agg221

Yes, that's also my interpretation of the OP's intention, which is cloning the tree in question through cuttings. The hope is that any trees of good size which still survive in areas where DED has not been actively managed have a high probability of being resistant, either because the beetles are not attracted to them or they show resistance to the disease itself. Either would have the net effect of the tree surviving. 'Cloning' is that simple, however its simplicity does not result in easy resolution of the DED problem. This is because there is no straightforward way to screen for resistance to the disease (there are lab based culture tests but they aren't very practical) and no way at all to screen for resistance to beetle attack. As such, the only practical option is to wait until the disease has run through and see what's left. Many elms lack fertility and hence are genetically identical clones, grown from suckers. This results in very high loss of population (cf. the outbreak of Chalara fraxinea in Denmark for contrast). The consequence is that to resolve the problem you need: a) Someone to notice that not all the elms have died and identify surviving trees. b) Someone to work out how to propagate elm from cuttings. c) Someone who is prepared to take cuttings from the surviving elms. d) A way of putting a), b) and c) together. Pre-internet, the above was very difficult to achieve. The surviving elms being very scarce and often not visible from a point of public access made them hard to find. If you found one, would you notice, and if so, what would you do about it? Even if you wanted to do something about it, pre-internet where would you go to communicate the information (your local public library was not likely to be much help on this). Given the above, I don't think it is surprising that realisation of the number of surviving trees is pretty recent, and efforts to propagate them even more so. Hopefully it will work, just as previous natural regenerations post-DED have been successful. The reason some human intervention is justified in my view is that human intervention has reduced the likelihood of natural regeneration by reducing the opportunities for large elms to develop. Alec

Yes, it is cloning, just not normally termed as such. Plants are easy to clone, from simple cuttings to layers to complex micro propagation techniques using complex hormonal environments as ELG describes. Cloning animals is much harder because the cell types needed and their interrelationship is much more complex. Genetic modification for disease resistance is another thing altogether. Alec

Cuttings can either be taken in late June or in autumn after the leaves fall. You want this year's growth. If you take them in June you need to cut the leaves to half their length and pot in a 50:50 sharp sand:potting compost mix, burying a couple of inches. It is best if you use hormone rooting compound. You also ideally put them in a propagator with bottom heat, but putting the lot in a clear plastic bag on a North or East facing windowsill is also OK. If you take them in autumn, just use hormone rooting compound and compost as above but put them outside somewhere sheltered. You should get a slightly higher success rate with the former than the latter, but don't expect either to be good. Once rooted, pot up for a year and then plant out to grow on, either lined out about a foot apart until they are about 3' high, or in their final planting place if it is well protected from rabbits and weed growth. Alec

Having looked at the picture - that comes from about 5 miles from where I grew up, and where Mum still lives. Vigo is a funny place though. Alec

His Grandad could deal with it by spraying using soft soap and water - just to keep the tree nice and clean you understand, any effect on the aphids being coincidental (what with soft soap not being a licenced insecticide). He could also do the tree a favour by killing the grass out to the drop line (herbicide or smother with carpet or cardboard) and applying a good mulch of compost. Plums are heavy feeders and don't like competition from grass. Alec

The problem with it is that it's oak, but it's not durable. A lot of oak is used for its external durability, hence Turkey oak being relatively unused. That said, it is very durable in salt water so is used for groynes and other marine structures. It is also no less durable than, say, ash or sycamore, and it is very hard with decorative grain, so is good for furniture, flooring etc. Alec

Depends a bit on where you are. Also what sort of tree were they, and what size? Some people (myself included) are happy to take shredded material which ends up as soil conditioner. Some people are always looking for reasonable sized arisings from tree work for firewood. Alec

Have you explored the option of milling on site? Cedar is a good timber for outdoor use as it's very durable, so if they have a need for timber to build sheds, decking, summerhouse etc then if the timber is clean it will work out better overall to pay for the milling rather than for the extraction and disposal, plus buying in timber. Cedar timber is, ultimately, saleable, but it is hard work - I certainly wouldn't lead a home owner to believe they can simply convert their tree to cash! Overall though, if they can see a use for it, it may be an easier option all round. Alec

Only use it for what you have to. The weight of the saw and bar means it is harder to swing around and you tire faster. It is also harder to be precise in placing to start cuts. This means you really don't want to use it except for the big cuts, so prep everything with something normal - a 460 or 660 on a 25" bar is likely to be a good size. That will give you a clean length where you are ringing up from an end. Chocks, blocks, leaving low down stubs etc all give some protection against the butt rolling, as does working on the uphill side if it's lying sideways of course. It does help if the bar is long enough to go straight through as you can pretty much rest it in place and let it cut under its own weight, which takes a lot of the effort out. You need to be careful about considering how stresses will change when a ring comes off as if you pinch the bar you will be short of options for cutting it back out again - you really do need wedges in to guard against pinching. Make sure you go for a sprocket nose bar rather than a hard nose as it will take a lot less power out of the saw. Big saws are all about torque rather than speed so things happen in what feels like slow motion. Cuts take a long time with not much happening so you have to guard against losing concentration or becoming complacent. You will really want a grinder for sharpening, and you will really curse if you cut too deep and dull the chain in the dirt below. Alec

When you look at the rows upon rows of dead hedgerow elms, with the occasional surviving good sized specimen right next to them, I don't believe it is luck. They can't possibly be missed if every other tree in the area has been affected. That means either the beetles don't like them or the disease doesn't kill them. In our area there are quite a few surviving good-sized trees. We have Plot elm, which is fertile and hybridizes easily with procera, so there is more genetic diversity. There are other species/sub-species/varieties such as the Huntingdon elm and Wheatley elm which show some resistance but are usually killed in the end, although often at well over the 30' - more like when they reach full size and start to slow down a bit in growth, so around 2' dbh. The odds are therefore that it was a planted tree, although which type I couldn't say as the tree form is not typical, of one of the types which happens to show more resistance. Alec

I see you dressed up to do the final coat of paint... Alec

No idea, but lucky man having the opportunity Are they anywhere accessible to view, and when are you doing them exactly? If it's not for a few weeks I would be interested in some material for cuttings if that was possible. Alec

I used Treasure wax but Rub'N Buff will do the same thing. It's not specifically for wood but it will go on pretty much anything, including wood. It has been used for centuries for cheap gilding but there is a much wider range of colours available now - like most things, available via Ebay or Amazon, or in your local art shop. Tiny jars/tubes, but a little goes a very long way. Alec

I would run Aspen in it as then you won't need to worry about either draining the tank or the rubber parts drying out. Run it, put it away, get it out next time good to go. The chainbrake for the 076 is technically no longer available so good luck getting from a UK dealer. I bought one of mine new from Germany - a seller on ebay.de and the other secondhand from Canada for a fair bit less, even including shipping (and sorry yes, I do need both!) Alec

Many things, as normal pump fuel is a complex mix of over 50 different chemicals, several of which are unpleasant. However, the one I am most interested in is benzene. Benzene is seriously nasty - the following is copied from the US government guidance on benzene but you can find similar from many sources including the World Health Organisation (ie this is based on proper research, not spurious opinion): Immediate signs and symptoms of exposure to benzene People who breathe in high levels of benzene may develop the following signs and symptoms within minutes to several hours: Drowsiness Dizziness Rapid or irregular heartbeat Headaches Tremors Confusion Unconsciousness Death (at very high levels) Direct exposure of the eyes, skin, or lungs to benzene can cause tissue injury and irritation. Long-term health effects of exposure to benzene The major effect of benzene from long-term exposure is on the blood. (Long-term exposure means exposure of a year or more.) Benzene causes harmful effects on the bone marrow and can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also cause excessive bleeding and can affect the immune system, increasing the chance for infection. Some women who breathed high levels of benzene for many months had irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries. It is not known whether benzene exposure affects the developing fetus in pregnant women or fertility in men. Animal studies have shown low birth weights, delayed bone formation, and bone marrow damage when pregnant animals breathed benzene. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that benzene causes cancer in humans. Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can cause leukemia, cancer of the blood-forming organs. Normal pump fuel is approximately 2% benzene. Burned in an efficient car engine this is not too much of a problem - combustion is effectively complete so the emissions are negligible. A 2-stroke engine (whilst having a much better power to weight ratio) is much less efficient, sometimes as low as 66%. The remainder comes out as unburnt fuel, which is about 0.6% benzene. To put that in context, from a 1litre tank you are putting 6ml of benzene into the air. Burn your way through 5l of fuel and that's 30ml. The permissible exposure limit in the US is 0.5 parts per million and the LD50 (rat), which is the dose at which half of rats to which it was administered died, is 1.8g/kg. If it scales, that would make the LD50 for humans in the region of 120ml, although that's for short term exposure rather than the long term insidious effects. Obviously you won't breath all of the fumes in, but it's certainly something to think about. Hope that helps Alec

Metallic wax might work well - available in an array of colours from pewter to silver to nickel. Alec

When I winched my 40ft boat up my parents' garden to where I was going to rebuild it, it needed a 5ton Tirfor in low gear. I used something similar to your idea but with garden spades instead of rebar. Three spades was enough to hold it, if hammered in well at an angle. Soil was heavy clay. Alec

It looks to me like a piece of sedimentary rock, the circles being the layers - this is because you can see a split starting down a layer at the top right. Fossilised tree stem tends to be formed from silica, so it looks a bit like flint until you inspect it carefully. Alec

Hi Tim, A 461 will cope with milling on an occasional basis for your own enjoyment. It will be fine with the 25" bar and if you take the dogs off you will get just over 20". It would still work if you put a 30" bar on and get a 24" cut, although it will be very slow and steady. An alternative would be to go for a small log mill and go in from each side which gives a 40" capacity. The loss in accuracy wouldn't matter for picnic table slabs. For wide cuts on a saw this size I would go for Granberg chain as it takes less power, and you would need to keep the teeth absolutely spot on sharp and even so I would go for the precision grinder. I wouldn't use beech outside though as it rots too fast. Alec

I have to confess I did think about whether I could get through it and decided not quite Alec

Not Rob, but yes your plan will work fine but bear in mind it will give you a meximum capacity of about 24" if you take the dogs off, 22" if you leave them on. Before I had any bigger saws, I used to run a 36" bar on the 066 which worked fine, if a little slower, and gave a 28" capacity. I suggest going for Granberg chain though as it takes a bit less out of the saw. Alec

Clive is pre-supposing that I wouldn't get there first! Alec

Electrolytic cleaning works extremely well. I have the wheel from a Ransomes Crawler gradually revealing just how bad the pitting is overnight tonight (I suspect this weekend I will be mostly doing weld overlays). Don't expect the rust to vanish - you have to rub it off but it is no longer connected to the metal. It does still strip the patina though - it leaves bare steel which flash rusts really quickly (rinse, dry and oil immediately). A battery charger really runs at too high a voltage to be ideal as there is a theoretical risk of hydrogen embrittlement in carbon steels but I've never experienced it. To keep the patina, which is a thin layer of magnetite (a sort of rust) you need to just rub it over with oil or wax on a cloth until the surface is smooth but still black, and no more rust rubs off on the cloth. Takes a lot longer and a lot more work. Alec

I wish you were the other end of the country - really nice piece of timber that. Alec

My 3yr old daughter (see avatar) is sitting next to me on the sofa and has just said 'Loveheart! Daddy, can you make me one of those please'. I asked if it needed all the layers, she says yes. Oh dear.... It doesn't help that her name is Keziah and she also read the 'K' on it! Alec