TGB

This first one, would be based in S.Wales, with a volunteer group. I've got friends, (non woodland) who live just over the border from you in Essex. Might be worth a trip over.

Sounding good so far, price is reasonable. I wonder what the projected life of the kiln is; maybe that'll be touched on in part 2.

So, anyone have any experience of the the 'Exeter' from The Exeter Biochar Retort - The cleaner and more efficient method of producing biochar and barbeque charcoal. or similar device? What sort of payback timescale would there be? Your opinions please.

Well it started wet, then dried up, then wet again. This continued pretty much most of the day till 18:00. I was just starting to believe that Tues would be a good day. Only to be woken by the rain beating on the window. So it's another day tramping about in mud. Oh what fun..!

I use Oregon 21 LPX in both soft & hardwood. Flies through softwood and is no slouch through hardwood. Providing I hit no stapes or hidden stones. It just needs touching up at the end of the day. In hardwood, a touch up at lunchtime and again at the end of the day.

Forgot to mention, brash would be 95% hardwood.

The proposed budget would be £12.000. Mainly small stuff, less than 100mm, (all the rest goes to firewood). Reliably is paramount, as is cost of spares. Your opinions please.

A memento is something to remember someone by and NOT a way to make money. If the intention is to make a profit from the things removed from your mother's house, then those things weren't mementos. It was house clearance by cheapskates. I'm sure your mother didn't mean for all her valueables to be stolen. And let's face it, it is a case of theft. A picture of them together, a favoured teapot ok. But how can her engagement ring, antique jewellery, silver ornaments or your grandad's bravery medal be mementos? That's straight out theft.

From what I gather, Husky runs their saws in-house on Aspen, the dealer I bought from tests saws on Aspen and I run my saw on... well you can guess. It's not nettle water.

A memento is one thing, stealing the family jewllery and precious memorabilia is totally different. I'd be down the cop-shop sharpish with a list of the stolen items.

It was bucketing down last night, as the full garden buckets are a measure of; but it's easing now. I can even see the fell across the way, though there's still cloud at 1.700ft.

If you want light weight, don't go for the 555. If you want a decent saw for less than a 550XP, you'll not be sorry to have got a 545. But if you're after a snedding weapon, how about an MS 241 C-M. Feels light in the hand, manoeuvrable, less vibration than the Huskies and easy on fuel. Seems to come std. on a 16" but get the 14" for faster snedding/limbing.

I think some cyclists purposely ride two abreast, in order to make the overtaking driver think twice before cutting them up. I see many motorists overtaking cyclists or horse riders and only just missing them. To a cyclist, this means being sucked sideways as the vehicle passes. Now the person on the bike might think badly of the driver but at least they have an inkling of what is happening. To the horse, it can make very little sense, other than something being a threat to them. There's no excuse for drivers being inconsiderate to the needs of other road users, even if that other user happens not to have an engine as part of their transport.

People generally have a good or better side to their chain sharpening. Taking a little more off teeth on one side of the chain than the other. If your sharpening technique is a bit off, the teeth on one side get progressively shorter than on the other. This can lead to the chain steering to one side in the cut. So while renewing the chain is a quick fix; if your sharpening technique doesn't improve, you could be forever swapping chains. Have a look now and then while you're sharpening, just to make sure all the cutters are of equal length. You could be fussy and use a vernier gauge or just use an adjustable spanner to gauge the teeth.

I've been run into and knocked to the ground as a pedestrian, by an adult cyclist on a pavement in Ambleside. When he tried to cycle off by riding over my legs, I grabbed his bike, as I got to my feet. He swore at me for preventing his departure. When I pointed out a crowded pavement was not the place to ride a bike. He swore again and suggested I get out of the way next time. At this point I could see he was just a thug who happened to be on a bike. Then his friends had arrived, having scythed a path of mayhem through various other people on the pavement. Now he and they bathed me in a torrent of verbal abuse and threatened to put me in the grave. At this point, a copper emerged from a nearby shop. The cyclists complained bitterly that I'd grabbed the bloke's bike as he'd cycled by. Fortunately, I had half the street as witnesses and the copper had seen me being run over. It was suggested to the wheeled group, that they leave the town immediately or get done for threatening behaviour. But what if I'd not had witnesses. On paper to some pen-pusher in a sue-everybody-you-can legal firm. The chance to make money from someone else would be on the cards, when their cyclist client complained I'd grabbed him. I'm not saying all cyclists are bad people. But there are idiots, thugs & grab all you can legal firms everywhere these days.

I like the "Buyer is responsible". When quite clearly, if you were prepared to own that product of a deranged mind, you would be nuts.

Can't always tell but the fact that it's a .com not .org is a first giveaway.

I presume it has a bar and chain and if so, what size did it come with? Anyway, you can get them new inclusive of VAT but not the fuel it'll take to pick them up in person for approx. 20" £846 25" £859 30" £872 36" £885 Bear in mind, that even though it's a new saw, the guarantee will not be transferable and you have a jumping off point.

Recently while preparing to cut up the top of a tree that had snapped off in last storm and landed in father's garden. I overheard some random bloke astride a bike talking to my father over the wall. He was talking about gardening and tools. When he spied me in my clobber, he then turned the conversation to him having been a cutter and that he too had a saw. But it was a Chinese knock-off of a Stihl. Question_ if he had been a cutter, why would he be fool enough to 'buy' such crap. Anyway, I made it clear that, a. my saw and none of my kit was ever left at the property and b. I lived somewhere else, (I named a town, 40mls away from where I actually reside and nowhere near my father's place). He then lost interest in gardening and went on his way.

Remember to keep in the bank, what you will need to pay your taxes. And as an accountant once said to me, "You can put off the taxman. But you don't keep the vatmen waiting." And with that comment, he cancelled all appointments, as two plain dressed stern faced men walked unannounced into his office.

Perhaps he likes a challenge or the home owner used to bully him in.school or maybe he was offended by the drab coloured butterfly perched on the roof.

You don't want it to move, so as few as possible but as many as needed. Oh, and use screws, not nails.

I like the way he stands in its path, when he realises its going in the wrong direction. The notion that he could somehow deter it from hitting the house, with no more than a pair of hands and a good shove amuses me. Got to be a profit killer that.

The combination ladder belonging to my father. It's the kind of thing that could be handy, if you actually needed such a thing. If being the operative word. He doesn't, has not needed, has never needed. If you really need a ladder that long, get an extension ladder; if you only require half the height, you just carry one section. But with a combination ladder, you have to carry thee tea weight regardless. And the particular ladder he chose, was a 'bargain'. So it's steel not aluminium and heavy, so very heavy. Or it could be the tap wrench, built so bulky it can't to used on sinks.

That's patriotism that is. Not only do they take pride in what they do but they're happy to tell you where they're from; or at least, where they might have been last week.