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Well according to my 5yr old yours is the best (sorry Clive!) Alec

Classic Hand Tools in Ipswich is where I get my Gransfors tools. They will post. Alec

Yes Jon, it's the 5lb one. I bought it on ebay the summer before last for very little but I normally buy from Classic Hand Tools - Classic Hand Tools Limited - They do good discounts at Wierd & Wonderful Wood. Alec

I have just come in from using my Gransfors large splitting axe. Very satisfying. Alec

What are you wanting the saw to do? If your father is still running an 041 it suggests it's pretty occasional use. This means that if the saw goes down, you may not need to fix it next day? If so, parts are still pretty much all available if you can afford to wait, so I wouldn't scrap it, just wait for the replacement parts to turn up (ebay, sometimes in Germany and the US rather than the UK). Having an alternative saw would still be a good idea though. More recent saws are not lower powered (there are still much higher power saws around than an 041!) but bear in mind that most people on this site are using saws on a daily basis in arboriculture and hence not necessarily needing a big saw on a regular basis. They are also more likely to post about saws which give them problems than ones which do not - worth looking for the saws they don't talk about. Being heavy professional use, they are also buying new for the warranty and the best power to weight ratio. New models are also always more likely to have teething problems. This creates a skewed impression. Not being reliant on saws for a living, I buy secondhand. Parts availability on most saws from the 1990s onwards (and some 1980s with long production runs) is excellent. You need to be mechanically minded enough to change basic stuff, and find a good saw technician who can check it over (pressure and vacuum) and tach tune it for you. The first thing to consider is what do you want the saw to do? If it's basically equivalent to the 041 and not being used hard on a daily basis - more the odd bit of firewood or farm type use, you could look at the Stihl 038 or 044. These will sit within your budget by enough that, having followed Spud's advice re. looking it over, you will have enough left to get it pressure and vacuum tested and a bit of budget to replace fuel pipes, carb boot and a carb overhaul kit. I've bought about 20 secondhand saws - the only one which has caused serious grief is the 026 which refuses to run properly for no apparent reason and will shortly be going off for yet another serious talking to. Alec

I enjoyed that - thankyou. Alec

The wheels are plain aluminium - never had anything bonded to them (the bands are thin enough to tension such that they don't slip). It jumps off during milling. The forward force is normally fairly moderate hand pushing, but definitely positive force. There are no tracking issues - start the cut and it's tracking fine. The bands tend to be ruined once they have jumped as it stretches them on one side, but put a new band on and tracking is still fine. There could be a problem with the scraper - likely cause? Alec

Hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread, but there appears to be some good expertise going on with bandsaw issues here. Very narrow band (3/4") running on a horizontal mill, with a 14" width, and the band has started jumping the wheels, forwards! At first I thought it was a particular, very 'grabby' tree but it has done it since on some nice, clean stuff which had previously been milling well. Bands are good quality and it has done it on both a known good band and one straight out of the box. Any ideas what to look for? Cheers Alec

Not being a carver I can't comment on the bar type (finer tip for more detail is about as far as I can go!) but yes, there are carving bars available for it: Carving bars Alec

Getting rid of as much as possible of the old root is a must - not just the stump, but getting the roots out too. If the site allows, the may be easiest to get in a small excavator and skip, take a skip-load out and bring in a skip-load of decent topsoil to replace it. This would give you a clean planting site, good conditions and ensure that the tree gets off to the best of starts, for a good few years. Armillatox used to be sold for dealing with honey fungus, and I found it very effective - there are apples which I treated in the late 1980s which have shown no further sign. The manufacturers declined to pay the fungicide registration fee, but it is still available, in the same formulation 'for cleaning patios'...... Alec

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