se7enthdevil

there are some hard woods that grow fairly fast to be fair. whats the average growth ring in a softwood tree? i don't know what it's like on the fire but ailanthus i've seen at 1/2"+ per ring. hornbeam springs up fast round here too, and walnut.

medical advances have made the world what it is today. in 1900 there were almost 2.5 billion people in the world and only 100 years later we've just about tripled it. we've wiped out some killer diseases and vaccinated against the rest of the bad ones reducing their effect on the human population. a little disease can go along way in my opinion. i recently learned that the war 100 years ago got rid of about 3 million people which was pretty bad. that's nothing, the disease they called spanish flu was reputed to have killed up to 100 million people all over the world. the advances in medical science have curbed events like that because swine flu is a descendant of the very same disease but supposed to be worse and only hundreds of thousands were killed rather than millions. it will take a natural event like starvation due to the overpopulation or a disease that we can't cure spreading like wildfire to take us back down to 2-3 billion again.

could also be a silver maple. pics of the bark and seed would help.

happy to teach if you're ever over this way.

any ideas on what an asking price should be for a pair like these?

my latest creation that i did for a friend. made from solid iroko that i got from offcuts around my workshop, the central spars have turned tenons on the end and finished in a single coat of danish oil. about 18"wide 19" high and 24" long. .

if you want to learn to swim sometimes you need to just jump in the water....

i'm aware of that. to properly answer your question, yes it is possible to find stuff that size but it's hard to get and expensive as i said. wood wise you will be wanting something like ash, beech, oak, elm, robinia or sycamore. the cheapest option is probably beech and this is also one of the best woods out of that selection.

i'd suggest you glue at least three boards of q-sawn wood together at 8x3" to make up your 24" width and you will get something very stable indeed. a single wide board that is dry and flat will be ridiculously expensive not to mention difficult to find and you will have to fork out hundreds for it. a manufactured one could be done for as little as £200.

i've done absolutely no milling at all yet. i wish to do some in the future and knew a big saw would be required so snapped it up when it came up for sale. it was only once i got it that i was told that it was supposed to be possibly the best for milling so that was luck on my part. the only other saw i've ever used is my cheap ryobi 18" agg221 has an 090, as well as rob d.

bought an 084 that i'll be using for milling when i get the chance and have since been told that it is the best saw to use for alaskan milling as it has an extra oiling button.

i notice he says that price will be plus vat when the auction ends. hope he realises that you are not allowed to add vat to the auction price...

got my dads old set of drapers (possibly granddads) that have a metal tin type box and they are the dogs wotsits. see if you can find an old set on ebay cause if they've lasted this long they'll out last you...

great looking stuff there mate. nice to see some lumber from a bit that most would log up... fab looking grain too. are they 3" boards?

that would usually be cut with as much wood touching the ground as possible giving you a set of curved planks which would be great for things like garden benches and BBQ tables.

i considered saying it may be lichen but as there was no picture i did not comment. i'm getting better at this tree malarky... as everyone else says mate, enjoy your tree.

not an expert on these but i believe the lower branches brown die and fall of as the tree gets taller and older. the cones sound like they have just shed their seeds and drop off anyway but as you say they are full of seeds could have been got at by a bird. as i say i'm no expert so i may be completely wrong but i don't think there is anything badly wrong with the tree itself.

interested in the beech 6x6. is there any 5x5??? what sort of condition is it in as i need unsplit beams for skittle production.

i think alec has one so ask him. he's agg221 http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/agg221.html

not going to enter but i think a rope called the snapper would be a great laugh. unless it did snap on you???

is that a (was that) a beautiful old black pine?

i managed to get hold of 4 advertising banners that you put on farm trailers you can see from the motorway. things like sky and nescafe on them and that material is so sturdy and thick. i expect to have them many years down the line. not sure exactly what it's classed as but i recommend it.

here we go,

finally got round to finishing some of that field maple alun cut all that time ago and i'll post a picture shortly.

excellent work there mate. that sort of construction is time consuming and that is why they cost so much to buy but as you say you now know the construction so should be able to make it alot quicker next time. take those commissions and just charge materials and the time it takes you. you should make money that way.