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Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but for reference, if you happen across any really large blackthorn, or any other type of plum (6" and upwards in 3' or longer lengths) please do think of me. I want to build my bedroom furniture out of it. Slackbladder and Nepia both have a bit which will go towards it, but I could do with some long bits for the wardrobe. Re. milling short stuff. I have a really useful setup for this - running the Ripsaw mill over a single section of rail, with an end clamp. I did a few lumps of cherry for Scottie with no problems and will happily do more if it helps. Finally, back on thread, I note you've now got some material but if short lengths of apple are any use I should have a few sitting around. They're really unsplit firewood logs, but I'm not exactly short on firewood. Alec

Thanks for the update - that's an enormous number of stickers! Alec

One thing I have done with great success on training contracts is to take someone on for a few months trial period before starting them on the training course. I then know that they are suitable, and it's likely to work throughout the training period without wasting my time in setting it up. You can also quite reasonably set up a training agreement with a clause that says you will take them through the training and in exchange they agree to stay for a fixed period beyond the end of the training, or pay a fixed sum back which reflects the hours you spend setting it up and any out of pocket costs you have incurred. For some of the courses I send people on which have costs of about £10k over 4yrs the agreement is to stay for 2yrs beyond the end of the course or pay back the £10k (if you terminate their employment they obviously don't have to pay back anything). I've found the above to be effective in making sure they're suitable, serious about it and that the arrangement is mutually beneficial. Alec p.s. I have had to enforce the pay-back clause once, and it proved legally enforceable.

Yep, I know they're not right out of the box so I set it to the lower flats. If it's dropped since I set it then it's something I'll keep an eye on if it starts playing up. Alec

That's interesting - was it in the wrong place? It had been set when I fitted it, so if it's dropped then it suggests a problem with it. I've still got the old one so at least I can swap back if it plays up. Alec

Looking at that I'd guess the symptoms are that when you pull it over it won't start. The first place I'd look is the fuel tank - I reckon the reason it's so clean is that the owner hasn't worked out how to take the fuel cap off and it's never been fueled up:001_tongue: Alec

I'm trying to work out whether I can use my trailer to move some very wide boards. It's an 8'x4' plant trailer - standard type with a central low sided box and twin axles - wheels out to the sides under wheel arches. The boards are wide enough to overhang the trailer, even over the wheel arches. I know the maximum allowable overhang at the sides is 305mm, but does anyone know whether that is measured from the box of the trailer, or from the maximum total width, i.e. over the wheel arches? Thanks Alec

Acetone?

It looks to me very much like rockwool slab. Given that when I bought it the sideplate of my Rayburn had been hot enough to crack it but the insulation was still fine it should hold up for this job I would have thought. Alec

For those contemplating a price war, this may be of interest: schlich forestry - AbeBooks I would also recommend The Practice of Forestry by Trentham (1909) or for a truly historical perspective, Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions (1664 and onwards in many editions) is genuinely a fascinating read. Alec

You've currently got it cut boxed heart, where the middle of the tree is up the centre. Whilst this is the strongest section, it is also the most likely to crack, as shrinkage goes round the rings of the tree, so as the ring shrinks on the outside first (due to drying) it opens up a split which tends to run radially from the centre. If you regard this as traditional and rustic then great. If not, you won't stop it, but you can control which face splits by running a circular saw end to end of one face, in line with where the heart is and as deep as you can get. This makes it very likely that this face will split and the others won't. If the piece will be at all structural then ideally you want the split at the top or the bottom, but obviously in old buildings where they split naturally you can't control which face goes, so it's not critical and you could place it at the back. Although it sounds like this weakens it, it really doesn't that much. In one of the beams I have to install in our extension there is a slit like this in the top. I let it open up naturally (it accelerates drying significantly) and I will then run a chainsaw down it to make it uniform width, using a mini-mill, and drop a steel flitch plate in and bolt it through. Alec

Cheers - I hate oak sapwood anyway and usually just leave the butt lying if I can until it rots away, which only takes a year or so. In this case I'll just lop it off. It should indeed be some decent timber, although it's open grown so I suspect the oak will have a rather wide sapwood band and there are more side branches on some than ideal. Still well worth the effort though. Interesting thought on felling and leaving it lying - I might just get away with this. although the risk is that the firewood fairies just work their way down it into the useful parts. Alec

My Grandfather used to own about 9 acres of woodland from the 1940s through to the 1980s. In the early days he rented it out to woodmen who coppiced it, but they gave up in the 1950s, leaving their Denning sawbench and the Lister B that ran it behind, right up in the woods. One day in the early 1960s my Dad was over at his prospective in-laws and my Grandmother had gone shopping. My Grandfather took advantage of the circumstances to get Dad to help him haul the sawbench and engine out of the woods, him towing it down the track in his Hillman Imp, Dad keeping it upright (no trailer, just on ropes!) It was then installed next to the garage before my Grandmother got back from shopping. She was, apparently, not very impressed. We still have it, and I used to use it for cutting firewood. There are no guards, not even a riving knife, and it's a two-man operation, one to keep the engine running right and the other to cut the wood. I still have all my limbs and appendages, but treat it with great respect and always use a decent length push-stick. Oddly enough, I've been down there today and looked over the engine with a view to using the bench to cut up the decent bits of apple I've pruned off. Just need to sort out a kink in the fuel return line. One thing I would say - the key parameter is the travelling speed of the outer perimeter of the blade. Run it too slow and it's a bit tedious, run it too fast and you risk the blade bursting which is lethal. Perimeter speed is a function of blade diameter and rotation speed. If you have a fixed speed engine, the easiest way to control perimeter speed is to use the right combination of pulleys on the engine and the blade. If you need the details for this I have them somewhere. Alec

There are (or at least were) two versions of the crankshaft. The one specified as heavy duty was the original fitting to the US spec 066 Magnum. This again was available about 8yrs ago in the UK, using the part number. Alec

Thanks Jonathan - useful to know I can just crack on. Elm is indeed pretty rare, although there are a surprising number of reasonably healthy, pretty large ones around this area (biggest I know of is over 3' dia and 100' high). The ones which are coming down aren't huge, but I'll get an 18" dia x 12', reasonably straight length out of each. This will eventually become the upstairs floor in our house which will correctly replace the 16th century elm floor which was ripped out in the 1970s. The oaks are a bit bigger - say 2' mid dia. on a 20' clear length, so worth the effort I think. Alec

Rich, one off-the-wall thought. Since you fueled the saw and started trying to test it, have you at any point chucked the fuel and filled with a new batch from a different can? I know it's an outside chance, but if the thing is particularly temperamental and you happen to have picked up a less than ideal batch when you bought the last can (presuming you're using pump fuel, which does vary quite a bit even within spec) it could reproduce the symptoms of slightly low calorific value - basically if you've already lost some of the slightly more volatile fraction it will need a richer mix to fire up, but run once it's going. I've beaten Barrie to this suggestion - for test purposes you could try a tank of Aspen.... Alec

I have a suggestion on the 'no suitable branches for bridge grafting' issue. Gollum demonstrated a technique for re-forming the crown structure (in this case on apples) which allows substantial redirection of branches. We weren't doing anything much over an inch or so, but he commented that it works fine on larger diameters too. Basically, it involves making a parallel series of hand saw cuts on the side you want the branch to come towards, over halfway through. The branch then bends far more easily and closes up the cuts so they rapidly heal over. With carefully placed cuts along a branch I found I could fairly easily get a natural angle of bend, where I wanted it. The technique is illustrated here: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/52999-having-go-pruning-fruit-trees-anyone-interested-5.html 2nd and 4th pictures of post #42. It's always hard to tell from pictures, but it looks as though some of the inner material from the right-hand, more leaning section may be possible to do this with, effectively putting that in tension. The challenge would be finding a suitable location on the more upright left hand side to create tensile stress, rather than bend or peel. Alec

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Where I work we're about to start on a major site redevelopment. We're currently waiting on planning permission, but when it goes through (which it will) there will be half a dozen or so reasonable sized oak and elm to come down. They're currently under TPO so can't be touched. The plan is that they will come down somewhere around July/August, which is obviously not ideal. So far I've always been able to use either timber felled when dormant, or standing dead, so any thoughts on anything that can be done to get the best out of them would be welcome. I could do with milling one of the oaks for exterior cladding, so pretty exposed use. Alec

Sounds very interesting - if I recall correctly there are elm water pipes on display in the Museum of Edinburgh. Alec

Hi Steve, have you got something new on your bench Younger daughter (2) has just come home from nursery with cakes she's made, so it looks like the payment options have just broadened...... Alec

When I filled in my form I quoted Jonesie's website and one of the other sponsors on here (referenced the web pages as proof). That way, I knew the prices were real, and that the insurers could not find lower ones so it wouldn't delay while they haggled. Alec

That's the grain pattern I was hoping I'd see. I fancy making a longcase clock case out of one, using the central bit as the main door, so that the grain scoops outwards, following the lines to the hood. Alec

Have you already cut the rest of it up? No idea if you have access to a mill, but I've always wanted to mill straight up the middle of a top-worked standard cherry (grafted at about 6') as I reckon it would have some very interesting grain - not that you're anywhere near me of course to try it! Alec

Realised I forgot to explain the milling process! Fairly simple really - the rail is a 6"x2" aluminium box section which comes in 5' lengths that bolt together with internal braces and becomes extremely rigid. The rail was set up to height and adjusted to run through the centreline as best as possible end to end. I tried to get closer to the centre where it was thinner (as there's less to play with in the finishing) but couldn't quite run centred on both halves of the top, hence the nearer branch is a bit low of centre while the far branch is pretty much dead centre. The rail was nailed on to the butt, using headless nails which fit through guide holes in the rail. This kept everything rigid. Milling was standard to start with, although using a 6" wide rail with a 36" mill you have to be very careful to avoid tilting. Once the crotch was reached, it was wider than the mill. This was dealt with by taking the front post off the mill (see picture) and using it like a small log mill, but with a lot of support to keep it level. Once through the crotch, the mill was put back together and milling continued as normal until I ran out of fuel. Since you can't back out of the cut, the options are to dismantle the mill to fuel up, or to use a funnel - I go for the latter. You can't get a full tank in because the filler cap is on the top, but you can get enough to make it worthwhile. Milling continued until the stump end was reached and the mill again became too narrow. At this point, the front post was again removed to extract the mill from the log. The cut through the roots was completed freehand, using the existing cuts as a guide. I used the 066 with a 36" bar and a ripping chain. The missing part of the saga in the pictures is how to roll over and extract half a tree, 100ft down a garden, negotiate the patio, wiggle round the corner of the garage and house without taking out the external gas pipe and then winch it into a van, then repeat with the other half! Alec