Mr. Squirrel

Hey folks. what are your collective thoughts on making outdoor furniture, benches and the likes, from freshly milled oak? I have a client with an oak down that wants something done with it; but can’t really be bothered waiting years. I thought milling 2-3” thick and building it green would probably be passable. Interested in others opinions.

Ditto what others have said about just cracking on. Sometimes all of the sudden panning and kit in the world won’t help, and you just need to get on with it. If you can’t get out of it, get into it.

Interesting idea to use coffee as a filler. Never come across that before. Do you use it just for the dark colour, (it certainly looks good), or is there some other benefit as well? Aye it's all about aesthetics really. Personally I really don't like the look of resins with dye/sparkle in them. The coffee soaks up but also stains the resin, so the resin doesn't stand out. It sands down really nicely and for a natural looking texture/finish and is spot on for what I look for in a bit of furniture. Tried it out years ago on a bit of cherry which would otherwise have been for the log pile and loved it. Been doing it ever since. Not wildly different to using some sanding dust mixed with glue, but sometimes trying to hide obvious flaws just makes them look 10x worse. Use the finest ground coffee you can find, espresso spec as a minimum. I went to a friendly wee coffee shop and asked for any old unusable beans ground as fine as humanly possible. Work fast 🤙

I’ve always found going too fine with the sanding has, in my opinion, a negative effect on the finish. It depends what you’re looking for though. I’ve chased a ‘perfect’ finish up to 600 but then it’s hard a really polished look, which I’ve not actually liked 😂 Stopping at 240 seems optimal to me. I tried various oils and waxes before using Osmo top oil which is spot on. Our coffee table is finished with that and it’s so hard wearing and easy to clean. Brings out the grain just enough without darkening too much either. Cracks I fill in using epoxy mixed with really finely ground coffee. It seems a subtle option which doesn’t try to hide the fact there are imperfections, but doesn’t scream about them either. Edit: realise now you don’t need/want any further recommend on finishing as you’re pretty well done with it! Looks good!

Second time 😬 I suspect that’s why they got a bit of a spanking.

Never trust someone dressed head to toe in hiflex is all I'll say... 😂

Nothing wrong with a portawrap in the right place. Light and easy to setup, they’re a bit more flexible too in terms of the angle the rope’s coming from. For big stuff, fixed bollard, no brainier. For small/occasional rigging, a portawrap will probably do just fine.

I think the intended purpose of these is purely on the lifting and lowering front, ie not snatching/dynamic rigging. I know a couple of people who have them and use them as a secondary winch, eg for tensioning the top line of an english reeve, with a grcs for the 'running rope'. It look like a much smaller bollard than on the grcs/smart winch, and the whole thing is probably a bit more compact. I get your concern though, it's a bit odd just being flat metal with holes in it...

Damn straight. Sooner people get back on Amazon and help fund Bezos’ spaceship empire the better.

Total opposite. I feel like the day flies by and it’s dark before I know it. I’d rather be out working till sunset than clocking off at 5 and not seeing any natural light all day 🤷🏻

That's the corner I'm in. It's an utter balls up. I had my test booked for the week before they stopped it as well, but it was cancelled as all the assessors walked out. Now booked a load of stuff in based on the change coming into play on the 15th. Now what...? Total incompetence coming out of Westminster as usual...

Just a wee lift to help even out that transition? That might be the most useful thing I’ve ever read on here.

Sounds lovely 😂 I’ve not found any issues with getting it off in the rain, but have found it slipping getting it on. Perhaps not standing on the chipper when unloading would help. I guess it would mean it reached the tipping point slightly earlier and so have a shorter drop? Going slow is essential.

Little bump to this one. I have a 3.5t Brian James tipping trailer which I got with the intention of cutting about with a tracked chipper on. It drives great, and is obviously pretty versatile. My only issue is unloading the chipper seems a bit… bold. When the centre of balance shifts it basically drops onto the ramps, which I’m not really happy with. Obviously unloading uphill is a bit of a benefit/preferable to downhill, but I wonder if anyone else has any pointers? Longer ramps would help I but I’m sure the built in ones are about as long as I can do.

See I didn't even know about any strength reductions due to the absorbers. I was just highly dubious that they came anywhere near turning a static system into a dynamic one! Rubbish...

Don’t. Boa and Cobra are shite. As if that shock absorber actually does anything… get on to tree worker and use their bracing would be my advice, so much easier to install and a much better product in my opinion. Also sure it works out cheaper long term. You need to have a few extra bands lying about, sure, but that’ll hardly break the bank.

I used to. With arborisk 🤔 Insurance companies are such bastards. I hope you manage to figure this out. I read the fine print and some of it is just illogical. My commercial vehicle policy with says I’m covered towing a trailer, but not a machine trailer. So a 750kg tow behind chipper is a no no, but a 3.5T trailer is fine 🤷🏻

Have you tried speaking to distel? I’ve had spares from them directly in the past. They were really easy to deal with and very helpful.

I’d also add to keep your steps small.

To my mind, if you can’t climb and have no intention of climbing I’d just stop right there.

I think it's eta is November, so presume it'll appear in the UK for pre-orders some time over the next month or so...?

His heads that far up his arse he probably thinks it is. I used to think he was really switched on and put on a bit of an act. I’ve come to realise he might just be an idiot. A very powerful, deluded, idiot with no understanding or care of his actions and a complete lack of empathy.

I mean, by the sound of it it’s mostly a British thing… interpreting anything in the Daily Mail as a fact is a school boy error I was chatting to a friend in Germany the other day, he said if anything there’s an excess of drivers at the moment 🤷🏻

Have a look at wherever you buy kit, you can still buy the old one. The evo is fine, but it’s a heavy bugger. The new front D’s are probably the biggest improvement imo, but again, at a weight cost. They released new buckles and then changed them as they slipped really badly. Personally I’ve no problems with the newer ones. The waist to hip still slips but they always did.

I didn’t say not to, I was just curious why? Seems extra hassle to pull up and tie off a block that isn’t getting used, and I wondered if it was liable to be damaged by the ring resting against it. Or do you have both so that you can loosen off the ring and use the pulley for winching, or something along those lines?