agg221

If you are thinking of a future career where it will help to have letters after your name to secure a job, rather than just the knowledge gained from the training, I suggest the BSc. The wider world, be it an individual tree owner or the estate management/site services department of a company is unlikely to be familiar with the different levels or understand what they mean, whereas BSc is 'portable' - fwiw even beyond arb. Alec

Ah, the late, great Mr Freeman, who once memorably played Supper's Ready by Genesis on his Saturday show in its entirety - all 22 minutes and 54 seconds of it Alec

Yes, still going, although only Mick Box left from the early line-ups. I particularly like July Morning, especially Ken Hensley's epic keyboard solo at the end. Alec

Uriah Heep's 'Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble' (vinyl) on the stereo. Alec

Hi Chris, long time no speak (we never did get round to meeting up!) I think the problem is that, whilst they will be just as durable as sweet chestnut, people won't be familiar with them so it's less likely that they would sell. I was trying to think of uses - might make good hedging stakes as although a bit lighter than normal they will last longer. They could make tree stakes too? May be worth putting them on Arbtrader as either of the above (there is the occasional enquiry for hedging stakes) and seeing if you get a response? I wouldn't think that kiln dried is much of an advantage though. Alec

A lot of grass - pretty much the day's job to cut it all! Alec

My old stuff, including the petrol which smells like paint, gets thrown in an old Westwood ride-on mower. It won't start on the really bad stuff but pour some good stuff in the air filter and it starts and warms up enough to run on pretty much anything. Mowing the grass takes about 10l, so it gets through it pretty well. Alec

I haven't - I did think about this but can't see how to do it as the wheels are pretty much fully enclosed by the casing, which also forms part of the tensioning system so you can't take it off to examine it. I'll have another think about whether I can jig something up with some pins though, set them to depth against the wheel edges through the casing and then and then rest that on a straight edge afterwards - cheers for the thought. Alec

My money is on the chestnut lasting more than twice as long as the treated softwood - the formulations for treatment after 2003 when CCA was banned are pretty useless. Alec

You could go for semi-transparent water based stains - let the grain show through but give it a hint of colour. Some of them come with the colour and base separately so you can make up what you need. Alec

At that price, don't suppose they have a second one going do they - be worth crating up and road hauling here! I think the real limitation on portability will be the length. The longest portable mill I have hired in was a Forester at 20' max capacity with 36" through the head and about 14" depth. Great piece of kit when it was working but the owner did swear about it a lot (partly when I had him bring it round the M25 at rush hour!) Only practical option I can think of is to use a chainsaw mill to break down lumps into something more manageable and bring them back for milling - beams ripped to a third of their thickness or butts quartered would be realistic on speed (each cut is not going to be more than 30mins even on 600mm wide x 8m long dry oak). Chains are reasonably cheap and assuming labour isn't too expensive out your way it should be viable. Alec

OK, so we know from your other posts that you use .325" pitch and if your Husky is standard that is on 3/8" lo-pro. .050" gauge is also used on standard 3/8" but I would guess you are familiar with this, so I'm guessing that this chain has a smaller pitch, which turns out to be 1/4". I can't offhand find any pro saws which run 1/4" as standard, but it is used for carving. I can only find a 56" DL fitting as standard though, for some 10" carving bars. Alec

The auction is tomorrow, and they will take commission bids by phone and ship at a reasonable cost (and well packaged). I will be leaving my commission bids (not for chisels) in the morning Alec

True, it's a chisel used in timber framing (and, as per the description, boatbuilding which is where I have used them) but I wouldn't call it a framing chisel. Not trying to be nitpicking over semantics, just that 'framing chisel' is generally used to describe a big, heavy tool you can drive hard to cut away a lot of timber and a slick isn't that. If I was looking for good, cheap chisels I might be tempted to take a punt on these: A quantity of chisels etc 28 chisels and gouges G I can't see anything I would call a framing chisel - nothing particularly long, but there are some mortice chisels and some with iron hoops rather than brass, which is a sign that things are designed to be hit hard. Certainly get £20 worth out of them! Alec

A proper slick isn't a framing chisel. A framing chisel is built for hammering whereas a slick is used two handed in a sliding action, almost like a plane. That's why the handle is so long (to get two hands on) and the tool is heavy enough for momentum to carry it through the cut. Alec

Yes - I work mine up through the grades 120, 320, 600, 1200 and for fine finishing 2400. Alec

If you can get them in the right size, I would be tempted to try M42 blades from Tuffsaws. They cope really well with very hard, dry timber and will even survive the odd iron nail. Alec

Wastage or co-product? If you assume square edge, parallel sided boards of maximum possible width is the premium product then tell me the thickness and saw kerf and I can tell you the yield with a standard allowance for straightness and taper. If you have a secondary market such as pallets for edge boards your yield goes up. If you have markets for sawdust and shredded bark and sidings it goes higher. If your kerf, board thickness go up, or your range of products goes down then your yield goes down. A big mill will laser scan each log as it enters the line, auto-customising the cutting pattern to maximise yield. A small mill with an eye to profit can't do this time efficiently. Someone cutting for themself with limited supply can work to a cutting list and minimise waste. Alec

I'm presuming from the fact that you are using 0.063" gauge that it's for a Stihl saw which takes .325" pitch as standard (something like an MS261?). If so, you need 67 drive links. Alec

If you want it for milling I would try to do a deal without the 48" bar. These are the Duromatic hard nosed and you want a sprocket nosed bar. There are several options including Sugihara and GB which are cheaper and more suitable than a list price Duromatic. Alec.

There are different designs to the top cover. The earliest ones have the cast Stihl logo painted white over the red or orange and transparent transfer which goes in the rebated section - saying 090 or 070, with or without AV depending on model. The second type has two rebates, one in the top cover and the other in the air filter, lining up to take two separate rivetted in plates. The upper one says Stihl, the lower one has the model number and AV if appropriate. The latest type has a single rebate in the air filter cover (none in the top cover) and stick-on label with both Stihl and the model, with or without AV. It's only the later type which is still available. There are bad copies of the straight 090 label. Alec

Haven't found a supply for anything other than the newest type. Btw - what cycle do you wash them on? Alec

Yes - they do seem to make a bit more, but I've never worked out why (perhaps people just buy them without realising the issues ) Alec

Personally I'd be looking a bit lower than that. The 084 was a good saw with loads of torque, which is really what you want in a big saw, but there are now some serious issues with parts availability, most notably the coil. Pot and piston can be replaced but only with OEM which is very expensive. When you consider that an 076 can be had for around £350 (sometimes even less) and an older 088 for £600, both of which have full parts availability, I would go for one of these for preference, the 084 would have to be a serious bargain to justify it. Alec

Yes - I didn't dismantle the wheels, just took them out. There is no play or roughness and they run forever if you hold the shaft on the ends and spin it up. They are secure in their housings - the drive wheel shaft has to be drawn back in with a bolt and the front of the shaft is the adjustment for tracking, which holds it tight when screwed in (and does not work loose). The idle wheel shaft again has to be drawn in with a bolt and the wheel is tensioned against this shaft by pivoting the wheel backwards, so it would naturally locate at the inner edge even if there was any play on the outer face of the shaft (I can't feel any). Steve - I think you are right that it is pressure on the band in the cut which stops it jumping even more frequently - I do notice that it jumps faster with sharper bands, which is consistent with this. However, when I enter the cut it is tracking properly (you can rev it up and it doesn't jump). When it goes wrong it is tracking clean off the front of the wheel as it enters, so much so that it is jumping the rim. The issue is that I don't seem to do anything to it to get from one state to the other, and back again. No top to bottom adjustment on mine unfortunately. Alec