openspaceman

Somewhen around 2010 I gave a talk at the University of Kent in Chatham for the EA's soils unity, it was a proposal I had then for combining the output from the firm's thermophylic liquid composting system which took waste food, pasteurised it by self heating and, at the time, paid to inject it into local farm fields. At the same time there was a hiatus in the period between the ending of NFFO subsidies for the combined heat and power plant we supplied woodchip to and the demand for chip by RHI subsidised heating plant, so woodchip was a glut on the market. The proposal was to pyrolyse woodchip and use the heat to dry the slurry from the food waste plant and combine the two to sell as bagged compost. There were regulatory problems ( mostly due to the varying make up of the slurry as the input was not homogeneous) and the expense of obtaining PA100 accreditation plus an objection from EA for spreading on farmland, no objection for use in private gardens as these are not regulated. The food plant was eventually sold off at a loss to a company that digested waste to biogas and thence generated electricity for the grid in a large internal combustion engine.

This is simple economics; the price of the charcoal of the required recalcitrance to be a carbon store, delivered to point of deposition is cheaper than anything available locally. This is a voluntary scheme so it's driven by what air travellers are willing to pay. Also it's not waste so probably not subject to regulations concerning waste and landfill. Yes of course there is a sustainable local resource that could make biochar from vegetation that is currently burned or composted and returns CO2 to the atmosphere.

Eggs is getting away from the rat-race in a boat on the canal. He would like us to open and close the lock gates for him as he cruises through.

PUWER, and happily give them a quick file, just like you would with a saw in similar use, takes seconds, cost ~£11 if memory serves imagine if you ding a tft on site it needs changing? Are you saying that TCT tipped sawblades don't comply under PUWER when used in a brushcutter? It would worry me that it could spit teeth if it suddenly encountered a bit of iron. BTW I agree with you that a simple steel maxi blade that sharpens on the front face of the tooth with a flat file or a one with chainsaw profile teeth that sharpens as a chainsaw with a round file is simple and effective. When respacing it is almost inevitable you will hit a rock sometime. Having said that I could work all day with the 165r and not need to sharpen at all. Nowadays I would use the bottom cup which I use with the mulcher blade to keep the head a bit off the ground. It extends the life of a mulcher blade many fold. PS the flat file for sharpening a maxi blade needs to be one with teeth on a rounded edge, a flat file used for rakers would produce a right angled gullet from which a crack could propagate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E12nnpWc5c

I was struggling along the Carn Mor Dearg Arete on the lee side in the fog and a voice coming from behind me was getting louder, I was mortified when a bloke with a southern counties accent strode passed dictating a letter to his secretary, I'd been enjoying a morning's remoteness up till then

I always thought of you in one of those flint knapped cottages rather than a modern place. I had our brick chimney lined with a cast high temperature concrete one 35 years ago. Its about 9 inches, sound but I don't think it was particularly well executed. I keep it that way rather than have a flexible liner as it means the chimney breast downstairs and upstairs acts as a heat store. I am aware this means the flue gas velocity slows from the stove outlet to the chimney.

Once upon a time not many moons ago building regs didn't allow a chimney for solid fuel to be less than 6" diameter. It was to reduce the chance of blocking by soot and fumes coming back into the dwelling. With cleaner burning stoves this is less of a risk so 5" flues are now allowed.

Just a follow up on this; I was with him today cutting his firewood as his poor sense of balance means he won't use a chainsaw. He says his surgeon thinks there is a slight possibility of a link between nasal/throat cancer and the use of petrol hedge trimmers but the corpus of patients is small so difficult to be sure.

I don't manage to get as much paid work but when I do I find it very tiring, possibly made worse by my last full time work being largely in an office.

Have I missed something, I thought it was going up to 67 by 2028, when I drew my state pension at 65 statistically I could expect to live 18 years. NB I fully expected to continue working till 70 but the boss had other ideas, did me a favour really.

I haven't seen anything relating to inhalation of particulates specific to forestry workers. There is an acknowledged link between inhaling wood or leather dust and nasal/sinus cancer. My felling partner had a tumour removed from the back of his nose, the surgeon says it was likely from 2t fumes but as his dad was a carpenter I'd say the link was more likely wood dust. Two of the 10 or so timber buyers I sold to died of throat cancer. The link is also established with Human Papiloma virus, so don't pick your nose with warty fingers or stick your nose in warty fannies.

You can sharpen them several times on the machine before you need to replace the blades, I use a 4" cordless angle grinder.

Yes, which is why you buy kiln dried or air dry then bring it into the house to stabilise before use, I am not a carpenter or joiner, @Woodworks is.

Yes for that turnover an accountant will only cost around £400 (as long as all the income and outgoings are well collated first)and it's worth that just for the saving in aggravation let alone tax savings they might make.

I'll wait to see what accountants like @Inoff the Red say but you are confusing your gross turnover with profit (aka income) and that £6k is right for a profit of £31k. Your profit was £18k and you have capital allowance on the truck to deduct from that, I'd say the real figure would be nearer £1400 tax Have you paid your National Insurance? Don't miss it.

Yes I have the 7500 for a couple of years now, mostly for my own domestic jobs, from looking at the gearbox I'd say it was the same design as my old Robin engined single sided Barrus one. It seems good though I don't think it cuts as thick stuff as the rough cut Stihls we had at work. Only problem I had was losing the air filter cover when the screw got loose.

Marcus the first time I came across the term it was used for a hot and cold device for creosoting stakes, it was marketed as The Stobster. The broken branch usage seems close to stub.

I can't see this myself, down here it would settle out at 10% at the end of summer or inside the house but unheated it would gain to a bit less than17% wwb. Also I'd want to see a better support than shown, a block under each line of stickers and more weight on the top

For run of the mill stuff local solicitor said their fees would be £250/hour but the initial talk was free. Subsequently she estimated the hours needed to produce a deed would be 1.5 to 2. The final bill was £942+VAT . Each time you ask them something it racks up as does each time they ask you for anything.

I always thought it was a scotish word for stake

Similar to me and I just have, subject to the new bank where I have a personal account allowing me to open a business account and transfer all the money and direct debits. If all goes according to plan I will have free business banking for 30 months which should see out any business transactions from my much reduced working. I was just going to blag it with my personal account except I was surprised to find it is not possible to transfer from a business account so I must gradually transfer any direct debits (credit card transfers, subscriptions etc.) to my personal account over the next couple of years and then close the new business account before fees crack in.

No from what I said above I don't think it wise to burn in a stove because of the effect on the stove but see no problem in burning it on a camp fire at the sea side.

Direct evidence of what?