agg221

I agree with this. The steel/powder coat and weight wouldn't worry me per se, but I would expect it to go rusty, and I would get irritated by the rust stains on board surfaces whenever I milled something with a high tannin content such as oak or sweet chestnut. The lack of skidder on the rear clamp would be annoying - for reasons too dull to go in to, I have two standard uprights without skidders and forgot the lower clamp with the skidder on the other weekend (I normally use long uprights but needed short ones due to lack of space), so improvised one out of angle iron. It worked fine but the lack of skidder meant a lot more thought and care to avoid it jamming, and you could only really mill on the 'heel' of the clamp. The lack of handle would be OK (I usually end up holding the rail anyway) and I actually think the vertical mill is quite clever as it is more interchangeable with milling rail configurations than the Alaskan. The biggest weakness however is the clamping system. You are likely to end up applying enough force that it digs in to the upright. This means that once you have a few 'dents' it will be almost impossible to make fine adjustments near a dent, as it will either slip up or down into the dent, or not grip firmly enough and tend to shift in use. The double-ended even tightening of nuts on the U-clamp on the Alaskan may be a bit fiddly (particularly the inboard one where it fouls the rail) but at least it is infinitely adjustable and gives secure clamping without wear to the upright. Alec

Chainsaw milling I presume? Ash can be a bit harder to mill than you initially think it will be but it mills well enough and dries nicely. If you are lucky there will be some colour in there - probably not much grain if it's straight but good for the Scandinavian look! Alec

It's a bit late for bare root but you should just get away with it so I would try Keepers Nursery which has an excellent selection. If there is space for big trees I would go with pear rootstock, otherwise Quince A will give a 15' tree. Alec

I take all your points, but: Topping and leaving, which is the norm, results in a very different form to topping and formative pruning. The only place I have ever seen (and done) the latter is in fruit trees, which are usually artificially maintained at a lower height than they would naturally form, and have on occasion been literally topped, to bring them down to a different height to change the picking method. With appropriate management, the head can be re-formed to a natural appearance, granted at a cost and requiring a good eye. I also fully accept that this is not normal practice in arboriculture, but P.cerasifera responds in similar fashion to P.domestica so there is no reason it couldn't be done that I can see, however unconventional it may be. I had a quick look at P.cerasifera Nigra on Barchams. They supply at £164 inc. VAT for medium (3-4m). These would then need double staking and ties. It depends on where you needed delivery to, but this would add between £50 and £150 in their local region. All-in, the costs for trees, sundries and delivery could be pushing £500. Add the costs of felling, removal and grinding, together with the cost of planting and I would guess you are pushing £800-£1000 all in. It would be great if the builder felt that they were liable for this, but if they don't I'm not sure there is much you could do about it. There is unlikely to be a written specification and, although it is clearly not compliant with best practice or any BS, they have clearly 'pruned the trees' so it could be a long, hard road to get any financial recompense and I wouldn't want to count on it, particularly a figure in line with the above which is likely to lie well above a goodwill gesture. As such, whilst I agree that the OP should not have to 'make do', sadly they may have to. With regard to the silverleaf question - yes it's a risk, but not as high as you may fear. Silverleaf is fungal and causes silvering of the leaves as its most visible sign. Severe stress can result in a physiological condition known as 'false silver leaf' which has the same visible effect. To check which, cut off an apparently infected but sacrificial branch and if it has a purple stain up the middle it's silverleaf or (much easier in your case) wait and see if the affected branches die or the tree recovers. Alec

Yes, really, I reckon in 5yrs it would be possible (subject to strong re-growth) to achieve a result where at a casual glance you wouldn't spot the recent 'works'. I accept it would come at a cost, but there is no heavy work involved so it would be pretty quick each visit. Also hard to gauge height on these, which would have a bearing. I think a lot depends on required time to result. If you want to get back to what was there before you can either pay to fell and grind, then replant with small specimens and wait 10+yrs for the full effect, or pay a lot more for larger specimens to get the effect faster, or work with what you've got. It's the balance of cost/time/quality that will determine which. Alec

I would also leave them and expect them to grow back. The problem is that the re growth will be very upright and will not look natural. I would overcome this using fruit training techniques such as thinning water shoots in mid-summer to only leave ones which are well placed, together with branch tying. I reckon in 2-3yrs it could be got back to a decent form and after 5yrs you wouldn't notice what had been done. Might not be a bad idea to plant something else at the bottom in the middle though. There is an excellent new walnut called Chiara which has a compact habit, is frost tolerant and comes into bearing at a young age... Alec

Measure the volume in cubic feet (length x thickness x width at narrowest point). Price per cubic foot will depend on species, grain/colour, presence/absence of defects and whether green, air-dried or kiln dried. It will also depend on whether you want a quick sale or are prepared to wait, and whether it is single boards or a batch. It's not that complicated, but the above factors do make for quite a wide price range. Alec

Yes, it is available in both full chisel and micro-chisel. Custom chain loops Click on the .325 x .058 and you will see the options. Alec

Yep, that would be me, when I pick up the trailer. Just need to order myself a new lighting board with indicators which are a bit less intermittent. The sumac will then join the pear from Middlesbrough which is now waiting at my place and travel to Maidenhead. I think my trips are getting as complex as Nepia's! Alec

I run my 076 on Aspen for milling - I didn't even have to re-tune it. Same with the other big old saws of which I have a few (more than I admit to my wife anyway!) and they are all fine. Alec

Same principle of bolting together bits of aluminium. In my case they are 5' lengths of 6"x2", with an internal clamping system. It is very compact and extremely rigid. I have four lengths so can do 20'. Alec

I have done it Will Malloff's way - bit of a baptism of fire my on my first ever milling, making 20' oak planks from trees which had been felled down the bank into a derelict canal. It worked OK but the set-up time was extremely long and trying to get the strings tensioned in the right place was very, very tedious. I now have a 20' bolt-together rail, which makes life enormously easier. Alec

Yes, it's a Ripsaw. There is a short bit of video of it and some pictures on the milling pics and vids thread. Its capacity isn't huge but it is extremely quick and wastes almost nothing in sawdust. The pear is about the ideal size for it. Alec

Just to confirm, 8off lengths of 12"-18" diameter x 6ft length? What thickness would you like it milled to, and is it through and through, or quarter sawn? This will affect the time it takes. I can do it, with a chainsaw powered bandsaw so minimum waste on kerf. If you can confirm the spec. I'll drop you a pm with a price. Cheers Alec

A light sanding followed by an oil finish comes up very nicely. Alec

If the log was through and through sawn and the boards are over double the required width you won't lose much by ripping dead up the middle. This is where it will distort or crack most anyway so it will take the stresses out and reduce this tendency. Alec

From personal experience, it does allow you to run a longer bar as there is less 'bite' from having fewer teeth in contact at any one time. A longer bar has more friction anyway, so the increase isn't huge, and if it exceeds design length you can run out of oiling capacity, but it allows you to step up a bit without bogging down. Alec

If you try combining these the results could be spectacular, if short lived... Alec

Sounds like it. Unless you really like your current bank, you could try opening a Santander 123 current account which will pay 3% interest on up to 20k. Check the other requirements though to see if it is suitable, but it gives the best instant access rate I can find. Alec

If you do the work before March you are at no risk of beetles moving so could transport off site, certainly for kilning. It depends how big they are, but if a mobile bandsaw will handle them and you can borrow a telehandler you may get through them in two days, which will be cheaper than big saw plus bar and chain plus mill plus fuel, irrespective of time. Alec

Yes, very much so. Size and situation would determine whether to mill with an Alaskan or hire in a band mill - the latter will cut a lot faster and give better yield. Pictures, size and a rough location would be great - also are they dead or coming out for another reason? I am gradually trying to assess what is still around in the way of surviving elms. Alec Edit: I see they are in Dover. It would be interesting to see if they are true Huntingdon or a hybrid with one of the surviving North Kent strains.

At this time of year, I wouldn't go too much on the colour. Even the yellow ones like Golden Hornet have now gone decidedly orange. Somewhere around October would be the time to look, and if you can get at a fruit, try biting into it. If it is tongue-dryingly high in tannin it is almost certainly a crab. If it's not self-sown then photos should soon see it identified. Alec

Yes - without being asked. There used to be a company called Edward Jones, which offered a good service. They were bought out by Towry Law who started using some pretty unpleasant tactics. Investment Sense set themselves up to offer an open, upfront service of the type Edward Jones used to offer, in the process aiming to pick up unhappy former clients of Edward Jones. The business approach has continued in the same vein. Alec

Fully agree with the points made here - although I would say it is still worth doing if you have surplus and are in your 40s or early 50s - you just taper off the risk according to the timeframe you want to invest over, and accept the reduced returns. So you might start out with a fair number of growth focussed funds, with some in emerging markets or smaller companies, and gradually transition towards a mix of larger UK or US companies which pay dividends, and government bonds. The main reason I use an IFA is about the research to pick the right fund in a class. Say you want some of your money in larger UK companies. There will be half a dozen funds at least which invest in this area. In a given year, they may range from 5% to 10% return. You can never pick which fund will make 10%, but you want to put your money in the one which over the years ranges from 7% to 10%, not the one which ranges from 5% to 7%. You can find this out by looking at past performance, and seeing when the fund manager last changed as they usually determine the strategy so their skill influences the return. You then need to see what the relative charges are - if the best one deducts 2% and the next best one deducts 1%, the second one may be better. You can do all this research yourself if you have the time and inclination, but if you are spreading your risk across 10 or so types of fund it is much easier use an IFA whose job it is to do it, and if they get it right they will get more clients so they have an incentive to. Alec