codlasher

I WISH THERE WAS A 'LIKE' BUTTON!!!!! So many good posts here. I think you have to do the jump before your children are 10. I think you have to be under 35 too. My brother left the UK for Aus when he was 19, the day he recieved his apprenticeship papers and he's never looked back. I had a look round when I was 28-31 and was very tempted but I had a good job and a wreck of a house I was renovating. I'm nearly 60 now and have achieved all that I'm going to physically and I'm not emigrating except as a tourist. I'm still renovating but on my own terms and this is also my pension! The biggest asset is youth as from 55 onwards your body lets you down. My days work is very fulfilling as I don't ever have to undo anything but I'm operating at half speed!.... codlasher

You'll probably remember the sawmill behind Blanchfords in Risbro. The boss there, Mr Thompson, milled some sycamore for me when it was still operating and he insisted that I end stacked it (stood up on end in ordinary terms) I sticked it too using 1"x 1" sycamore sticks too to stop staining. I like the idea of blue water pipe! Yes to allowing an 1/8th over for poking through the thicknesser. 'Tis lovely timber & worth the effort. Don't leave this untreated. Spray against wood-worm ASAP and possibly another dose in 18 months. They love this timber! codlasher

+1 on the alpine & flail. Beating up is one of the things you have to do in a young plantation. If the rows are straight you'll get on ok. If we lost a plantation through what I can see in your pics, I'd suggest an infront person guiding the machine. Once the rows are cut what normally appears is Yorkshire Fog grass which is easy to control. The Rosebay willowherb will steadily become a problem if not caught soon. If you have tree guards seeing the young stock shouldn't be too difficult. codlasher

Lombardini 3 cylinder or possibly Deutz F3 912/3 are (in my opinion) the only alternative options. Both are air cooled and suitable as alternatives. codlasher

Roughly 85' in length, 19' wide (beam) & between 6'6'' & 8' internal height. Main cargo hatch is aft of the mast & there is a smaller hatch forward. In trade the decks near the ships centre were awash when fully loaded. Here's a picture of SB Dawn working as a 'Stackie' hauling hay to London. This gives a better scale. Dawn is about 80' in length. codlasher

They are lee boards. These are roughly 16' long & drop down in the water on the leeward side of the sailing barge and stops it sailing sideways. They are hauled back up using a dedicated crab winch on each tack. There's an art to dropping them as they go down soooo quickly. The winch operator has to apply the rope brake else teeth get stripped from the winch cogs! They are handy for manoevering in confined places too as they help give a grip on the water. Being totally flat bottomed a barge likes to go sideways! These vessels (Thames Sailing Barges) are operated by two or three men & a dog and can carry approx 120 tons of cargo. codlasher

Summer occupation! Yes with TWO Honda engines you can't go wrong. We have a Honda for the barge boat, nice little engine. codlasher

All the main ports have a high & low water information for every day. Secondary ports have a calculation referring back to the main port. Your Harbour Master will have this anyways. A Reeds Small Craft Almanac is useful in this instance if you are visiting different places. Plus it will have a host of other useful info. There is a book with all the hidden launching sites available but your biggest thing here is your vehicle security. You want to come back & find your car in one piece or still there! Yes do a RYA course and you will be well informed for the rest of your fishing life.....Like riding a bike! Buy a good boat & you'll not regret this + when you come to re-sell! 20' is big enough. Bigger and you will have launching & recovery issues. If there's a cuddy, all the better. I have a very old Danish fishing boat (A 21' Jolle) built in the 1930's now renovated to working condition. codlasher

To get proper cover talk to a marine insurer. You may need a survey to cover the hull but they will advise. There are 'rules of the road' when making any passage. Most don't bother but it would give you confidence when afloat. Things like the give way rules, travelling on the right-hand-side of a fairway, sound signals, distress signals and how to signal for help. The RYA have several helpful booklets and there is a little book called 'A Seaman's Guide To The Rules Of The Road' that is worth looking through. If you are fishing at anchor please remember to show that you are doing so to other craft. This means hoisting a black ball towards the front end of your vessel so it is clearly visible to others. You can make one from two pieces of black plastic or buy one from ebay under 'anchor ball' If you get caught in fog, head for shallow water so the big-uns can't run you down! Remember what the tide is doing by the days high water times. Good luck! codlasher

One other little trick which helps the band set. Robinson saws had this as standard. When you are happy with the bands tooth protrusion over the edge of your top wheel, mark this with a centre dot nearby. This little mark can be drilled out at a later time and a small brass insert knocked flush into the casting. Presto you will always know your blade is correctly alligned and not runnng back onto the wheel. This was more useful on a re-saw but may prove useful on your bench somewhere. This came about as HSE required the wheels to be ever more enclosed resulting in the operator not being able to see an important piece of visual information. Good luck! codlasher

We ran new bands on the machine for a long morning then took them off and sent them back to the manufacturers for checks. They crack test, re-set & tip. I was advised to do this too by a saw-mill specialist so not just a whim. No timber cutting. codlasher

Etesia Bahia | eBay Bombprooof, all parts individually available next day, easy to work on.......Chassis will last two cutting decks (Etesia's words) What more can I say? The above is purely an example but they do come up for sale often and I like the Honda & Kawasaki powered machines. codlasher

Love the way a Norton drops into corners without effort. Hate the brakes though they just don't work! Goffey may offer some practical advice Paul Goffs classic motorcycle & car parts site codlasher

Yes agreed! Glyphosate is £21.00 + vat per 5.0 litres. FYI you'll need your holding No to purchase. You'll need your PA card if you don't have the above. If you have your PA you do the work in a proper & professional manner, no pi**ing about or back to my earlier post which I stand by. Simple. There is NO WAY glyphosate is a low level chemical.....It kills every living plant that it touches! The over-spray kills every living plant it touches. Please remember this. Hence is is at the top of the list of chemicals that the authorities are considering banning. codlasher

Not sure I would go with the above advice. You may well be closing the loop of stolen property, chanisaws/chemicals & other folks tools. They're all the same when dealing in dark corners. We all bemoan the fact when our and our mates sheds get broken into.......It happens all to often on this forum alone. The bright thing to do until you are qualified with your new & shiny PA's is to find somone who will do the job for you in a safe & professional manner. Someone with PA's As to chemicals lasting a long time, maybe they do, maybe they don't, but the containers and or contents are often suspect, lableless, diluted, illegal and possibly accessible to minors who may do silly things with them. Just not worth the risk IMO. Just my tuppence worth! codlasher

One rule I picked up on in my winter working in the window industry. If it helps; A purchaser of a BESPOKE item has seven days to cancel, not the fourteen day cooling-off period required for the distance selling rule on off-the-shelf items. After that they loose their deposit. This applies to your work too I'm sure as it is all bespoke. You are certainly allowed to keep a deposit, as per the above, but to force someone to pay, if they change their mind on an order after a certain time has lapsed, may be rather more complicated. Whatever I'm sorry to hear. particularly as this is your livelyhood. codlasher

Great pics! Thank you. codlasher

We're on pellets & solar thermal heavily augmented by 4x log burning stoves (unfortunately not back boiler style but cost of re-plumbing didn't stack up for us.) Agreed there Mr kevinjohnscombe. Yes, the way to go! If you've the space you could add a thermal store in a BIG water tank..... If I have any money left I will add solar PV to help boil concrete (thats another story) codlasher

A friend runs a 4.6 powered in a westfield hill-climb car. This is fuelled by x 4 pairs of Dellorto carbies. He runs approx 85 second sprints @ Prescott. It was the choice engine in its day. No competition with Hyabusa engined machines now though, who manage to reduce the time by ten or more seconds! I tried to get in the cockpit of the Westfield and nearly got stuck. codlasher

I think battery power will start to make inroads into everything. In my opinion it is the way forward. The cost of the actual machine is quite cheap once you have removed the petrol engine. The battery, I think, will always be quite expensive owing to the stress it has to cope with, its lifespan & the materials it's made with. I have a Makita drill that is 20+ years old and still going strong pm the original battery. I am saving hard to buy a new Etesia mower, battery powered of course! The battery is dearer than the mower itself but the thought of instant power with no noise, no servicing and no smell is a good one. Tesla can't be on the wrong track either. An elderly neighbour did more than 10k miles on his electric trolley (more than he & his wife do in their car) last year so something's right! codlasher

There was a regular routine on both Stenner bandsaws, rack & resaw, during the working day, also dependant on the timber being cut. This involved using a 1" chisel & scraping both the inside of the blade and the top wheel. The noise difference before & after was considerable too. There was a weighted scraper on the Guilliet re-saw top wheel as standard. I believe yours is a horizontal set up so perhaps you can get to both wheels? Larch was a bu**er! Diesel was always the lubricant, Water was never considered. Making sure the felt pads were always in contact with the blade helped too. Hope this helps codlasher

I had a Parmiter one sider on a Ford 3600. Worked fine. A Massey would be fine, all you need is the trailer tip spool and a free return to the back end. There's no weight to this contraption and your advantage with a small tractor is that you can sneak in where bigger machines won't fit. The hardest part is setting it up level if it is an all manual machine....on, off, on, off the seat on a hilly bit of ground but hey-ho it's a bl**dy site easier than using a mall! I now have a Parmiter 'contractor' on a Bigger Deutz and if I could find a suitable bracket I'd also make it fit my 360. Scrap the chain and fit rope. Miuch safer! codlasher

My old Briggs powered Etesia PBTS has stopped working after 18 years. The selfdrive has ceased to do its thing. The engine is still going strong but I'm not sure its worth repairing. I have been looking for a new machine and I'm considering the new 46cm PACTS battery powered machine;Etesia DUOCUT 46 PACTS Has anybody used one this season yet? Any and all comments welcome. At only 38 kilos with no fuel, servicing and silent I'm very tempted. codlasher

A chain morticer is worth its weight in gold. Yes you can make a fine mortice slot with a router but if you're working in anything other than kitchen cupboard size the chain is king. Not forgetting the tenon maker which is a small hand held circular saw set to the appropriate depth. Followed by a plane to even the cuts up. Alternatively a band-saw. I had a lovely old Wadkin two headed tennoner but it was three phase and would not work in my present workshop so it was sold. A spade bit in a good pillar drill will make a good tenon too. Finished with a wide chisel. codlasher

Big like! codlasher