agg221

Never come across it, but Cypress | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Softwoods) says it should be worth the effort, maybe for cladding or decking? If access is too bad for a Lucas mill it could be done with a combination of Alaskan mill to cut cants, followed by Ripsaw mill to break down into boards. Alec

On the early ones the ring inside is nylon rather than the corrugated metal type. This is nla, although you could probably make one out of a bit of nylon rod easily enough if you had to. The connection to the flywheel is through three lugs at the back which can sheer off. These can be rebuilt if necessary. Alec

The bar is a possibility, but I know when I had this it was working nicely before I sharpened the chain, then set the grinder just a little too deep and it suddenly started doing this. Alec

Excellent stuff - out of interest what length are your Alaskan rails? Alec

OK, now spotted the link. I look in that column for forum sponsors, but across the top on the yellow buttons for forum-related content. I think this is why I didn't notice it before - it just wasn't where I was expecting. This is purely a personal view, but to me Arbtrader is far more complicated than it needs to be. There are currently 8 main categories and eight subcategories, to handle 38 adverts. I can't comment on whether that is an increase or decrease in volume over the pre-Arbtrader days (as I wasn't on long under the old for sale/wanted system and can't remember the volume) but if it is the anticipated volume it could be slimmed right down into a simple list, or just stick the main categories down a side bar to the left? Having got round to looking properly, the content is actually there but it's so far down the page I haven't noticed it before. I compared it with Gumtree, and I think it's that the top much more compact (partly due to the categories being in a side bar) so you are straight into the adverts. A suggestion would be to keep the strip of buttons across the top but squash the top up a bit to make it fairly narrow, then categories down the LHS and featured adverts in a narrower scrolling banner, then straight into adverts in date order (as currently). I reckon you would then see the first three or so adverts straight on the page and it would be more apparent what's there? Alec

For 070 or 090? I've only got full 090 kits at the moment. Alec

Where from if I may ask (planting one up over the next few years and it may be handy if applicable)? Cheers Alec

Just checked - my 070 has the overspeed regulator on the notch nearest to the back end. Alec

No, that's the later type. They are not interchangeable. Alec

Which bit has failed - the nylon insert or the starter cup? If it's the cup, they can be repaired. If the cup is OK but you end up changing the lot over, don't throw the cup away! Alec

I agree with this. For this sort of job I would reckon it is better to lose a little bit of extreme grip in exchange for not risking splitting the wood. As such, rather than the traditional shaving to shape I would split out square-ish bits, taper up one end a bit to form a lead and dry them in the airing cupboard. I would then drill a hole in a bit of steel plate, put it with the hole over the plate and just before use, bang them through with a mallet. This slightly compresses the wood fibres so that when you tap them into a matching hole in the wood they expand again over the next few days and lock solid. My new extension roof is held together using pegs made this way (for location rather than structural load) and they are much easier to get in to thinner sections without risking splitting. Alec

I like the idea of a wood/timber buying and selling area. On the subject of Arbtrader though, it doesn't quite work for me. I think it's because it is too detached from the main site (doesn't even appear in the top menu bar of Arbtalk) and doesn't really let you scroll through listings by date etc. Is there an opportunity to make it better integrated alongside the site redesign? On the tip site question, it would probably be enough to list general area of the country. I am always able to take chip, as are some others (eg Felixthelogchopper) but knowing to drop me a PM to get exact location if you need a site in the vicinity is probably enough. Alec

Conveniently, the local thatchers to here have their own reaper-binder I know it normally uses traditional long straw varieties but I am looking at whether you can use the straw from some of the modern F1 hybrid varieties which get higher grain yield from slightly poorer soil. If I can combine both then it will offset the cost of the F1 hybrid seed. Alec

Tomorrow we complete on 4.75 acres of field which adjoins our house. It's grade 2 arable and we have had an access agreement with the owner since November (the hold-up has been due to their solicitor rather than any of the purchasers and we will be the first to complete). We have an arrangement with the local farmer - he is farming it for us on a contract basis and we currently have a winter wheat crop coming up nicely. We are a registered agricultural holding and get the single farm payment entitlement that comes with the land. The plan to start with is mostly to sell the wheat crop in with the farmer's, however I am intending to hold some back and see if there is a market for locally grown stoneground flour. I will also be in discussion with the local thatchers to see if there is a market for thatching straw. None of this will make us a fortune (or anything like a living!) but it will make us a bit and let the land cover its costs. In the 'off' year of rotation we will investigate high value, small demand crops which may be a little more labour intensive and see what we can do. Coincindentally, since we do border a river, we also have a secondary crop of cricket bat willow, planted and maintained by JS Wright, so one day in the future we may be able to say that it was our willow that helped England to lose the Ashes! Alec

Looking your pictures, the roughness is straight across so you are not rocking the mill (this is a good thing). The side of the log is pretty smooth so I don't think you have problems with the mill catching (assuming you have set the powerhead end post up the right way round...) I think it's a chain issue. I have had this in the past and it seems to be when you have too much hook on the chain. How did you sharpen it? If you have a precision grinder I would lift it up a bit to decrease the hook angle. Alec

Where in the country is it and what is it currently used for? Alec

There are at least two sorts. The early one had three lugs on the back of the starter cup and a nylon ring insert; later one had a single pin in the side of the cup locating into the flywheel. The inserts are not interchangeable so you would need to change flywheel, cup, insert and starter assembly. May be worth looking on eBay.com as some of the big secondhand parts sellers have more stock than they lost and will ship to the UK. Alec

Not sure if you've put up what saw you want it for somewhere else, but note that different saws have different mounts, ie the bars are not interchangeable between all makes and models. If it fits, Cannon bars are good Alec

Not green, but I understand some people prefer 15-20% mc anyway as it isn't quite so brittle (although I'm no expert this is certainly consistent with what I've found). If the branches were standing dead for long enough to be stripped to heartwood and are only a few inches thick (proper bleached stags head stuff) then I would expect them to be dry enough for outdoor use. Alec

Be aware that only the heartwood of your fallen oak branches will be durable. Some branches from an oak that has gone 'stags head' would work fine. They will also probably be seasoned enough, as would a bit of oak firewood (which is what I made most of the pegs for my extension from!) I wouldn't use ash or hornbeam outside, they are really not durable. Alec

Now looking like being Saturday the 15th (although I might go back down on the 22nd to blitz the last of it). Alec

I could do you some of the second bit of this lot if you want - 6' wide enough? http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/woodcraft-forum/68851-oak-available-milled-your-spec.html Alec

It shouldn't be that rough. It won't come out as smooth as a fresh bandsaw blade but it can be pretty good - try looking at the milling pics and vids thread to see how it can come out. In what way is your cut rough (any chance of a photo of the board surface)? It may then be possible to work out what is wrong. Alec

Yes, the Sugihara bar is very good for both. It's particularly stiff which both helps when milling as there is less vibration and when felling as the nose doesn't droop so much. It is also fine for cross-cutting but the benefit is less here. Glad you like the website - it's all in the quality of the tech support you know Alec

The 46" bar has the large saw mounts, so whichever saw you are using will have enough power that you won't need to worry about skip/semi-skip chain as the bar isn't long enough to need it for chip clearance reasons - hence full comp chain will be fine. You will need a different chain for ripping (milling) and for crosscutting. Whilst you can cut the other way with either chain, it is slower and less efficient. For milling, there are options of Stihl, Oregon and Granberg. The Stihl and Oregon chains are essentially the same configuration - normal chain but sharpened at 10degrees (you can in fact make your own by grinding standard chain down, but it wastes a lot of the chain life). The Granberg chain has a configuration of alternating top plates on each side ground very narrow so they act as scoring knives, followed by a normal tooth which acts to rake out the material between the scored lines. All three work well when sharp. The Granberg is a bit more efficient so takes a little less power from the saw and leaves a slightly better finish. I used to use Oregon chain throughout, but following working with Burrell now prefer the Granberg chain as I am either milling for other people and want to give the best quality I can and sometimes need to achieve fairly challenging production rates in a day, or am milling my own stuff which if it's with the chainsaw mill is too wide to go through my thicknesser, so I want to minimise my hand finishing work. I still use Oregon chain for some of my own stuff, mainly rougher work such as quick breaking down of dirty timber eg with external mud or high risk of metal, as it's cheaper. For normal crosscutting chain, it depends on what you are doing. If it's usually clean stuff then a full chisel chain will give the quickest results; if it's low down, stumping or seasoned stuff then a semi-chisel will hold its edge better. If you go to chainsawbars.co.uk and click on the custom/bulk chain tab, custom chain loops option you can bring up the available chains for your required pitch/gauge. If you click on them you will get a short description of each which may help. I do Rob D's online support, so if you email [email protected] then you get me anyway:001_smile: Alec