Daniël Bos

Is there anything similar to Cardiff?

There's someone who breeds and works Dales' in Swayfield I believe, not far from you is it? It's where the mother-in-laws brood mare came from, I can ask her if you like.

If the dealer checked all he could check he still would not have found it to be stolen, because it wasn't marked as such. Think about it, the "bargain" (bargain hunt....) hires the tractor and presents himself to the dealer as the owner that has lost his papers. The dealer can maybe find out who the owner is, name address etc but what if the bargain said that was him, he has the same details on his hire agreement? No records have passport pics on. Only if the dealer paid out before getting the papers sorted did he go wrong, and he'll pay for that it seems.....

My father-in-law bought her in the sixties with a mate and they raced her then. As they didn't win too much they removed one of her masts and moved the remaining one back to make it a single mast vessel. It was much faster then (but probably less stable on the crossings to scandinavia for wich she was designed). Then they gutted her completely to do a full refurbish, and then they lost interest.... Wild women, careers and children forced her to the background. My wife has lovel memomries of her dad picking her up from school because "her auntie was poorly" (dad-daughter code for: you've got the rest of the day off school, we need to go and bail out Ripple as she's not come up with the tide...) Then about 20 years ago he was forced to sell her. She was sold off under the strict condition that she was to be restored fully, in keeping with her origins and because of that he sold her for very little money. Not many years later she was lifted out of the water and had her hull cemented, keeping her afloat for a bit longer but signing the deathwarranty for her timbers.... All this time my wife had secretly been keeping contact with the owner and as soon as she could she bought her back, with a monthly payment system set up that weighed heavier than our mortgage.. Since then we've been keeping her afloat and tried to halt further decay by fitting permanent tarpaulins covering her etc whilst trying to find funding to get her sorted (estimates vary from £500K to £1.5million to get her back to former glory, so that's alomost a full two months salary!! Life got in the way of her, we moved around the country and through europe, made some kids etc but finally last year we succeeded in getting the shipbuilding college to take her on. It will be a looooong project and it won't be cheap, but we pay for materials and they provide the knowledge and labour! She's the 2nd oldest boat on the register I believe, only Cutty Sark being older. But she floats! Like yours too Alec, I never thought they'd ever built canal Ice-breakers. That is a seriously cool ship!

If it is an underwater pipe, chaces are the tree is under water as well? Phenomenon explained!!:thumbup:

Nutters indeed! I bet they feel they desperately need some feedback so are listing like this???......

Been playing with walnuts, have you? If white spirit doesn't help try alcohol. Failing that you'll have to wear it of as it's gone into your skin. I've used it to dye wool and leather before and it's in your skin pretty quickly. If it's dyed your skin rather than just stained the outside and you insist on having it off the only thing for it would be sandpaper or a bench grinder......

Nice one, I like old boats, here's ours. Are you connected to the national historic ships register? They can be quite helpfull and help guide to funding etc. I could only find 2 speedwells on the register but neither from 1919. No time to read all of your blog now but quick look looks good. Good luck!

That feels like cheating, excellent, thanks a lot! ps, is that avatar pic from Heligan?

Aha, thanks! I love a high risk strategy! Don't suppose anyone knows of any such folk around south Lincs (or near counties?).

I just re-read the whole thread you started on a tour of grimsthorpe park, and though there is some mention of croft castle on the later pages, there is no logical step to it:confused1: Where ever you go I hope you'll make it:thumbup1:

I've just been to see an area of woodland for coppicing, but as the hazel is still a way from establishing they'll let me cut from a beatifull coppice field for the produce, and take 1/3 of the canopy out of the developing site. No problems so far, I've done a few hectares of coppicing and felled thousands of trees but...... I havn't got the badge:blushing: My dayily earners are with hedgelaying, sheep-shearing and arable farming and nobody's ever asked me for tickets. I need to have them to be allowed to do this work though, and I really want to so.... Where do I go from here? Where and when could I get certified quickly? I'm willing to travel a bit if there's no training near me. Is there such a thing as a "quick training" as -without wanting to sound arrogant- I've been using chainsaws for 20 years and like to think I'm not that bad with them:001_cool: Thanks, chaps:thumbup1:

Without wanting to be offensive: If you need to ask that question you should stick to your day-job really..... There are lots of training days held everywhere all te time, the BTCV ones are quite good. But like anything crafty, nothing beats hands on experience. So if I were you I'd ask around for an experienced layer to help you for a day, a private lesson if you like. It won't cost you a lot (less still if the person is a good mate and you're providing cake...) and you can learn a lot in a day like that. There are many little things to remember that one can't really learn from 'tweb and many varying circumstances even in a single hedge asking for different approaches etc.

Fancy trucks indeed.... But nothing compared to the Lamborghini in the car park, with the license plate V12 LOGS! Was there with one of the ankle-biters, disguised as a 4ft rabbit (the child, not me). Not that interested in the firewood auction tbh, but it was nice to talk to people and look ate some nice kit I'll never need.

My wife does her "woman-bloody-moanalot-menstuation-thingie" by the rythm of the full moon.

Say I charge £10/m, cost about £3/m. Average day does 18m 18 x £7 =£126 for every day associated with the job so that includes pricing time, paperwork time cake time etc. I'm self employed and make sure to earn little enough not to have to pay income tax (get some more tools by year's end if I get close) so that £126 is all mine and all profit. Would you like me to teach you Adam?

I'm going. Shall we agree to all wear a lime green pair of trousers with one leg cut of just below the knee and the other leg stained with blue paint, not forgetting the secret AT handshake offcourse....

Hi all, I do a bit of hedgelaying, though not as much as I'd like to due to having moved last year and it takes a while to build a local name/customer base etc. I cut about a mile of hedge last winter. Average of about 20m/day plus a few days of sorting so about 100 days work. I do not start very early if I work close to home as I'll take the kids to school first, so a 9:30 start (just in time to cut a bit od dead wood for the 10:00 stormkettle:thumbup:) and make sure to finish to be home for tea at 6. If I work more than say 20m away I try and get the most out of the daylight. I charge between £7.50/m to £12.00/m depending on length, size, surrounding and number/make of cars on clients drive. Costs of materials, fuel, cake and pies about £3/m, but more on the horrible job I charged £12.00 for as I went throuh about 5 chains for 112 m of hedge. Anyone else willing to share their hedge-fund figures? I'm just curious to know if I'm cheap or expensive, work fast or slow etc. I don't know any other hedgelayers around where I live now so have nobody to compare with.

No, not really. It's a good rough guide but just as with cc's in engine's the actual output and feel. The stated Watts or KW are usually the amount of energy the machine can consume at max load. Not the actual usefull kinetic energy output. As there are large differences in efficiency, gearing etc it does not mean that much. A different chain speed can also make much difference, with the same engine/motor. You'd have to try both really, are there any reviews available on 'tinterweb anywhere?

Larch, Sweet chestnut, Western Red. Why 1" thick boards, what's wrong with 20mm?

The fiskars splitting axe has raving reviews.

Quality mate:thumbup:

Will you be wearing those antlers Tony? so anyone arriving will know they're at the right place as all "normal" people will have been scared off:lol: