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One of these (or US equivalent) can really help with slow rooting things as it keeps them moist but aerated indefinitely. It also adds a bit of bottom heat and the sterile growing medium stops them from rotting off. Takes a bit of playing with, but I've just potted up three black mulberry 'Chelsea' which I took as cuttings in early June and have now rooted well. I have some elm taken at the same time and still getting going, but perfectly healthy. AERO-POT, Aeroponic Portable Heated Propagator - BLACK, BIG METAL MISTER! 8x Pot | eBay Alec

One of the great things about urban trees is when people are prepared to plant something really big. The setting has to be right, but I don't just mean parks and gardens. Wide, town centre streets with high buildings look out of proportion with a few little crab apples and rowans dotted about. The height of limes fits with the proportion of the buildings. I also like Fraxinus ornus as a larger tree, with good autumn colour, Pyrus salicifolia and Ulmus 'Sapporo Autumn Gold' are good at medium size, together with some of less common Carpinus cultivars. I think there is also space to try a few less usual alternatives - particularly over grass where the fruit is less of a problem the true service tree and crab apples such as 'John Downie' or 'Golden Hornet' on M25 stock, to give spring blossom and autumn/winter colour. Alec

Are you going to use a sole plate? If so, rest that on top all round and fix the uprights to it using peg joints, coach screws (stainless) or any other fitting of your choice. Gravity will hold it all in place. Alec

Nothing wrong with homemade wooden wedges - you can even use snapped up twigs if you want, so long as the angle is shallow enough. They won't grip as well as ridged plastic ones but will work fine. You have to be careful not to drive the wedges in the first half of the log too far or you will wedge the second half downwards. You also need to take into account sagging and tension which can cause it to grip and pull the chain out of the back of the bar. If it's binding particularly at the end of the cut this is more likely to cause the mill to twist as it exits; if the chain is out of the bar groove it will then hit the mill. Alec

I like Teles myself due to the connection with Saffron Walden which is just down the road from me. Of course they're all Villiers engines anyway. Alec

I don't think we have enough discussion on Teles vs. Danarm vs. Liner 2-man saws.... Alec

That's the reverse side, rather than the cutting side. Suggests a combination of slackness and pinching - what are you using in the way of wedges, particularly at the end of the cut? Alec

Shakes are cracks, usually going in from the end. When you measure as per Rob D's advice, it is conventional to measure the smallest cuboid you could get out of it, ie narrowest continuous width board you could cut, with square ends (thickness is usually uniform but if not then the smallest thickness). This isn't absolute for funny shapes but is the norm. Watch out for the dust when you sand it as it's poisonous. Wear a mask. Alec

Unfortunately the user manual gives no specs and says get it done by a Honda dealer, and I can't find a copy of the service guide online. Any ideas? Alec

As the tree officer, can you see previous applications relating to this tree? To me, it has the possible sense of 'we've moved into the house and we really like trees, but out in the countryside, not here in our garden as it's big and blocks our light and what if it fell over so it would be better if we removed it. Oh dear, it seems to have a TPO on it - lets see if we can apply to remove it. Oh we can't - lets see how much we can get permission to hack it back by. It makes a mess - let's see if we can get someone to say that it's dangerous so that we can remove it.... Alec

Valve adjustment or carbon build-up - would you expect either of these to come on suddenly? My experience with valve adjustment relates only to car engines, where it's more of a gradual sense of it not being right, which gets much better when you adjust them. My experience with de-coking exhaust valves is sticking a big, flat-bladed screwdriver in the coils of the spring and twisting it round so that the spring snaps shut to knock the coke off the valve seat, as advised in the manual of the Lister B stationary engine in question. I suspect therefore that my experience is of limited relevance.... Any thoughts on how to diagnose either of the above, and appropriately correct them for this engine? Cheers Alec

Being a 4-stroke, this seemed like the most appropriate thread. My Honda UMK435E brushcutter started playing up yesterday. It was running fine, but after about 20mins it wouldn't run at full throttle. It would still start and idle fine, but when revved up would not get to full revs and would then stutter and die, but would re-start immediately and idle well, only to repeat the same problem. Field diagnostics says that taking the air filter off didn't make any difference, so it isn't blocked there, and it isn't running too rich. It doesn't over-rev either, suggesting it isn't running lean either. Job was completed with the back-up Efco, which is basic, has no harness and bad anti-vibe. Hence I don't bend today and rather than carrying on will be having a leisurely dismantle of the Honda to see what I can find. I'll have a look at plug colour, but beyond this, any thoughts/pointers as to what might be up with it? Cheers Alec

I believe most boards are spruce, and are fairly rigorously graded which means they are likely to be white, very straight grained with minimal knots. Most people use them for the 'industrial' look, which means a light sanding to remove nibs and splinters and a quick coat of varnish. There isn't much point in planing them - you might as well just buy spruce boards. I agree that they will wreck planer blades - if they insist on using them I would sand rather than plane, use a weld grinding sanding disk on an angle grinder as a start, then go finer. Alec

To work as a wild flower meadow you will need to remove what you mow, to make the soil less nitrogen rich. The best bet may well be to create a hay crop. I was talking to someone a few months back who grew a high wildflower content hay crop which had high demand - not sure whether it was for adding flavour to meat, or for horse owners, but either way it suggests that with a bit of research you may well find a contractor who will cut it for the crop, or you may end up even making a slight profit. I really wouldn't want to be mowing it with anything conventional - you would need a seriously roughcut mower to cope if you are letting it get long enough for wild flowers. Alec

I think I understand the motivation - there is a tendency to sanitize life so much that children are often not exposed to risk, which means that later on they have not learned the skills necessary to make good judgements themselves (lack of common sense). They then go to one or other extreme - playing on building sites or become health and safety police. To counter this, there is a need for controlled exposure to risk, which means developing understanding. The challenge is getting the line right. For me, children using chainsaws lies the wrong side of the line, but keeping them completely out of harms way lies the other. I think it's about consequences. Our two both learned about pain through stinging nettles at the age of 2. 'Don't touch the nettles, they will hurt', cue ignoring what they are told, touching the nettles and crying. 'Did you touch the nettles?', 'Yes', 'Did it hurt?', 'Yes', 'Did I tell you it would hurt?', 'Yes', 'Well you're very silly then aren't you'. No risk of lasting harm, useful lesson learned. We're just back from holiday and both children went scrambling over rocks on the beach, mostly no more that a couple of feet up, but including into a cave with an entrance about 10' up a steeply inclined face. There were people around when 3yo was going up - they were offering to help her up, and down, but I wanted her to do it for herself. I was right behind her and had an arm just behind her on the tricky bit, so the most she was risking was grazed knees. To me, this lies on the acceptable side of the line. In practice she was fine. Alec

Should be fine with what you're thinking of doing. Yes - there is a risk if you make the stickers too thin, but it depends a bit on how wide the boards are too. If you are milling something around a foot across, and only stacking as a single width, you should be fine with 3/8" or 1/2" stickers. You could drop to 1/4" if you wanted, but it gets tricky to keep the boards apart if they aren't flat. Milling in Autumn I would go with 1/2" - or if you have wide boards (18" or so) then 5/8" or 3/4". It won't dry too fast at that time of year so you actually want to make sure it isn't too slow, so that it is as dry as possible by Spring. Alec

Air drying should be fine, but you can slow it down further by milling in Autumn when it's damp and cool, stacking in the shade with gentle air movement but out of strong draughts and using thinner stickers. If you need to mill in hotter weather you can slow it down by covering the sides of the stack during the day and uncovering at night. Alec

For me, the key points are lack of ppe and the fact that nobody can intervene in the event of something going wrong. My daughters are 3 and 5. When my 5yo was 3, her preferred bedtime treat was to watch videos of people using chainsaws on YouTube and criticise their lack of ppe ('silly man, no special trousers, no special hat). A few months back we worked out that they were both worried when I used a saw. It turned out that because they had been told not to touch the saws as they are sharp, they were worried that the saw would hurt me. More explanation required - they now know where the handles are, the sharp bits are and the hot bit. They now know how to pick up a saw without being hurt. They will not be anywhere near a running saw for many years. I do encourage both children to take risk (5yo sometimes uses the ride on mower) but there is always a 'what if' risk assessment - I put the mower in first and walk with it. I do the edges and she only does clear areas where there is nothing to hit, although she is good at steering it and doesn't hit things anyway. She will be driving the Land Rover on the field when she can reach the pedals and learn double fe clutching. I reckon around 10 or 11. 3yo just climbs rocks like a mountain goat! Alec

How much, what diameter and how long has it been down? Alec

Unfortunately it's Chinese and fake (and from previous back-to-back tests in Australia, not very good). Alec

Woolly aphid. Annoying but not dangerous (the ivy is probably more of a problem). Biocide legislation says you can't use soft soap and water as an insecticide, but if you happen to like a nice clean tree then coincidentally the aphids may die as you spray it on... Alec

Worth noting that this is on their US site (note the use of the word 'pants' and the spelling of the word 'ax'). They are right of course - felling a tree isn't hard. If you cut it through, it will fall. If you want to avoid damaging people and property it becomes a little more challenging... Alec

The skirts will start to go yellow when they are ripe, and if you shake the tree they will fall. By this point, the squirrels will probably have had the lot! That said, we always used to pick few bushels and didn't shoot enough squirrels to make a difference, there should still be some left. FWIW, these would be cobnuts rather than filberts, as the skirt doesn't cover the whole nut, but the variety Kent Cob is actually a filbert! Alec

I really wouldn't want to do this with an Alaskan - it comes into its own for milling single trees or in very inaccessible sites but is not likely to be cost-competitive for large numbers when access and handling is not a problem. What size 'sleepers' do you need? Delabodge (Clive) has a contact with a swing-mill which would be very efficient if the cut depth is sufficient. Otherwise, it would be a bandsaw mill. I don't have any contacts in that area with a portable mill, but given that you have on-site handling equipment, it may be cost effective to ship them offsite for milling, using an artic. Helmdon sawmill near Northampton was recommended for this when someone was enquiring a while back about milling a large oak butt: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/alaskan-mill/47539-large-oak-mill.html Final point, in case you aren't aware, ash has extremely poor exterior durability - I wouldn't even want to count on a sleeper lasting 3yrs with ground contact. This may not matter though, depending on what you want them for. Alec

I was aware of it, but this is a very useful update on status, particularly for importing material. It's a real blow, as it has affected the variety Morfeo, which represents over a decade of work in Italy, through a series of crosses, resulting in a hybrid which reasonably resembles the English Elm and is very highly resistant to DED - to the point where there was real hope that it could be introduced as a functional replacement. Work in Italy also indicates that some strains of elm may be so resistant to elm yellows that it is present but never even shows. The fact that one of the most promising strains in respect of DED is proving one of the least resistant to elm yellows is highly unfortunate. I would imagine that there is now another series of testing to be carried out on the dozen or so DED resistant strains identified, to establish phytoplasma resistance. Unfortunately, apparently early indications are that some of the Spanish strains (which are selections of naturally grown trees, rather than complex hybrids) are particularly susceptible This is one of the reasons I want to run a trial on the surviving UK trees - to try to identify any more resistant strains to supplement the available options. Alec