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Fair old lump that - giving the 090 a good workout? Out of interest, any idea of a cutting rate with the bar fully buried? Alec

I don't know the model at all, and can't find much on it. There was however also a VI-123, for which there is slightly more information: Model Profile: VI-123 Assuming they are of similar construction (identical date ranges of manufacture suggest that this may be the case) the use of a flywheel magneto suggests that it could well be points ignition rather than a more modern electronic type ignition. If so, you will probably find access to the points behind the flywheel. It's worth having a look under there anyway as if there is obvious corrosion on the coil that is likely to be the problem. To get the flywheel off you may or may not need to lock the crankshaft (on a Stihl 070 for example you don't as the flywheel is screwed on to a backing plate). If you do have to lock the crank to undo the flywheel nut, take out the spark plug and either insert a proper plastic piston stop, or turn the engine over far enough that the piston is on the up stroke, up past the exhaust port, and then feed in some rope - don't do it with the piston lower down as you can jam the rope between the exhaust port and the piston and it is a pig to get back out, guess how I know this.... You can also test electrically for continuity at various points - there are guides to doing this to be found using Google, but if you get stuck, shout. Having tried the suggestion above (using a paperclip to see if you can get a spark) there are a couple of other things you can try. Note, even if there is a spark, it may not be strong enough to fire under compression, in which case the suggestions below may still help. Firstly, it is likely that if it has points they are dirty or corroded. Cleaning up with a bit of emery paper would be worthwhile. You may also need to re-gap them with a feeler gauge. Secondly, another thing that can happen on magneto ignitions is that you get demagnetisation. This can be cured by taking the plug out to allow the crank to rotate freely and then spinning it over for about 5-10mins with an electric drill. The easiest way I found to do this was to fit a socket to the flywheel nut and then grind a bolt head to fit the square, fitting the shank of the bolt in the drill chuck. Hope some of the above is of use! Alec

I know about the ones on ebay in the US - but they're 9 and 10 tooth. The originals were 7 tooth, which is needed for the 090 to really score by delivering the torque on a long bar. Madsen do list Oregon rim sprockets in their catalogue but not for any specific saw. They don't appear too keen on being contacted other than by phone, which isn't too convenient. Might give them a call at some point though, although realistically the Australian ones look more straightforward. Alec and yes, I think I've found a spare muffler

The Chainsaw Guy (Rich) is a really helpful bloke. He supplied me with the bar on the saw below. Alec

I've gone down the white spirit/air line route. White spirit dissolves up the oily stuff pretty well, and stays wet well. It doesn't blast clean off particularly well, but a slight layer of oil left behind probably isn't a bad thing. Alec

There are a few people running 090s for milling, and the Oregon rim sprocket appears to be no longer available (Rob D - correct me if you can still get them ) It appears that rim sprockets are still available from Australia. eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d?r The company won't ship to the UK, but I have an Aunt there who can send them on. It's obviously a bit complex and slower, but the prices look reasonable and whilst I know nothing about the supplier their Ebay feedback is pretty decent (20,000 ratings over 5yrs, 100% positive, about as high on the stars as you can get) so reckon the sprockets should be decent. So, if anyone else is needing one and wants to split the postage, let me know. I'll place an order next weekend. Alec

I should add, I've tried a few of the cheap Dremel copies but work bought a genuine one and it's so much better. It's the cordless with two Lithium-Ion batteries. You can pretty much charge up one in the time the other runs for. Alec

I find some of the Dremel tools really good, and others really useless. I haven't found a decent wire brush, but the click lock cutting discs are great. I've been running the same one for ages and it's still going. Solid carbide burrs are really useful, including for drilling out sheared off fittings. Much cheaper from China than genuine ones. No idea on using it for wood-related stuff though - I use old school carving chisels etc. Alec

I can well believe you can clear £1200 worth of timber in a day with most mills. If you're going thick enough you can do it with a straight Alaskan - timber being priced per cu.ft, not per square ft of cut surface. With anything quicker, it's easy to go much higher if you stick to high value species. The limit becomes supply and market. Personally, I prefer a bandmill. I would really like to get something decent sized - say 3' diameter butt capability x 20' length, but at the moment I'm limited to chainsaw powered mills, but they do me well enough (particularly with the chainsaw powered bandmill), the big advantage being true portability. I've never really been a fan of swing mills. I can see they have their place, but for my purposes they're too limited in scope. The main issue is the width of board. I really do want to be able to cut a clear foot width as a minimum, preferably up to about 2', and they just won't meet this need. Off to fulfil my manly urges with a mallet and chisel, fitting some more rafters! Alec

There should be a parallel thread to this entitled "What is no longer on my bench as it is finally done". In my case 090 is now spot on - delayed while locating a 5/32" BSW tap, then ordering the fuel line and finally took a bit of fiddling to get the throttle cable right so it would settle to idle. The amount of oily sawdust was pretty staggering; it's an early one and I reckon there's 40+ yrs worth I've removed from behind the clutch drum. Have also finally found time to change the impulse line on the 076 and treated it to a new plug at the same time. Might keep up with Martin's a bit better now:thumbup: On to the next one. Probably better work out what's up with the 066. Alec

Not too costly - welding was bands as commercially made ones are a bit random as to how well they're welded, annealed and dressed and I hit on a bad batch. Fortunately I can weld them back up much better than the original, but it just holds things up a little. Sample is outside my back door, got your address, just need to wrap it up and send it off. Alec

Don't assume the bow will cleave out dead straight and perfectly even. If the timber is perfectly knot-free, straight grained with no grain twist then it will, otherwise it won't. That doesn't make it unusable - work with the way the timber goes, rather than trying to shape it into a piece of art. There's a bowyer who goes to Wierd and Wonderful Wood who has some of the most random shaped bits of stick imaginable, but they shoot straight. The cross-section diagram above is perfect - as you get nearer the tips you end up with less heartwood, more sapwood to get the flex. You'll need to consider overall length, draw length and draw weight. Longbows are less efficient than a recurve, so you need the draw weight as high as you can handle. You want a fairly gentle arc, so the longer your arms, the longer the bow needs to be. Don't assume 6'. The most difficult bit I found was tillering - you need to get the curve nice and even at the right draw weight, but you can't put more on! A 2:1 advantage with a snatch block on the tiller, and then take it gently to avoid cracking it, was the easiest way I found. Alec

Thanks All for the comments. The engine hoist does surprisingly well - I'm considering getting a cheap 2-ton one and mounting it on a tube to use as a fixed crane on the trailer. Steve - thought you might like seeing the work in progress I was hopeful it was a really good piece and so far it's proved to be excellent. Only a very small number of knots and no other defects of consequence. The bandsaw is great when it's working, but it threw a bit of a fit on this job and got through four bands in half an hour with only about two or three cuts between them. A bit of welding later and back in business though. Alec

Rob - do you have any videos showing the 3/8" stone in use? It mounts fine, but I can't figure how to get the grinder to lift high enough to allow me to run it over the depth gauge. Cheers Alec

First length of sycamore:

SII, IIa or III? You might want to try the Series 2 Owners' club forum. Very friendly and helpful site with a lot of knowledge. They're helpful with Series 3 too, since these don't have so much of a following and are essentially the same. There are also a lot of members with parts squirreled away who may be able to help you out if you get stuck. Alec

I have a good selection of old woodworking and gardening/outdoor tools. Just because they're old doesn't necessarily mean they're good though. Some brands are consistently high quality, some unbranded blacksmith-made tools are fantastic, and others are appallingly bad quality steel. It's one of the reasons that amongst modern tools I really like Gransfors Bruks axes. For me they combine the best of both worlds - hand made but with a guarantee of quality. Alec

That entirely matches my understanding. I think the original link relates to the construction of the vehicle - i.e. how much overhang over the axles you are allowed to build in. This only relates to carrying loads if you go trying to make your vehicle longer to reduce the overhang. So, for example, if you have a load that projects 2.5m over a drop tailgate you can 'fix' the tailgate down to make it a fixed part of the vehicle and reduce your overhang below 2m, so you no longer need a rear marker board. However, you can only do this so much (in line with the original link). Without this, in theory you could stick a 10m tailboard on your Ford Fiesta and legally carry 16m lengths with nothing more than a bit of rag on the end! There is a table of what constitutes the fixed parts of the vehicle for overhang measurement purposes. I don't know where it is online - I was emailed it by a helpful bloke at DfT when I was trying to work out if the width measurement was made over the body of the trailer or the wheel arches to determine whether my load was over width. I'll stick it up when I find it. Also worth noting, the category of '2 days notice to the police' requires that you inform the county constabulary of every county you will pass through. Living where I do, that would have meant a 10min drive required notifying three counties. Rather glad the width turned out to be measured over the wheel arches rather than the body. Alec

I can't comment on modern saws, but I'm running the 7' bar on full chisel (skip-link), now ground to 10deg, which should be about as aggressive as it gets, and the finish is surprisingly good. On the other hand, the same grind on the 070 on a 41" bar results in significant washboarding, with both the 090 and 070, slightly less with the 076. The only point in the book I disagree on is fuel mixing. He suggests adding extra oil to increase lubrication, but in fact this causes it to run lean. He does then suggest (separately) that another alteration is to richen up the carb which would correct it, however he doesn't make the link between the two. Otherwise, the link caused me to get my copy out and have another read - still thoroughly enjoyable as it's so clearly written by someone with such a wealth of practical experience. Still contemplating whether to mod the bar and the clutch cover as he suggests - the smell of burning 090 clutch shoe is most unpleasant as Tony Croft and Charles Hey can confirm! Alec Alec

I often feel the lack of a pipe when running an 090 on a long bar. It just seems like it would be an essential part of the whole experience. It really is an excellent book - I read it years ago and my wife finally bought me my own copy for Christmas. Alec

Funny, I like the smell of oak, and didn't notice anything bad about holly. Some of the elm I've done has had a really sweet smell about it - not sickly, just really pleasant. Alec

Make sure you keep a record of your costs. Chainsaws, chains, bars, oil, fuel, ppe, wood, travel to meet customers (get a few business miles added to your car if you haven't already got it, doesn't cost much), travel to pick up wood, travel to drop off carvings, entry costs for relevant shows/events as research and training trips and any you exhibit at. There is an allowable cost per mile, which was 41p last time I looked. You will soon find that your expenses are taking out a lot of your profit, possibly enough for it to come into the 'hobby' bracket, rather than genuinely be profitable. Beekeepers who sell a bit of honey often achieve this. At this point, you no longer have to declare it. If you still make a profit, declare it but at least it will be the real profit, so you won't pay twice for external costs. Alec

I can't remember where I got it from - might have been Chainsaw Lumbermaking. I used it successfully to mill up several oaks about half a mile down a canal. The key thing is to set it all up perfectly on the first one to get a perfect face. You can then cut off a perfect plank on the second cut, and then use that plank as the guide for all subsequent butts. Alec

Do you particularly want it in the round, or is fully seasoned board of any use? I know of some which may become available. Alec

Chainsaw mills are very simple to use. It depends on the power of your saw and the size of your logs as to which way to go, coupled with the how much else you might want to use it for. If you have a 90+cc saw, with logs of 18" and upwards, I would go for a Granberg Alaskan MkIII. You will need a bar about 6" longer than the width you want to cut, and a ripping chain to go with it. If you have a smaller saw, say 60cc and up, I would go with a mini-mill. The biggest issue you will have is setting up a rail long enough to take the first cut off straight on an 18' length. Most people mill using a ladder as a rail, and an 18' single length is going some. Unfortunately the Ripsaw system is, whilst excellent, extremely hard to get hold of. There is a technique for taking a first cut, where you take a load of coach screws of various lengths and a piece of 6"x2" or 8"x2" plank (or a decent length scaffold board). You screw the first pair of coach screws into the top of the log at one end and another pair at the other end, checking with a spirit level over the tops that each pair is horizontal. You then stringline down the log, and screw in pairs of coach screws so that the tops are just at the stringline. This gives you two straight lines (you need the various lengths of coach screws to account for the differences in dips and bumps in the log). You can now rest the plank on the heads of the coach screws and either screw it down or have a second person to hold it. Mill from one end, reach the end and then slide the board down; repeat until you're out of the log. Take a second cut, and you now have a nice long, straight flat bit to use for any subsequent logs. I have done this for milling 20' oak planks x about 14" wide, 2" thick, out in the middle of nowhere and extracting them on a wheelbarrow! Mills - have a look on chainsawbars.co.uk and drop Rob D a pm for your Arbtalk discount. Alec