Scuttlefish

This turned up in my local auction today.....any takers! Looks like an old Villiers but not quite sure ....

For what its worth I have a Jotul F 400 , 24 years old, cast iron, bolted together construction. Not cheap, even 24 years ago. Bombproof, single door stove which will take a 50 cm long log. Goes all winter - Oct - April ish Definitely for a larger room, never versions are so called Eco Designs- not sure what these are like. The self clearing system is not brilliant but OK. Simple one lever - left to right air control- my only comment which can be seen as a slight negative is a small amount of smoke can get out when the door is opened. Based on the longevity I guess I would buy another Jotul but hopefully this one will see me out.

I guess the market for decent no nonsense good quality axes and the like is pretty minimal these days in the UK – whatever demand there is for new axes being easily met by the usual suspects from Germany, Austria and Italy plus Sweden - if you want something a bit more bling – and expensive. So what was a large industry has long ago gone down the pan but the English made stuff was great- like most people who have spent a long time around wood I have gathered a rogues gallery of axes of various weights and lengths. Here’s a photo of a Skelton no7 , Sheffield. This thing weighs a ton, I was told this type of axe was used in short intense bursts for notching and rounding trees out before going at it with a two man cross cut saw. I couldn’t imagine it being used for day long felling. Next up is a Whitehouse ( Cannock ) miners axe , stamped “ Ty Gwyn”- i.e. Whitehouse in Welsh. Another monster , these were not used for felling timber but were supplied with short- 2 ft handle with a distinct curve , used down the mine for notching round timber for pit props and collars. This photo was taken in Wales about 1900, showing the thing in use. If you reckon you’ve had a crap day at work- maybe dropped the butties in the sh*t or a bit of drizzle has blown in, then think on! A crap day for these lads was the roof caving in or a gas explosion…PPE uh ? This particular axe came from my grandfather in Accrington- he wasn’t a miner ,but there was , until the early 60 ‘s a pit right in the centre of town behind the railway station – Scaitcliffe Colliery. This axe somehow found its way from the mine to him, its obviously seen a bit of action. A massive amount of timber was used way back for props, before steel came in. In North East Lancs much of it came down from Scotland, although in the major mining areas it was mostly imported , there wasn’t enough produced in the UK. Among the heavier axes I own is a Wetterlings 4 1/2 lb- made in the 70 ‘s before they concentrated on the more artisan Gransfors style axes they became known for. I still use a variety of mid weight axes and billhooks for snedding and trimming work- if it’s a decent sunny day and I’m working on my own account for an afternoon or so sorting out windblowns for firewood. ( otherwise it’s chainsaw only …) The billhooks are a Whitehouse no 6, red handle and a much heavier Brades- both take a cracking edge. Finding a 2 ½ - 3 lb English axe at a good price is not so easy ,so at risk of sounding unpatriotic, my go to axes are a 2 1/2 lb Weibelhaus ( long dead German make, great piece of steel ) plus a couple of newer Oschenkopf Iltis axes – 800 and 1000 gram heads. I’ve got various Ewell and Gilpin hatchets, and a collection of no name small DIY axes mostly handed on to me but they don’t get out much. The last stamp is from a Skinner and Johnson slasher ( Retford ) which still gets used.

I'm in North Yorkshire where mistletoe is not common at all- in fact almost unknown, although there is some in West Yorks. I got a branch from a mate near Pershore ( from an apple) and stuck about 3 or 4 berries in several clumps on an apple, in forks to help them stay put. - not a particulary old tree - they germinated after several months. They send out a process which enters the bark and starts off the whole life cycle. I got 4 germinations from about 20 seeds. After a couple of years the bunches are about 10-12 inches in diameter. No berries so far.

A long time back Bryant and May ( when they were a UK company ) used to use a lot of poplar for making matches , they actually paid landonwers to plant small copses of the stuff but that market dried up aeons ago.....

A long , long time ago, when I first started work, in a totally different industry, my first boss said " never turn down a cup of tea mate, it might be the last you ever get offered " .....

Thanks Bolt, I'll give it a go , mainly because I'm getting fed up of the smell of old style two stroke fumes - I also run a 1993 Makita on Aspen, but the spec for that is 50:1 . Goes really well on it.

HI All, I have acquired an old ie 1980 Poulan 3400 chainsaw- the original instructions specify 32:1 fuel mix. Am I asking for trouble changing to running this with Aspen ie 50:1 mix. ? I get the impression with some of the old saws that a higher oil ratio was necessary to get a reasonable compression - this saw is low by modern standards anyway- runs at about 108 psi. Any thoughts welcome.

If you do a lot of splitting of round, smaller stuff, then get an old car tyre, place- or fix it- on your splitting block then pack it with cut logs and get splitting with a maul. They do not fly all over the place but stay put- if you've packed say 6 or 7 logs into the tyre you will have them split an lot , lot faster than doing them one at a time.

I technique I sometimes use to try to reduce cupping is to mill a series of grooves along the length of the board a couple of inches apart, on the underside , stopping short of the ends, about half the depth of the plank.It takes some of the inherent tension out of the board as it drys. It works well for work tops but it might be considered sacrilege on a really good board used for a table, especially it you have a change of heart and want to reuse the boards for another project - if the your requirements change at a later date.

I occasionally take down trees for free if its local and dead easy access, plus if the wood is something I really want for wood turning or veneer. It means I often get to know about something special before it gets reduced to firewood or tipped.

Overstike guard made of roofing steel. Fixed with spade handle rivet, used a stiff paper template to refine shape before cutting and filing to shape.

I run a 1993 Makita DCS 6000 i ie, Dolmar, changed to Aspen 2 years ago , actually runs better and no problems so far- used to run it on E5 plus a decent Stilh ( Red ) oil.

Likewise, if I lived locally I would shift it FOC for the firewood. Unfortunately up in N Yorks.....

Used a Sugoi 360 for years- the curved blade is really handy for getting into tight spots. Sharpenable if you get hold of a japanese feather edged file , but does take a fair bit of concentration to get it right.