openspaceman

I'm well out of date on this stuff but would avoid the cheap valves, they neve feel right, often too harsh. In the past I used Monsun tison valves which became VOAC. I'm guessing the initial block with one slice will cost around £300 and then about £100 each for two additional slices. There are lots of things to consider, like the flow rate, main pressure relief setting but also whether port reliefs are necessary (usually are on forestry stuff). I could root around in my garage and see what bits I have for you to try out if you want.

Easiest way would be to swap out that 2 slice spool block for a three slice one. Ideally you want one with high pressure carry over to the downstream slices.

That takes me back, how about the other way from Three cliffs to Caswell bay Hotel for a pint of guiness? Last time I did that over 40 years ago my mate couldn't keep up so I went ahead to buy the beer, he was so slow I had to drink both as it reached midday chucking out time.

'cept this injects into the crankcase. still better than carb but not direct

Cones wrong way up aren't they? Needles not pointy enough for sitka and I'm not familiar enough to choose between ormorica and orientalis

I will as always, no one else left who knew that generation of my family

that makes three of us then

No reason it shouldn't work as its moving fresh, lower humidity air past the logs but the amount of moisture each volume of air is capable of lifting off the logs is severely limited without adding more heat. Heat tends to be cheaper than fan power. I should add that as the logs get drier the air will not have enough residence time to saturate so will be leaving in an unsaturated state, thus some of the fan power is wasted, unless the container is very long. This is the reason most kilns recirculate air and only exchange a portion at a time.

I think BigJ used his timber drying kiln to dry some logs but it took too long and used more electricity than expected, as drying logs has less added value it's harder to justify. You need to work out the value a 20% log will be worth to you in a few weeks compared with the value of a 30% log now.. In the case we built one for a client it was the difference between an unsaleable by product compared with the raw material to produce £2000 worth of kindling over night. Not a lot wrong with a container, they tend not to be airtight which leads to losses. With just 7weeks to Christmas and sales tailing off from then till next autumn what good is a kiln that takes 4 weeks, you'll only fit a couple of cycles in. whereas a high temperature one will deal with 50 times as much, using a bit more than a pro rata amount of fuel as losses will be higher, which is why I mentioned utilising the waste heat. Mind I doubt the neighbours will put up with a 20ft container humming away in an urban area.

Yes this is a case where you may be able to justify the expense and there are many ways to skin this cat: for instance how do you intend to load and unload the kiln , decrease the labour verses increase the capital cost. The main thing to realise is that you need to put heat into the box to evaporate water, the more heat you put in the faster the rate of evaporation but also as you increase the heat you need to increase the fan power to circulate the heat. Three phase fans tend to be cheaper than single phase . If you only intend to use natural circulation you can measure your drying time in weeks, with high heat and circulation we managed to reduce moisture from 60% to 25% in a 24 hour loading cycle but at the expense of high capital cost. If I were involved in doing this again I would still aim to process and season using natural (solar) drying and just top up, as you intend, to maintain trade using a high temperature process but would be looking to utilise the waste heat.

I wish I were close enough to join you

Are they standard schrader valves rather than agricultural ones? With agricultural you just get the valve to top, remove inner and either insert thin tube with space around it to let air out or fit a hose over it with a thinner air tube in through the side of the hose, again to let air out and fill to valve. The remaining air providing the resilience. You can use calcium chloride or antifreeze but the first rusts everything if you have a puncture and the second is bloody expensive in a large tyre. Pollution is an issue too, especially with the number of punctures I had. In practice I didn't lose many days work from ice up tyres here down south, I can see it being and issue north of Watford in the badlands.

The point for me is as above because roundwood was worth more sent to the pulpmill than firewood delivered in. The tops of bigger oaks were often too crooked to cut 2.4 metres for pulpwood . Prior to 1984 it didn't matter a lot because pulp mills accepted 1m lengths but with grapple loading (instead of hand loading) lorries the mills needed longer lengths and reacted to people trying to send tops in by specifying the length had to pass down a 16" tube (mixed units I know). One of my employees, who doesn't seem to post here any more, was taught that "half a bend is no bend at all" and we would sneak in lengths with diagonal cut ends to meet the length and still be straight enough. Although I ended up with many arguments with the W anchor at the gate and often had arbitrary tonnage reductions overall it still paid to push the envelope but much got relegated to firewood . In the distant past when axes did the snedding and crosscuts the, erm, crosscutting 4ft was a good compromise for handling and straightness. It also meant two opposing pieces could rest on the andirons of an inglenook and only burn at the point they overlapped, saving unnecessary cross cutting and splitting

I've always wanted one, any idea of value?

Thanks, if we do it here I'll probably use the Lucas as that will cut the squares out of the quarters in one hit. Bloody architects I think it would be better done in douglas as I'll need about 450mm of heartwood at the top diameter. Making some centres at 3m won't be a big deal but as 7thdevil says rigging a toolrest will be interesting

Thanks I'll try him. Else I may have to find a lump in Surrey and ship them down.

To get all heartwood would require a 900+mm piece of oak so whilst cleft would be best it's also a bit riskier to get 4 posts from.

Is anyone here able to supply some round 150mm by 3 metre oak structural pillars in North Devon? Can be green but preference from quarters of oak.

It doesn't need to boil, the cambium just needs to be hot enough to coagulate protein, probably less than 70C.

In many places this will be below the equilibrium moisture content in winter so even if delivered at that will rise a fraction.

Parsnip season again so I recommend Flatyre's parsnip soup recipe: "about 600g of roughly chopped parsnips, a chopped leek, about an inch cube of ginger chopped, cook them in a little butter to soften them, then add about 1.3l of vegetable stock and a cup of white wine (optional), some pepper and let it gently simmer for twenty minutes then blend it." If you are the sort of person who might rub their eyes after slicing garlic or don't have ginger in the house then three dollops of Nishaan Minced Ginger Garlic works I also have substituted the leek with an onion, never tried the wine, and have used chicken stock left over from roasting (less the fat) and a vegetable stock cube. As I don't peel the parsnips I slice them thinly. So little preparation time and cooking I can do a pan whilst steaming potatoes and carrots for the evening meal . Because the parsnips are sweet it needs eating quickly ( a few days in fridge at most) else it ferments.

I was diagnosed with circulatory problems in my arms when I was 16, motor biking exacerbated it and chainsaws were the final touch but I agree hedgecutters set me off worse. You can mitigate the effects by keeping warm such that it was manageable at work but I suffered most when taking the kids in the sea during holidays.

Me too, ideal for guerilla path widening.

Thought so, I replaced quite a few at 15 quid a pop on the 131s as they seemed to get blocked after a while

Oil pump is the same as in the pole pruner head isn't it?