agg221

Hardwood or softwood? Hardwood grading is visual, softwood is mechanical testing. TRADA offer visual grading training - Training courses | Exova BM TRADA but it's worth noting that, so far as I am aware, grading is to a standard rather than to a qualification, ie anyone can grade so long as they are prepared to put their name to it. This may not help much, but it's worth noting that there is technically no grading standard that applies to green hardwood. You can use the same criteria of course, but it is technically not to the relevant British Standard as this is only defined for seasoned timber. Alec

A tactic for getting meetings which works for me. Ring from a number they won't know and ask to speak to the relevant person. When you get put through, rather than asking 'can I come and see you tomorrow?' ask 'I need to come and discuss this with you, when is convenient for you?' If you get comment about 'I'll get back to you' then politely state that 'since you're at your desk' (you know this because you got put through to them) 'and I have my diary, lets set a date and time now while it's in both our minds, as otherwise it might get overlooked'. I find the above to have a very high success rate. Alec

Some general thoughts from a non-arb business. To succeed, in steady-state you need to maintain a balanced flow through a sales pipeline to delivery (and payment!). If you are growing, you need to increase capacity at whichever step(s) present the barrier. At the beginning of the pipeline, you have awareness (advertising in one form or another) which creates opportunities. You then have enquiry handling and conversion, finally delivery. If you break it down like this, can you identify where the bottlenecks are, and where you are over-capacity? If you don't have enough enquiries to allow you to feel comfortable, ie you need to convert too high a percentage, then you are better off investing in advertising. If you already have more enquiries than you can reasonably convert and are failing to even consider them properly, you can scale back on advertising. The same principle applies along the chain. Once you know where the bottlenecks are, you can consider what is the most cost-effective way to relieve them. The same applies to areas of excess capability - just because something breaks or wears out you don't need to replace it automatically. Consider whether the business is changing direction first. There is also a time factor here - if you need a quick boost on orders then a lot of flyers/phone calls may help but if you are OK for the moment then you can cut costs in the longer term by building up a reputation and relying on word of mouth and repeat customers. It's worth bearing in mind that quality as well as cost will ultimately make or break you. You can't compete with two men in a white transit with some blue polyprop rope, so you need the right balance of quality and price-point. Lower price-point will probably secure more volume, but on a lower margin. If you need to keep a larger team busy then this is probably more appropriate (it seems like you are already in that bracket if you are doing a lot of back-garden work with poor access). This isn't of itself a bad thing - you just need the right kit for the market you are addressing so if you haven't considered this you may already have some surplus items (sell off on Arbtrader?). However, get any of the steps out of sync and you can damage your reputation very quickly - people get annoyed if you say you will turn up and you don't - that may be that you don't turn up to quote because you have too many jobs to quote for, or you don't do the job when promised due to equipment failure. Your fault or not - the customer is always right, certainly when they are telling their friends about you. Alec

Single or three phase currently? Alec

Apart from having completely failed to take pictures as promised, as it happens I was pruning last weekend at Mum's. We haven't lost any trees in the recent storms and, thinking about it, I don't think we have lost any in the last decade. When you consider that the trees on Paradise stock would generally have been expected not to exceed 60yrs and are now a couple of years away from their century I believe management as fruit trees is a viable approach and they are still making good, steady extension growth in most cases (I was able to find some suitable wood for grafting from all of them). They do not produce anything like commercial crops, not a problem for us, but they do produce a reasonable yield all things considered. Growth and overall tree vitality are much improved by mulching. I attribute this to a combination of reduced competition, improved moisture retention and an improvement to soil structure courtesy of the worms. The latter was very notable last weekend - pruning off steps and the legs kept sinking in in the mulched areas but not where the sward remained. Alec

To be fair, ADR is completely international - it's UN derived so pretty much every country has signed up to it. The main difference appears to be how they apply/enforce it. I have learned some useful things though - there are six of us on the course, of whom three are in the small scale/occasional user category (as it happens, all three of us have been getting away with using someone else's grandfather rights until now) and the instructor has come up with some very cheap and simple solutions to things like storing and transporting agri-chemicals in compliance with most of the rules - the only bit which is tricky is ADR. Alec

It actually stands for Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route but is the Carriage of Dangerous Goods regulations (2009) as far as the UK is concerned. There was also a 2011 update. As I understand it, your hypothetical situation is correct in its entirety, but additionally your jerrycan must be UN marked (not just CE). (If you've had your tap use refresher course in the last 5yrs you should still be OK for a glass of water - assuming your glass is suitably certified ) Alec

Apologies if this has been covered but I can't search on ADR (too short!) I had the PA1 training course today and the subject of transporting chemicals came up, and at the same time fuel in containers. From my understanding, based on the course supplemented by a bit of digging around on the HSE website, this appears to be a can of worms. It appears that carrying fuel is fine, so long as you are carrying the tools it is going in to - this appears to explicitly exclude carrying fuel for re-supply of tools. Although there is additionally a small load exemption which would cover most needs, it requires that all occupants of the vehicle have had ADR awareness training. From my reading of this - I can go and buy some Aspen on my way to a job (or at least on the way to somewhere credible to be doing a job ) but not just go and pick up some Aspen when I am passing if I haven't got a saw with me. I also can't send someone out off site to buy petrol unless they take a saw with them. I wouldn't be particularly concerned about this if it was a 'hypothetical but will never really happen in practice' situation, but the instructor mentioned that VOSA had targetted diving instructors taking a class out to a course and prosecuted them successfully (but not the trainees as they were not carrying gas bottles in the course of their business and it doesn't apply to private individuals). Apparently the instructors would have been fine if their gas bottles were carried by one of the trainees (effectively equivalent you could send the customer off to buy your petrol but if you go yourself you need to take a saw with you...) I wondered whether anyone had been through this subject in any detail and could confirm my understanding. I would rather avoid being pulled up due to being unaware of a technicality if possible. Alec

If that was mine and I was trying to sell it as a butt, I would dig off the worst of the mud and pressure wash it thoroughly, then stick an Alaskan dead up the middle as far as it would go, finishing off by tipping it so the cut was vertical and freehanding the last of it with an old chain (I have a 36" bar and near-worn out ripping chain for this type of job). This will show just how good the butt is for rot, together with colour and grain of the rootball. Otherwise it's a bit of a punt for someone and you might well struggle to get it moved. Alec

I started planting trees, in this case re-planting gaps in an orchard, when I was about 15. I am now 42 and the trees are mature and looking good (Mum still lives there). It is very satisfying to see things grow over an extended timeframe. A few thoughts on your potential wood. I would echo Goaty's comments about planting for stages. I would also think about the eventual look you want - is it mature woodland with standards, standards over coppice or block plantation and clear fell? Personally I would avoid clear felling the whole thing as it won't be great for its impact on habitat, and who knows what kind of felling licence you will need by the time it's ready. I would therefore either go for staged removal, as per Goaty's suggestion, or standards over coppice. Either way, I would be planting a pretty broad range. There are so many tree species under attack at the moment and who knows which will be next. I would go for birch as a pioneer species, maybe still chance some ash for coppicing (somewhere around 10% should be resistant with luck if the Danish example is anything to go by), maybe some hornbeam for coppicing, alder and I would plant some trees which I expected to become timber - wild cherry, oak, and on that site I would chance some elm. OK, so I would (my favourite tree) but the adaptation trial described here: Trials is interesting and the website will supply you with trees - if you start with one of each strain of interest you can propagate more from cuttings. I would avoid Patriot from that list btw. Out of interest, if you are anywhere near Acton's Farm, High Wych, there is a really impressive surviving tree there. I might also mix in some sycamore as a second thin - it grows fairly fast and makes good firewood. A few hazel and field maple might go in around the edges and a couple of limes (small leaved or large leaved rather than hybrid) would ultimately make impressive trees. I don't think I would plant any willow, poplar or beech (site sounds a bit low and wet for the latter). Alec

I have the free angle one. It is an exceptional tool - with a sharp blade it is incredibly precise. That said, I ended up freehanding along marked out lines in the end more often than not, but I am pretty used to it. It's worth marking out with a knife (doesn't have to be a Japanese one) as it does keep it following the line better but with the guide you don't have to do this. Alec

My 064 was my first saw - bought for limbing up and then milling oak butts about 20yrs ago. I upgraded to the 066 and noticed the improvement in milling speed far more than I noticed the extra weight. Rich has also reminded me that I remember the difference in vibration - although compared with an 070 anything will be an improvement Alec

Is the 070 on Ebay one of yours? Having had both, I would go with the 066. There is little in it for weight or performance, but the little comes out slightly in favour of 066 for me on balance. Very good with a 25" bar or thereabouts. Alec

An interesting thing, but I'm not sure it meets a need. The point of chainsaw driven mills is usually portability. The Alaskan and the Ripsaw can both be taken into back gardens or carted into the woods in a wheelbarrow. They are either slow and inefficient or limited on capacity but can get the job done anywhere. The Lucas is a bit less portable but can be got to many places. Its capacity is severely limited but production rates are very good, as is accuracy. A 'proper' band mill, either trailed or fixed, gives accuracy and speed but is limited as to where it goes and generally needs log handling gear. It also tends to have a larger engine running on a cheaper fuel. This seems to combine the down sides of a small 2-stroke and lack of portability/need for log handling. I think for the money I would go with a small Norwood or Woodlands. Alec

You're welcome. If you don't already have them, 'Elm' by Richens and 'Essex Elm' by Hanson are probably the best starting points. Alec

Hi Gary, happy to, but it's a bit of a meandering compilation Firstly, I am lucky enough to live in an area with a uniquely diverse elm population. On my drive to work I see seven distinct populations which may be resistant and three more which have some field resistance. There are twenty or more within around a half hour drive (that I've found so far). I have read a lot of literature - everything from early work like Melville and Richens to more recent publications by the Colemans in Edinburgh and the proceedings of various elm conferences. I know the person who runs the resistantelms website (some of the photos I have posted on here may be familiar...) He is a lot more connected than me which is how I get a lot of the more anecdotal information. Although the UK hasn't really had an elm programme, continental Europe has, with some good results. I haven't met them in person but have communicated with Alberto Santini who heads the Italian programme and is sort of the godfather of elm breeding, and Juan Martin who heads the Spanish programme which identified seven extremely resistant clones of U.minor. And then I just keep my ears and eyes open and pick up stuff along the way. Alec

I would want to see the test data for DED. New Horizon is an American hybrid and there are differences between the US and European strains of DED. This caused some quite high profile problems when Princeton was released as it proved to have inferior resistance in the UK. If New Horizon has not had any European testing there is a risk that it is similarly vulnerable. I would then be more inclined to look at Columella, Clusius or Loebel, depending on your preferred habit. Alec

You might recognise the first and second of mine Geoff.... (speaking as an Essex Man myself) Alec

I did mine with a router and a straight fence (piece of aluminium I-section in my case) clamped to the boards. It took a bit of time but worked perfectly. Alec

The only problem I can see with leaving the boards to shrink and planning not to re-lay is that they won't dry to an even width - where there are knots or any non-straight grain you will get some differences in shrinkage and the gaps could end up rather random - quite conceivably ranging from around 3mm to 12mm+ which could look quite messy. I would plan on trying to make the boards span in a single length and edging them up again when dry (ideally with a jointer if you have one but if not then with a router against a long fence). It is partly this loss of material that suggests keeping a couple of spares. Thinking further, you want the boards smiling rather than frowning. I think I would also want to seal the ends well to try to prevent losses from splitting. PVA should do it as then it won't show. The Lucas should be ideal to achieve the cutting pattern. Obviously you won't do it in this order, but something like cutting out beams from the corners to leave a big cross and then cutting that down into boards. If it was in proportion to the building I think I would aim for 6" width boards as they would look decent but have less shrinkage than wider ones. Alec

Chestnut doesn't grow away very well if overshadowed. I would therefore plant blocks at different spacings for different products - some bigger stuff will ultimately be useful for cleaving into post and rail or even milling into dimensioned structural timber. There is almost no sapwood so it doesn't need to get anything like as big as oak to be useful. Alec

If the building is open-sided then basically you aren't building a floor, you are fitting decking which will be rained on etc. If he can't be persuaded that paving/bricks would be more suitable, I would quarter the butts, cut quartersawn boards off until the remaining section was suitable for a beam and then use the quartersawn boards for the flooring, laid as decking with deliberate gaps. I would decide whether to plane them or roughly sand off any sharp bits depending on the style. I would explain that air needed to circulate and that the boards would shrink in width so would need re-laying in a year or so. I would lay the boards 'frowning' and fix each board down with a single stainless screw in the middle at each bearer. I would have these countersunk but not plugged. I would decide whether it was better to price in the re-laying to the job, or to add it to the quote as a line item to be taken up later, depending on the customer and my judgement as to whether they would be likely to 'forget' that I had told them it would need doing, particularly when telling their friends about me whilst standing there having a barbecue. My preference would be to price it in, as that way it will definitely get done (at no extra charge) and will give a much better impression to any viewers who may want something similar in the future. Bearing this in mind, I would hang on to a couple of spare boards from the job and store them to add in when re-laying. Alec

No David, the third shot (the bare ones) are on the same site but I didn't put any pictures up of the specific trees we've been speaking about as they are extremely difficult to photograph with only an iPhone due to the location. Alec

Thanks Steve, the first picture is of a particular strain of U.minor found on the Dengie peninsular.

Excellent thread. As may be apparent, I have a particular liking for elms. Here are a few of my favourites - all remarkable for still being alive. The ones in the first three pictures are all well over 100ft. The fourth is on Marylebone high street. Alec