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The second plate says it's a Teles. It looks similar to the Little Tiger and if I'm reading it right the line across the centre is stamped 52/12 for December 1952. It suggests that Nettlefold and Moser would be dealers? Is there a plate on the engine anywhere (probably Villiers?). It should give an engine model from which you can get the .cc Alec

Yes, I'm much better at TIG than anything else. Great for real control, range of thickness and doing stainless and aluminium, but the need for argon doesn't make it user-friendly for domestic use. Really enjoy it though - ideal for fixing broken bits of chainsaw! Alec

With a ticket offer like that, I would go for Japan. I went there some years ago and found it a fascinating mixture of old and new culture, and stunning scenery. Alec

Excellent - cheers. I reckon you could start installing the on people's mills for them and charging £1.50 a go Alec

I'd be interested in details of the extension. I'm mostly running hard nosed bars but it was really noticeable back-to-back with Martin last week that his mill was significantly quicker. The only known differences were the chain and bar - mine being slightly longer and hard-nosed. I reckon it was worth around 25% on speed, so plan on going over to roller nose at some point. Re OP: I understand the motivation. Your saw will be working really hard on anything of 2' and up. Quartering would therefore be well worthwhile. I suggest a mini-mill for quartering, as it will give you a better starting face, particularly on the butts which are too large to get through with the Alaskan and the ones where the middle is rotten so perfect cuts at the centre aren't so critical. Alec

Agree on Rob D. 16 tons is a lot to try out milling on. What diameter/length are the butts and what thickness are you planning on? If under 2" I would seriously consider hiring in a bandsaw as it will save you enough in time and kerf to offset the cost. Alec

On the subject of metering valves - anyone know the correct setting for the old type on a Stihl 076? It's the kind where the pin from the diaphragm sits between two arms on the lever, rather than on top of it. Cheers Alec

Nice to see that part of the story (and also nice to see that my lump is still standing upright!) This is the same piece of timber that Luke Quenby posted about originally, and I'm breaking down the top end of: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/alaskan-mill/55984-chainsaw-milling-very-large-oak.html The main bit is off to become a chainsaw sculpture for the new RSPB headquarters. I'm heading over tomorrow evening to work on the next bit of the top. Alec

That's him - his name is Martin btw. Alec

That's brilliant, and looks in pretty good health too. Alec

I tend where possible to 'rebuild' the tree, in the open, on the shady side of the field. I then put some ply on the top with weights on to keep it flat. This gives really good air flow but stops rain from landing directly on the cut surfaces. Alec

Have you tried dropping traktorist2222 on ebay a message? He keeps a good stock of used spares. He's German, but his English is excellent and he is happy to ship to the UK at a decent price. I know he stripped down an 044 recently as I had the pot and piston. Alec

Yeah, try doing one on an 076. Involves dismantling half the saw and sacrificing the back handle cover in the process! Alec

Contemplating the pile of saws - think I'll take the carb off the 076 and give it a good clean as it's still not running. In the meantime I took advantage of the nice weather to do a bit of trimming up in the garden, and got bitten by the Silky. According to my wife the hole-count is 12. All bar three have stopped bleeding. That'll teach me to try to do gardening won't it! Alec

Buckthorn is a good one - make sure you get male and female plants. How much security needed - gorse is a nice yellow, as is the Dunwich rose. If thorns weren't needed, various of the dogwoods give attractive winter colour. I particularly like Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire'. Some of the Viburnums give excellent autumn colour. Alec

Early one morning, 4yr old daughter comes into our room. Daughter: Mummy, Daddy, there are ducks on the lawn, come and see from my window. I get up and go and have a look. Me: No, they're not ducks, the two grey ones are pigeons and the two speckled ones are hen pheasants. Wife: Pheasants, we could eat one for dinner. Daughter: No Mummy, don't be silly, you have to shoot them first! Alec

If you reckon the contamination is only in the bark, not the wood, could you run an old, scrappy chain round through the bark to mark the line and the gob first? The bark is relatively soft, so the chain will still cut when dulled, but leave you only clean wood to cut with the decent chain. You could probably mark up a few at a go to avoid swapping chains too often. I have an old, nearly worn out chain I use on suspect stuff as it doesn't matter so much if I hit a stone or something. Alec

I echo this sentiment. It's pretty much how I learned, and I appreciated the input from some skilled people. I read the available basic information on saw maintenance and felling and bucking first, but there is no substitute for seeing things done. Anyone can buy any saw they like (even top handles if they buy secondhand on Ebay), and use it on any land with permission. They do not have to receive any training whatsoever. To me, a desire to observe someone doing it first rather than jumping straight in indicates a level of common sense, which is likely to go alongside an understanding of limitations and that they are not trained but are more confident on basic operations. An aside - when I bought my first car I did all the maintenance as I couldn't afford to do anything else (and actually quite enjoyed it). The local dealership was really helpful - when something went wrong I took it along and they would give it a quick run up and down the road, tell me the parts I needed and give me a quick run-down on any difficult bits of the job. They were happy as they sold a lot of parts for what, in reality, was less than 10mins work on their part each time. I bought the parts from them and away I went. One day, I went in and they established the front wheel bearings were going. They advised me not to attempt it due to the torque involved, and I trusted their advice and booked it in. A relevant parallel I think? Alec

Cheers All, looks like my wife won't be clearing her windscreen tomorrow then..... I can actually get away with trimming it a bit shorter for now, but reckon if it's started splitting then it's probably on its way out. Had wondered about L&S before, but they state that they will only supply Stihl parts in person except to known or ticketed customers. Has this not proved to be the case? Alec

076 is easy - impulse line split almost clean off! Any ideas on the best source of such things - fed up with the 2 week wait from my local Stihl dealers. Alec

Horse chestnut I take it? Looks surprisingly good. Alec

Fair point

If you count the 066, so do I - although when I finally get the various non-running ones back from their respective states of disrepair I'll end up with, erm, 9! (not even I will have that many pack up on me in a day ) Alec

It's not the 070 I was using on Tuesday - that's the happy one. It's even happier now I've stuck the choke lever from the other one on it, as it no longer takes two people to start it. The unhappy 070 needs some welding up on the starter cup as the lugs have worn off so it just spins. One of the front handle bolts has gone so I need a new one, and a new thrust washer and nut, and the top cover is missing a screw. I'll also need to find another choke lever. The 076 wouldn't idle in the middle of milling on Tuesday (which is why I swapped to the 070) and now it won't start, although it will if you lob a bit of fuel on the top plate of the air inlet. May just need to wash the carb out (taking it off in a bit) but it may be that now it's had a good few tankfuls of Aspen through it the gaskets need replacing. I'll find out once it's in bits. Just a bit annoying having a pile of not quite completely working saws (to add to the other 076 and that Tillotson carb to complete). Alec

Not necessarily. You are allowed to take someone out in your car under your supervision so long as you meet the age requirement and have held your licence for long enough. In that case, you have no additional 'qualification' and have no specific insurance to cover you. The non-professional chainsaw user has a problem, in that there are few options for some basic, sensible instruction at a realistic price, since the professional route in effect requires a series of tickets to be obtained which represent a substantial investment. Agreed, there are some options such as Jonesie's course, but they are limited and may not relate to what the user wants to do. In my view it's a sensible request to learn by observing a professional - consider the person asking for the input is under no obligation to obtain any pointers at all. The process of talking through what you're doing, as you're doing it (so long as it's good practice!), and ensuring that at the end of it the person is fully aware that they have not received formal training, and are not 'qualified' in any sense would appear to be pretty clear, but in reality they are probably much better informed and aware of things not to attempt. For what it's worth, there is no qualification needed in providing private tuition in other fields - you get clients if you're a good tutor and if you're not, you don't. I'm not aware of anyone ever successfully pursuing someone over a failure to pass an exam following tuition. Alec