agg221

Grass snakes will also try rearing up, hissing and striking when startled or cornered. We had one sunning itself under the bottom ledge of the front door last year. When my wife opened the door the snake rolled in and was a bit surprised! It reared up, hissed and struck at her - daughter (then 3) came and found me to tell me there was a snake in the house and helped me get it out with a stick as I didn't fancy being covered in the foul stinking musk (edit - that doesn't read right. Daughter helped and we used a stick, not I made my daughter do it because I wanted her to get covered in the musk rather than me! She helped because she wanted to - haven't quite reverted to sending her up chimneys...). The snake was persuaded in the direction of the doorway and made its exit down the side of the house. Fairly young one - about 18" or so. Apparently they're pretty stupid, but not so stupid as to try things like that more than once so it hasn't been back. Alec

It's quite correct that these are the ones which can be sharpened with a file, however you can do the other ones which are normally regarded as non-sharpenable if you have a set of diamond needle files - only really works if they're a bit dull and needing a touch-up, rather than truly blunt. Alec

The thing that doesn't really show up on the shed skin pictures, but does on pictures of whole snakes, is the white collar on the grass snake, just behind the head. You can see it on your photos, and it's really clear on the real thing. Adders never have it, most grass snakes do, to the point where one name for them used to be collared snakes. Alec

There will be less demand for oak in this size than for sweet chestnut. The sapwood isn't very durable, but in chestnut it's only about 3mm thick, whereas in oak it could be a couple of inches. That restricts use to unexposed applications, such as indoor use, rather than fence posts and outdoor construction. Alec

The 1"/yr rule doesn't really apply to end grain - that's more about drying across the grain, as in a milled board. This is capable of drying a lot quicker, which is part of the problem. The trouble you've got with drying something like this is that, ultimately, the outside rings need to be smaller than the inside rings as each cell needs to shrink the same amount and there are more cells in the outside than the inside. There are only two options I am aware of - one is to cut the ring up into segments, like pizza slices - you could try quarters but six or eight would be more certain. Once these dry they will shrink so they are narrower at the outside than the inside, i.e. if you put them back together there will be a gap like a missing pie slice. You can counter this either by planing up the faces to make it smaller overall, or by, say, cutting it into four pieces and taking an extra piece from the next ring down, then once dry, reassembling it as five wedges, one from the other ring. The other option would be to stop it ever shrinking. You can't simply soak in oil - the spaces are currently full of water so the oil can't go in and fill the spaces. The usual thing to soak in would be polyethylene glycol (PEG) which is used by turners on large, full section bowls and similar. Alec

Grass snakes can get pretty big - the largest ones I've seen at our place are about 5' long. They eat frogs and and toads for preference but will take a mouse if they are hungry. They only eat about 8-10 times a year so have negligible impact. They have recently been discovered to be venomous, but are incapable of injecting the venom, even into their prey, so are harmless to people although they can produce a foul smelling musk if you scare them. Most of the time they just wander about, sit in the sun or damp places, and occasionally go for a swim. Alec

Yes - we dig it out in winter and then leave them alone the rest of the year - check for snakes and slow worms when we add anything to the top. We tend to walk down there for a look fairly often (daughters really like watching them) and they've got used to it enough that they don't immediately clear off. Alec

That's a grass snake. Distinctive features - no zig-zags down the back (adder), white collar at the head, and being round in body-section (like a hosepipe) rather than flattened. Grass snakes typically like damp conditions. They're solitary rather than colony forming, but don't seem to mind congregating in a particular place that suits them. They do hiss at one another quite a bit though so either they're talkative or not particularly sociable. I don't speak grass-snake so I've never worked out which! We have a load of them which congregate on our compost heap - I've seen up to five of them at a time. Alec

There is a Lerwick on Shetland - it's the capital (not exactly big though - one main street and a petrol station!). I don't reckon there are as many trees on the whole island of Mainland as there are in that background shot though. Alec

I would mill it, but think about what you are trying to make first. There are various styles for benches, tables etc, some of which use full width boards, others use narrower boards side-by-side. A big slab-top bench would be tricky, but make the same top out of three planks and it would be pretty straightforward. If that base is 30" then even a half-width board should be a foot wide, which is decent. Looking at it, I would probably roll it so that the split straight across the middle is horizontal. I would then mill the first cut dead up the middle and see how much it moves. If it's not much, I would consider taking full width boards off of each half, working through to fairly close to the edge where I would take some thicker slabs for legs etc. I would also keep an eye on how deep the splits run - which would show up once you had made the first cut. My guess is around 1-2'. If I saw a lot of movement, rather than taking full width boards I would stand the half on edge, then split it down the middle again to take true quarters. The surfaces of the four quarters could then be assessed to choose the flattest face in each case, true it up and mill from that. This would give the smallest yield, but, depending on the thickness you mill at, you would still be looking at a dozen decent boards a foot or more wide, with a 4off thicker sections, say 3" or 4" depending on profile, which would be a reasonable yield. If you milled the bottom 12' only that would still give a yield of around 30cu.ft. If you haven't got a lot of experience I'd allow a full day to do this if you have a helper. Yest it will be fiddly. With more practice in dividing up the butt, you should eventually be able to get around 45cu.ft of decent material out of something this size in a full day. Alec

I'd still try Rich's suggestion and lob a teaspoon of mix down the carb throat. If it fires at least you know how close you are to running. Alec

Bearings might have survived. It will have stopped pretty fast so if you're lucky nothing has made its way in there. My 044 was nothing like as extreme, but it had bits of ring and piston skirt sitting around in the crank case. I swilled out the crank case with pump petrol sloshing it right up into the bearings, so that any loose metal sunk to the bottom of the case. I then tipped out the worst, to the front so it didn't go back in the bearings, and stuck a bit of kitchen roll around the crank webs, turning over the crank to drag the paper through with it and pick up the metal residue. After I'd repeated this a few times to get rid of the worst, I re-filled it with petrol and spun it over for a while to flush the case fully, then repeated. I probably spent an evening flushing the inside of the case clean. Once done, I stuck it back together with a cheap chinese pot and piston and ran it. That was two years ago, haven't done anything to it since and it does a lot of milling (it's permanently mounted to the Ripsaw). At one point the 066 wasn't working so I stuck the 044 on a 36" bar on the Alaskan and ran it flat out. I wouldn't say the saw was happy doing it, but it did it. I took the view that the most likely cause was a faulty part, so there was no reason to go looking further. In my case this proved correct. Alec

This is the brown rot fungus - the same as makes apples go brown with little white spots. It's everywhere - it can get in through small cuts and abrasions. It could have been in the tree when you got it, or it could have come later. No way of knowing. The garden centre would also have been very unlikely to know it was there if it hadn't shown at that point. This used to be treatable with Benlate but that's been long withdrawn. Copper based fungicides used to work too but less effectively - not sure if you can still get any. The trick was to spray at full blossom, on a calm evening after the bees had packed up for the day. Not sure if there are any modern systemics that will touch it? Alec

This is my Cannon bar - they get a bit flexible at this length.... I didn't fell it (Luke Quenby did) but I do get to cut it up. Alec

I take it that's 'calm and drizzling' as opposed to 'blowing a gale and chucking it down'? You wouldn't be trying to have us believe you've got sunshine would you.... Alec

That second pair of hands is usually my wife, who is currently sat next to me. I have just put this hypothetical suggestion to her with the anticipated response - I won't post it here as I don't want to be banned.... Alec

Indeed, and as such I would think through my answers to some obvious questions. Does he have your CV? If so, scan through it tonight or tomorrow morning to remind yourself what he knows. How did you get the interview? If it's purely speculative then he may know very little about you. If it's through a contact he will have an impression - think about what that impression would be from the person who knows you. Expect questions like 'are you a team player or do you prefer to work alone?' - this is a very difficult question because you sort of have to be both, but you sound like an idiot if you just say 'I like to work in a team or on my own'. Illustrate it if you can with activities you enjoy - e.g. I enjoy working out in the gym for the sense of personal achievement, but I really like playing football with my mates on the weekend for the atmosphere. Where do you see yourself in five years time? This can be a good one - larger companies are more interested in investing in staff, either formally through training or informally through experience. Do you want to be a lead climber, a foreman, build up your surveying experience? If the opportunity arose, would you be interested in taking some courses? It's not to say they have to happen and you don't want to give the impression you're imposing a 'career student' on them, but if something genuinely interests you to explore further where there could be mutual benefit from you doing it then it shows a level of commitment beyond 'I want to have left after a year to go travelling the world'. What got you into this in the first place? Well, here you should be on home ground, but think it out in advance and be honest and it will show a level of interest and commitment, rather than drifting. Just a few random thoughts Alec

I'm going for the opposite approach and trying to teach my daughters the basics of chainsaw maintenance. Firstly, they have small fingers and can get in to all the fiddly bits. Secondly, the sooner they can earn their keep the better Alec

2m round, so about 60cm diameter. The trouble you'll have is that until you fell it there is no way of knowing whether that is 50cm of heartwood or 5cm of heartwood, and it's usually only the dark heartwood that people want. If you can fell it and then measure the heartwood, so long as there is more than a foot or so you will probably find a buyer. If so, take photos and stick them up. If not, ring it up for firewood. Cheers Alec

My early 090 AV. The more modern ones are in theory the same, but there's just something about the original red and cream paint job, the sound of it, and the sheer raw power when it's ripping with a long bar. Alec

Yes I work alone, but only for certain operations. I don't climb anyway but if I did I wouldn't do that alone. I prefer to have a second pair of eyes/hands when felling. I find people are curious and have a tendency to come and see what's going on. The second person's job is to spot them and tell them to go away so that I can focus my whole attention on the tree in hand. Felling in the woods there is a risk (near certainty) that eventually something will hang up. At this point you will need a winch. I prefer not to lug my large Tirfor into the woods on the offchance of hanging something that day. The second person's job would then become to stand near the hung tree and warn people off while I go and get the winch. You can see from above that the second person doesn't have to know or do anything. One way of working would be to go out felling at the weekend, then buck and extract on your own during the week. Alec

I have, thanks It means that there was an interview with Robert Hardy on Radio 4 this morning on Broadcasting House, on the subject of longbows. It was in connection with the permanent exhibition of the Mary Rose opening. Nothing particularly new, but quite interesting nonetheless. Alec

The bigger the diameter of the threaded part, the more the contact area, so the greater the overall strength. Hence why the steel helicoil is stronger than the original, even on the steel to ali face. This was done to my 064 - no problems (well, with that bit anyway). Alec

An 88 would have enough hp to handle a 12" cut, although it wouldn't be as fast as in that video. I'm on much safer ground here than with the racksaws being discussed earlier in the week - we have a sawbench with a 24" blade running a 10" cut off a 5hp Lister B at 650rpm and it does it easily enough. If it could handle a 10" or 12" cut it would do just about anything you ever needed as a finished size. Be interesting to see more information on them. Alec

As per Spud. Re. Rowena's website - erm, yes, well, not much to say about it. However, ring them up and you will get one of the most helpful people imaginable. Get the make and model of the carb first, from the saw not the manual as there could be several options. Their kits are genuine, not pattern, however they come in Tillotson/Walbro/Zama packets rather than a Stihl packet and as such cost a lot less. Impulse line is ordered by the metre - a metre will do everything you will ever need. Fuel line is sometimes by the metre, sometimes per saw. Looking at the saw without doing any dismantling you can see the fuel line coming out of the tank and disappearing into the innards. When you've taken the aluminium air intake plate off you will see where it plugs onto the carb. The impulse line comes from the crank case, from the other side of the carb near where the crankshaft would be, loops round over the top of the choke rod and in to the visible side of the carb. You might as well renew them both while the thing is apart for the price of them. If they're old they're likely to be perished and a hole in either can cause air leaks, resulting in the saw running lean which risks seizure. Alec Fuel filter is the one in the tank pickup. Only costs pence.