agg221

I wouldn't resin it - a wedge will work fine. If you use a wooden wedge, split a piece off of a nice straight-grained dry piece of oak. It's hard to describe, but you want the sort which is stringy and fibrous, not the sort that snaps off on you. Once it's split, trim it down to a good wedge but leave the surface rough, and drive home and saw off slightly over-length. You can then use it, but try driving it home further in a few weeks - if it won't trim off flush. Metal wedges want to have serrations on them to grip well. Some people also dip them in salt water before fitting to make sure they rust in solid. It's slightly trickier to guess the slot size as you can't trim the wedge off if it's too tight. Be careful about swelling the handle too much - if you swell it, then dry it, it will go loose, so keeping it outside in a shed is the best bet to maintain the same general conditions as it will be used in. Alec

What size is the log, and what is the capacity of your Woodmizer? Alec

Hmm, that location might be a bit more limiting. The obvious suggestion is to get someone with a big chainsaw mill to take a set of slabs off the top, then the same off the bottom, so that the cant left is the right width to fit through your mill. If you want the slabs full width then get them cut to thickness, otherwise a single cut off the top and another off the bottom, to leave the cant the right width, then use a mini-mill to either edge it to the mill width or rip it up the middle. Challenge is finding someone with a mill in the right location (I'm near Stansted and could become the flying miller......!) Alec

Whereabouts in the country are you? Alec

Very nice. To get the most burr figuring you need to slice off each face in turn, working round the log. This is the opposite of quartering. Big J put a thread up on this a year or two back. Alec

Nope. One day, when I get round to it I will fit an 090 each end of the Stihl mill. That will be quite fast I suspect Alec

Could try David Watson Transport Ltd. They have moved boats for me before at very reasonable prices. Don't worry about the Colchester address - they are national. Alec

Robinia?

Standard is 61cc, the Super is 72cc. Standard will be comfortable at 20" but will pull 25". Super will be comfortable at 25" but will pull 28". I would agree that if under £100 with the spare alongside it that would be well worth having. Alec

They are heavy, slow-revving lumps. This means they will pull a longer bar than the modern equivalent .cc without bogging down, and will get there in time. If you want to cut rings every now and again and don't have a 70+ cc saw then they are the cheapest option available. If the price is right, I'd go for it, but see whether it has the chainbrake or not. Alec

Your local Stihl dealer will still be able to obtain most of the parts for both the above saws. If they prove to be either unhelpful or incompetent, L & S Engineering. Alec

Out of interest, how does a landshare agreement work? The value here appears to be timber and deer. The obligations are replanting (inc. effort in getting the replanting scheme approved), quarrying stone to make up the trackways and potentially getting planning permission for some form of accommodation/storage facility, followed by building it. How would you go about organising such a thing in a way which satisfied the interests of a large number of interested parties? Particular challenge appears to be the stalking rights - 65 deer don't go very far between 1750 people (might just get a venison burger each?) This isn't supposed to sound confrontational - I'm genuinely interested in how such an arrangement could be set up. I once tried to do it for shared ownership of a boat between 10 and that was a nightmare due to opposing interests. I wondered if there was a recognised approach which might address it. Alec

Thanks Steve, just waiting to hear from Python to arrange pick-up. Alec

The set-up you suggest will work absolutely fine for what you propose. The saw is slightly smaller than would normally be recommended, but I would guess you would only want fairly short lengths too, so it won't stress the saw (just rest it for a bit after every couple of feet of cut). If the saw is older I would recommend that it has a thorough going over before being put to work - milling is the hardest thing you can do with a saw, so I would want to know that the rubber parts are still supple and not cracked, and there were no air leaks (pressure and vacuum test). These risk killing the saw by running lean - nothing to do with age or size. Since it will be occasional use, I would also run on Aspen as it will stay good in the tank and you won't throw loads away. The small log mill is slightly less accurate than the Alaskan, but not enough to worry about and you won't need precision. You won't need a different sprocket, just the ripping chain. You will need to keep this very sharp and all the teeth even in length and angle though - given the scale of what you are proposing I would go for an Oregon chain and a precision hand filing jig. Have you looked at the chainsawbars.co.uk website? Alec

I think I'm on for this - if so then I'll stick up some pictures when it's milled. Alec

Did you spot the tree being taken down in Leeds? Might have been disposed of by now but could fit the bill if you can get it moved? Alec

I know a man who knows the answer to that, but he has just gone on holiday to Egypt and won't be back until late October. I shall ask him on his return. Alec

Looks good. Might take a bit of marking out everyone's individual 3.4 acre plot though.... Alec

Could be, although I can see your 'three rows of holes' approach working. I would imagine that if you screwed it on to the top of the leg first, then turned it upside down onto the inverted top and clonked it one when lined up you should get good witness marks to drill counterbore holes to carry the heads of fixings. A cordless drill will take a 19mm flat bit, which will take an M12 coach screw head, so that should account for some pretty heavy duty furniture Alec

Only thing is that countersinks are more expensive to put in than a plain hole as you can't just laser/waterjet them out. You also get the on-cost of the thicker material, which matters more with SS than mild steel. SS is good as you can get it cut/drilled wherever you need and then just use it. Mild steel would need drilling before painting/galvanising which is more difficult, particularly as when you cut to length the ends would be bare and I can imagine that being difficult to get a neat finish on quickly on-site. Alec

Are you doing anything over my way? Alec

You might struggle a bit at this time of year. Take-up is slow into old growth and there is more chance of it breaking down or washing off before a lethal dose is absorbed. May be worth explaining this to the customer so they know to expect a repeat dose to be needed in spring. Alec

These are the threads I was looking for: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/milling-forum/52259-advise-poplar.html http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/alaskan-mill/45517-black-poplar-plank.html If yours looks anything like this I would love some if you were closer - wonder if Nepia is heading your way at any point soon....! Alec

Try and split it right up the middle and photograph it with the surface wet - that will show it at its best. Rob D had a photo up at one point - I'll try and find it. Alec

If the end grain visible in the photo really does show growth rings then that is tremendously fast grown. If you stood a bit up on end and ran a saw down it, that would show how good the colour and appearance are. Not sure of anyone buying for decorative uses, but there may be someone who wants a log or two at that size and colour. Alec