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You did include 'just those with an opinion'... There is a lot of taper on that, and whilst I can't quite see what's going on with the top, the side extension growth does not look very good. Suggests it may have been severely checked by root damage (field grown and then potted up with severe root chopping to make it fit?) or may have been left too long in the pot. Either way, I would be concerned about getting good growth going. Alec

Hi James, this might help: VETree - Management of veteran fruit trees on Vimeo I look after an old orchard in Kent (near Dartford) and for the past couple of years have an open invitation to anyone interested that they are welcome to come along and have a go. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/52999-having-go-pruning-fruit-trees-anyone-interested.html I'll be making the same invitation this year, for some time in Jan/Feb. Cheers Alec

I particularly enjoy making preserves. I don't do it that often, but there is something really satisfying about it. My favourite is morello cherry jam with a few cracked kernels in. Made some medlar jelly on Monday which has come out really well. Alec

I sold my van through Gumtree. It was very straight, with a fresh MOT, roof bars and dog guard. I put it up at the upper end of the price bracket, took phone calls and told people who rang to ask about it that they could come and have a look (arranged times) but it would be sold on a first come first served basis. About the fourth call said they wanted to come and look that night, but were coming up from Kent (about 65 miles). I said OK, but in that case let's agree the price now, and if it's as I have described it then that's what you'll pay. They made an offer about £100 below asking, I split the difference and we agreed. He came up, looked it over, all as stated, tried a cheeky offer which I declined, paid up and away he went. Everyone happy and the van sold within 8hrs of advertising it! I'll go with Gumtree again next time, probably with the same strategy, assuming the Volvo is anything like saleable by the time I've finished with it....! Alec

It is very durable, very little waste as the sapwood is negligible, but can move around a bit. There is some spiral to that (look at the line of the bark) but not too much. It will make very good gateposts, fencing or outdoor furniture. You could use it to construct a shed, or the grain is actually quite nice and it will make attractive indoor furniture if you can season it flat. Definitely worth milling. Alec

Go for the 36". The price difference is minimal. If you ever need a wider cut you could buy a 42" bar, or if you find you want to do more milling a buy a bigger saw then 36" will deal with most things you run across. Alec

Can't answer all of the questions but: It will be way more cost-effective to have these trees milled into cladding than to sell them and buy cladding to replace it. The best time to mill is when the timber is green, and the best time of year is now-ish. For air drying, you want to get it done before March. It will be a close-run thing financially between bringing in a mobile bandsaw and sending the timber offsite. Offsite will be quicker, but carry handling transport costs. Personally, I would go for getting the mill in. This is because if you know what you want, you can make on-the-fly decisions about how to get the best yield out of a particular log. It sounds like neither your nor your customer knows much about this, so you need someone who can guide you, but it allows you for example to cut a log shorter if you find it's got a significant defect above a certain point, to cut an over-thickness board to lose a rot streak before you carry on with good boards, or to split wide logs in half if the bottom section is significantly bigger than the rest and allows you to get two boards side by side. Think about whether the cladding is wanted straight edged or waney edged - it can be more efficient to make straight edged timber by cutting cants (squared up blocks) before planking. Drying the timber - it will all need to be sticked as it is stacked, and this is going to use a lot of stickers. In the barn with plenty of air movement is the best place. Keep the bottom of the stack up off the floor - some old railway sleepers or similar, or some breeze blocks will do this. Larch can sometimes move around a bit as it is milled, so you might need to put some weight on top to keep it flat. Unless all the cladding is wanted quickly and at once, one option would be to mill the first batch, booking the mill for a couple of days, and then dry this and use it, then mill the second batch etc. This would keep the number of stickers down and reduce the operation to something easier to handle. Alec

Looks fairly young? Has it started cropping yet? It's hard to say from a single image (need more angles) but if that thicker looking branch in the middle really is going straight up higher than the others, I would cut it right out this year and probably not do much else. This would create an open centre and allow you to keep the lower branches cropping as they would get more light and not be shaded out. If it's actually leaning away from the camera then I would leave it to fill the gap towards the shed, and take the upper growth off the other branches instead (hard to describe this). Alec

Take shoots out whole rather than nibble away at them, but if there are lot, don't take them all out at once, just take about a third of them (thin them out) then the same again next year etc. You are likely to get re-growth. Don't necessarily cut all of these out - if there is space then leave some but bend it down (tuck it under another branch) to form new laterals. Is this a paid job, or your own? It's easier to get things to go the way you want on your own as you can follow up. Alec

I use the 4.5" equivalent - doesn't come out so flat so easily, but is still brilliant, also for shaping. I get my discs from the local welding supplies place and they clog and wear away before they fall apart. Alec

Now would be fine, but I prefer to wait until the leaves are all off as then I can see exactly what I'm doing (mine aren't yet). To a certain extent, the earlier you do it, the more vigorous the extension growth early in the season, due to auxins concentrating at the tip. If you are taking a fair amount off, which sounds like it may be the case, I would go later. Still don't take more than a third of the growth out though in one go or it will bolt upwards and stop cropping for years. Getting it back into shape is a 3-5yr job. Mr Humphries sent me this, which could be handy: VETree - Management of veteran fruit trees on Vimeo Alec

Also very good for truck beds as it doesn't splinter. Makes pretty good cladding as it soaks up preservative and lasts well. Alec

It is indeed

Shame it had to be cut into short lengths - if you get anything which can be extracted long or milled where it falls I'd be interested as Mum lives in Hartley so I'm down that way quite often. If anyone wants some of this I might be able to transport it for them - I drive up and down the A1 quite a bit and sometimes over to Derby. Alec

How urgent is it that this comes out? If you don't get any other offers then I could probably provide the milling if Steve wants to buy the timber - I come up to Middlesbrough fairly regularly and get down Steve's way from time to time. Not sure if I'm up in December but if not the definitely will be in January. Maximum size I could shift back is 8' lengths, and I couldn't move the lot in one go, but there may be a 3-way deal here involving you ending up with boards, me ending up taking boards away and Steve buying them from me. I can also attest to how hard pear is - very nice timber once dry, but a bit tricky to season without splitting. Alec

Sweet chestnut is the only timber I have ever found which edge bends itself! I cleaved a load of it for the battens for the extension (tile and cladding) but because of modern building regs I then had to plane the clefts to an even thickness and to install it in straight lines I had to cut 2" widths out. I was using overstood coppice lengths, about 8-12" diameter, and they started off dead straight. No spiral when cleft, but they ended up looking like bananas! Fortunately the batten could be edge-bent back into shape when fitted. Alec

I think this one is probably a bit situation-specific. If you create a swamp in front of the average suburban house the neighbours tend to complain... Not sure how much it helps, but I tend to leave large lumps of wood in mine but take all the ropes/ratchet straps away and leave it unstable. The sides don't drop, so the only way to unload is with a hoist and I reckon someone would think twice about driving down the road with the risk of it suddenly rolling across and slewing the trailer, or shedding the load. Alec

Whilst I agree with what has been said, one thing to add: The chain out of the box is general purpose. Your original question suggests that you start getting this problem as soon as you sharpen the chain, even from the first go? If this is the case, the chain certainly shouldn't get worse than it was out of the box after sharpening, even if you don't touch the depth gauges. If this is the case, it suggests that at least some of the issue may be with your general technique? One way to check - next time you are seeing your mate, take a chain you have just sharpened and are not happy with, and ask him to sharpen the teeth but not touch the rakers. If it cuts better, you know it's not the rakers; if it doesn't, it is. Alec

Haverhill - would be close if you were heading Braintree/Sudbury way. Alec

In which direction will you be heading back to Norway? If it happens to be my way, access is easy and I am not under water. Alec

Well I'd say that's done the job, and very nicely too. Main thing, did you enjoy doing it and do you/your Dad like the results? Alec

Given your clarification, one way of viewing it could be whether you enjoy wandering around it now? There's someone else on here with an area of poplar woodland (in Norfolk I think) and again, not the most inspiring species in some ways but if it's a pleasant place to be I don't think that matters. We have an area of willow at the bottom of our place and it makes a gently shaded site. It's only about 100'x300' but I let the nettles grow, cut paths through and enjoy the butterflies and grass snakes. The trees are quite widely spaced, so I have underplanted with hazel which is doing OK. I wanted to gradually transition it to sweet chestnut and hazel, but the sc is not doing well in the shade. If you did want to change it, you could do it gradually, either by pushing back the boundary from your existing land a bit each year, felling a few trees and replanting, or by felling a few across the area to create gaps and planting these to get an effect like natural regeneration. This might give you the best of both worlds. When she was in her late 80s my Great Aunt decided she would like a more varied selection of fruit trees in her garden and planted some apples and pears. She died last year at the age of 104 and had got fair enjoyment from her decision. If she hadn't lived that long, she wouldn't have regretted planting them (being dead an'all!) but if she had decided she probably wouldn't live long enough to enjoy them and not done it, she would definitely have regretted the decision. That's how I tend to to look at tree planting these days too. I'm in my 40s but if I make it to retirement I will be the first person in five generations on my Dad's side to do so. Even so, I'd rather look back in my 70s or 80s on things I had done than look back on things I hadn't. Anyway, if you get the same chance as my Great Aunt you will be looking at trees around 50yrs old! Alec

This is a question heavily influenced by what you want to do with it. If it's firewood for a boiler then short rotation willow coppice. If it's logs then alder. If it's to potter about in then do you dislike the willow? If no, leave it; if yes replace it with something you like. There is a disused piece of land adjoining us and if I ever get it it will become a hazel copse under oak standards, bordered by a few coppiced sweet chestnut. The hazel and sc will be selected nut varieties for added interest. Alec

Glad to hear it's OK. I am upstream from you and it's also dropping well here. Alec

Which river? I'm on the Stour and it's been pretty high but we just got away with it in the shed. Several of my things have been submerged. Water probably won't have got in through the carb but is likely to have got through the exhaust, so how far it got depends on where the piston is. As has been said, get it running ASAP, even if that means not properly dry first. There is no better way to get residual damp pulled through and the whole thing warm and dry than to run it (and whose hedges don't look better for a quick trim in November...) I once had my dumper go right under - took rather more cranking than usual to get it running but it fired up in the end, spat out the water and away it went! Alec