Billhook

Lovely work James! Had the customer a project in mind? Were there other dimensions? Plenty of sawdust for the hamsters! My other thought was that since it was in the middle of a built up area, were you not worried about bits of metal, chains, wire within or do you have a good metal detector?

We have quite a lot of sycamore and it can vary. Dry and straight is a doddle but green and gnarly the X27 just bounces off and hardly leaves a dent let alone becoming stuck. So much sympathy with Avio!

There is a sound of perhaps an anchor chain breaking just before the tilt, but as has been mentioned already the barge was leaning to the right in the first place. I tipped my new Branch logger over yesterday, thankfully with just a dented guard, but it did give a sense of proportion watching the video!

[ame] [/ame]

I bulldozed the lake in 1999 and to me the arrival of the Otters is the perfect result. They are relatively rare around here and these ones have ventured up the chalk stream from the river to make a holt somewhere amongst the Ash tree roots which cover the tall banks on at least a mile of stream. They raised two pups last year and two this year. It is the ultimate sign that all is well with the chalk stream and farmland. We built a log cabin using the full scribe method in 2001 and used Poplar from a large plantation my father had planted in 1960. He always promised me that it would be worth a fortune at the Millenium for Bryant and May. The year 2000 comes along and most have packed up smoking and those that still do use butane lighters. So a lot of Poplar looking for a home. A chance remark from someone who lived in Oregon sparked the idea. He told me poplar was used there a lot and that there was a Church built of it over a hundred years old. Went on a full scribe course with Dan Franklin of Woodenways in Devon. He came up and we assembled a team and did the scribing in 10 days. About forty large logs were used. I have quite a lot of videos and stills of the project but they will have to be converted to digital, but I will do it if anyone is interested. But earlier on Mick, when I was hammering away at the cabin, a huge bird came circling round and landed in the ash tree on the island. Yes the first sighting of an Osprey is very exciting. I called my dear old father, now well into his eighties, to bring down a video which he did but the battery was flat. I told him to watch the bird while I went home for my video. Came back and he said it had just flown round the corner out of sight. I waited for half an hour then I told father that I must go back to work but clicked out my battery and was just handing it to father (same model camera) You can guess what happened next, the Osprey flew round the corner and landed on a huge Brown Trout, lifted it with one leg an the scales glistened in the sun. It was an Attenborough shot but I had nothing to take it with! I stayed down at the cabin and did get some shots of it catching smaller Silver Rudd, and it still visits every year. An avian Little Chef! I also have some shots of it being mobbed by a pair of Buzzards. When it became fed up with their attention it rolled onto its back and showed them its talons! I am really chuffed about the Otters and will try and rig up some more games, perhaps a small kiddies slide would work?

I dangled a tennis ball from a bit of string down by the lake. Set up a Bushnell trail camera and hoped for a result.......... [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] [ame] [/ame] These were all on Good Friday.

They are ace, and but this was one of the few situations where it needed a little help! She says that she took it out of four wheel drive for the main road which was snow free but forgot to put it back in for the minor road. The strange thing is that she seems to have driven it into the ditch rather than skidded there. I thought it wise not to ask any more questions!

They were mortified when the Panda pulled them straight out!

These poor folk had spent a couple of hours trying to unstick the Landie. It was on road tyres though.

My wife's contribution to the thread but she hasn't any nuts when I last checked. Does make changing the rear wheels easier though!

So it was you was it! My friend was in charge of a gang doing what y'all do, branch coming down on main road etc. Flash car pulls up and bloke with glasses starts sounding his horn, remonstrating and hurling abuse, late for important meeting. My friend goes up to him and explains he probably will be really late for his meeting if he proceeds. More verbal and by now he is red in the face and shaking so much that his glasses start to slip down his nose. My friend very helpfully I thought did not say anything and just gently pushed the glasses back up his nose. He reported it to the police and my friend had to defend himself against an alleged assault. Nothing came of it but it just shows how childish some people can be.

Poor old County 1124!

It would probably struggle but there again the 12 ton might too. Why else would they build A 22 Ton version. I bought the Portek for my wife who is a liability with an axe but I was quite impressed with what it can do for the price

I was impressed with this Portek machine. Seems to split logs that I cannot split with the X27 and is half the price of the Rock Venom and many times faster. [ame] [/ame] I see Rock also do a similar kinetic one but at twice the price of the Venom

Plus ca change!

I am sure it said in the Branch Logger instruction manual "It is hardly forbidden to use alcohol or drugs when using this machine"

I have only sold one bag so far! I gave the publican a bag and asked him to try it and give an honest opinion He liked the product and then came the inevitable "How much" Instead of talking pounds and pence directly I suggested that it had to be worth a couple of pints. When you look at a bag it is hard to disagree but then he realised he charges three quid for a pint so he felt he had a good deal when I lowered it to a fiver !

A better shot of the inside of the oven with World War One army helmet. (Maybe his punishment for desertion!)

Here is a picture of the oven . You can see the opening of the flue just above the oven door which takes the gases over the topbof the oven before going up the chimney. This also takes the smoke from the cinders below

Here are some more pictures of the oven and range which must be pre 1500 as it is a separate building from the main house and I gather they always put the kitchens away from the main house in those days because of fire risk

Took delivery of the Urban SM 70 last week and it seems to work really well. Seems to take everything we put in up to three inch diameter without any problems. My wife and I have been working together (rare occasion) and we managed to fill a lot of bags in a couple of hours. Output would be much improved if I had not just left a heap of tangled brash to deal with. Future logging sessions will be with all the branches facing the same way in a neat stack on the muck grab at the right height. Why on earth do foreign manufacturers not find someone who can speak English when they write their manuals. "It's hardly recommended to lubricate cog wheels and bearings" "It's hardly recommended to use only proper lubrication designed for bearings" "Keep your attention to screws, pegs and bolts which should all be hardly tight" Took a sample to the local pub, mainly sycamore and not too dry but the landlord was very pleased using it on a open fire. He said one bucket full made a bed and lasted for two and a half hours and kicked out a lot of heat, so he wants more and I think we have agreed on a fiver a bag. Plus twenty five pence VAT. I was interested to see the ovens. We have a very old farmhouse kitchen with an old range and bread oven. I was never sure how it worked until an old fella showed me. You put all the wood inside the oven and start a good fire and when it dies down to red hot embers you rake it out into the cavity below and he said that there was enough heat in the bricks to do two or three sessions. The smoke goes up a flue just above the oven door and is drawn over the top of the oven. Likewise the smoke from the embers below is drawn up the same flue. I will post some more pictures later. I there is a WW 1 helmet inside the oven so that was probably the last time it was used! Any bread or pizza recipes out there? I shall have a go with the branch loggings.

Well I wish I was a codfish! [ame] [/ame]

There has been a devastating report on the incompetence of the RPA under her leadership. We farmers are perceived by the public as having subsidies for doing nothing, but compared to these civil servants on £150,000 a year plus bonus and pensions packages that we can only dream of, we are not in the same league. One of potentially beneficial schemes to arb workers is the woodland grant scheme. This generally costs us land owners a lot to clear up a neglected wood for replanting so we tend to leave it as there is never enough money to justify employing tree surgeons and forestry staff. By their incompetence they have lost £640 million to the EU in fines over the past few years for late payments. They managed to pat themselves on the back for paying out just £13 million to woodlands. Just think of the good that the £640 million would have done for the UK arb industry Here are some quotes and depressing reading. "In addition, the Forestry Commission has also paid out over two thirds (70%) of capital payments, totalling £13 million to woodland owners to protect, improve and expand woodlands in England. They have also paid out over 50% of valid annual claims worth just under £6 million and work is ongoing to pay outstanding valid annual claims as soon as possible." Farmers and taxpayers failed by dysfunctional leadership - News from Parliament - UK Parliament "Explanations such as 'We worked on different floors' and 'We dressed differently' are a slap in the face to them and a dismal excuse for failures that could severely hit the public purse"

I think you could say the same about many hydraulic or electric conventional splitters costing £400. I can find bits of elm here that would stop most cheaper machines and certainly me with my trusty X27. I tried to test it on a smaller bit of elm which the X27 would not look at and I was impressed that it did split it but needed three hits. For my wife, who will be using it, I will only select the straightest, nicest ash logs as I like my cups of tea in the morning in bed! I am much happier with her using this instead of an axe! I will be interested if any of you buy the bigger American machines to see how they do, one has a claimed 30 ton splitting force.

I expect the 20 ton plus models could handle a six way head. Fair point about the vertical splitter, but it seems to me that both methods need a bit of thinking about in the setting up. In one of the videos the splits are falling into a bucket on a front end loader and they could equally well fall into a box or bag, either way stopping the extra handling. Again the wood needs to be presented to the operator at the right height and make it so that he does not have to move very far.