests of Countess Sondes and had a long discussion about elms. Alec

In that case, I know the previous owner! Alec

Nice stack! I have a similar looking stick coming up - should have been tomorrow but the owner has put his back out so we're delayed a few weeks. Mine was supposed to be into boards but the owner now wants a 25ft beam, so more set-up but less cutting. Alec

I think I would particularly want to avoid planting willow in that situation. Alec

I was thinking about this and probably the piece of kit which has single-handedly got me out of the most holes is my Simplex A1022 toe jack. It was bought before the days of Ebay through the small ads, I think for £65. It can be winkled under most things, has ratchets so no seals to go wrong, lifts 15 tons with a 13"stroke, from the top or the toe. It isn't exactly designed for it but it has been used for rolling huge lumps of wood, lifting 70ft canal boats, getting stuck things unstuck etc. Extremely handy piece of kit. Alec

The only thing I keep thinking is that if you make the holders as currently planned, there is a strong likelihood that they will split through at the base when they dry out fully, as anything with the heart in tends to do (even when cut very thin as oysters). I would be far more comfortable with drilling right through (or deep drilling and then cutting off) and inserting a disc in the base as a plug as I think it's far less likely to crack. Alec

Sounds like a cross between the way orchards used to be managed and a wood pasture. There are still a few vestiges of both of these around if you look carefully. I am trying some experimental things too, within some very specific constraints. Our total site is 6.5 acres, consisting of a 4.75 acre arable field bounded by roads, ditches and a river; two small areas of around 0.4 acres each and the balance the house with two patches of garden - one more formal, the other more wild. One of the 0.4 acre areas is now planted up as an orchard on stocks which allow a 12' spacing with a grassed in sward, which I am trying to improve by adding clover. I also mulch down around the trees with woodchip and cardboard to suppress weeds and encourage worms to build the soil structure. The other 0.4 acre area we have just bought after renting for several years so are now free to use - I am planting cider apples as standards and possibly a few walnuts. The more wild garden area I am gradually allowing to become more wooded, mainly with nut trees. The main challenge is the arable field. Being this small, we can't justify any agricultural plant so it is contract farmed, which limits what we can change. However there are some things which I can do. Firstly, I am putting in a boundary hedge which is a mix of standard hedging material and some more unusual edibles, if I can ever get anyone to actually sell me them! This includes everything from goji berries to juneberries and cornus mas, all of which will lay well enough in with everything else. Along the riverbank I am planting willows - we already have cricket bat willows but I am interplanting with basket weaving varieties, grown as 4'6" pollards to keep them above the deer. Still having trouble with something stripping the bark though. The main change is to the soil structure which I am trying to improve by throwing as much woodchip as I can get hold of at it and then adding biochar. The latter is a recent step so no results yet - it also needs a staggering quantity overall (around 100 cubic metres) so making it/getting hold of it is a long term plan but I am adding it systematically across the site so if it works I should start to see some results next season. Always open to more ideas though - I tend to think of it that, because I don't depend on this for a living, I can afford to take risks that a farmer can't but if it does work out it should be useful for the future. Alec

Thanks for that - very much viable for us so I'll give it a go. Alec

I think that may well be the case. I have just come in from the annual sort-out of the willows down on our riverbank. These are mostly cricket bat willows grown for J.S.Wright, who provide them as very long cuttings, already with a 4m stem. We have difficulty getting some to strike on our land, so I have been taking extra ones, growing them for a year and using them to fill in the gaps. In between these are various varieties which I am trying to get going as short pollards (just above deer height) to yield rods for baskets. They are chosen to give a wide range of colours which also means they look great under the winter sun in reds, purples, greens and yellows. I will head these back in mid-February when I've had the best of the view of them and harvest the rods. Willow is certainly versatile. Alec