Billhook

I am trying to think think think what all those little boxes are meant to mean that you have posted and also Mediplogs uses. Thinking outside the box, box clever, tick box, living in a box?

All of the above is worth repetitive reflection. I always thought that one of the best ideas from the farming Health and Safety was to tie a bit of baler twine on your door in a neat bow to remind you as you leave to come home safely for the sake of your family as well as yourself. Over the years on the farm it always seems to be the silly little things which cause a serious result out of proportion to their threat. Just not having a tidy workshop or yard and not picking things up that will trip you up. Just fumbling about in the dark because you haven't had time to change the light bulb. Just doing one job too many at the end of the day in fading light when you are knackered

I felt a bit of a planker when it would not move!

It can even happen to a litt'un

I have a Palax 600 Combi and often feeding awkward shaped Ash limbs and have the same problem so I dsiconnected the auto trip and now have a foot pedal so I can see that the log has landed correctly before starting the ram. I fitted a three phase electric motor for yard work which is so quiet and easy, but it still can be driven with the pto in the woods if necessary without changing anything. I fitted and manual winch to lift the conveyor up for transport. I made a drawbar and detachable wheels for towing on the road with a car. I made a simple manual roller feed table so that I can bring back a load of 10 foot logs straight from the woods with the muck grab which can then be tilted and the grab gently lifted to feed the rollers. Seems to work well and cuts out all the manual lifting of the past.. I welded a single splitter to replace the standard four way for larger logs. Made it out of old D7 dozer blade wearing part. Made a T handle to make adjusting or removing the splitting blade easy. Yep, after twenty years with the machine I am now happy!

Friends bought me a ticket to the England Ireland match on the 27th Feb. This is the only fixture that I have not seen before, so looking forward to it.

Large Ash fell across a ditch taking powerlines down with it. Wedged itself in the ditch so tried to lift one end out with the Matbro 270. which has a 2.7 ton lift capacity. [ame] [/ame] Daisy Etta 17 tons of Caterpillar D7 came to the rescue. Still needed the forking lift to lift the tree over the lip of the ditch [ame] [/ame] Job done, Several earthworms unfortunately may have been harmed on this recovery mission. [ame] [/ame]

You have a short memory Jon, I showed you "Sandringham Sydney" in "Show us yer tractors" some time ago http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/picture-forum/10361-show-your-tractors-206.html#post1264354

To my trusty Sandringham Six, six wheel drive Stage 1 V8 with crane and tipping body. Bit thirsty but very useful.

Fond memories of the trusty Defender which took us across all manner of obstacles from Walvis Bay in Namibia to Livingstone in Zambia. The graded roads were just like driving over miles of cattle grids This was in the middle of the night in the middle of the Namid Desert in 1998

There is also an interesting little puff of smoke to the right of the screen in the woodland as though the bolt has travelled along the ground perhaps along a root and melted something or turned it to steam

I don't know what all your local metaphors are for describing the weather but there are a few on here "It's wetter than a........................" http://www.megaphores.com/metaphores?id=52

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19590316&id=2X5VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U7MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4172,2333370&hl=en http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/cutting-tree-after-lightning-strike.135122/ Seems a bit like old wives tales for ordinary trees but others may know better!

I did look at various places to fit the wheel on my Series 3 but in the end the bonnet was the safest place not to be hit by low branches or low doorways. It was in the way everywhere else as I have a tipping body. On the plus side it does help with my arm strengthening exercises and it is a great place to put a few tools and the chainsaw when moving along the woodland a few yards. By the way I have always meant to say "Nice Beaver" but some people seem to be offended by that!

Nah, the future is drones armed with laser cutters

You were not alone Stihlmad! Ford 8210 with Bomford Hedgetrimmer would not start first thing, very cold plus half knackered battery. Had to faff about setting up the charger only to find that the extension lead was a foot too short..... Started by mid morning, traffic on main road horrendous. Trying to trim a mile stretch of double white lines through a series of bends. Warning signs plus hazard flashers makes no difference to the speed merchants who are the only matched by the ditherers who will not overtake even though I am doing less than one mph! Trying to turn back was caught out by a maniac doing a ridiculous speed into the first bend which caused me to stall with two front wheels on the carriageway. Tractor immobile Battery flat again so called wife who took ages to find jump leads and appear on scene. Started off again and was just finishing the last inside part before dark when a spool valve failed (Oring?) and the flail fell into the hedge making a big hole in my neat bit of trimming. Could not raise the wife again, so two mile plod back to the yard to collect the forkinlift. Pulled up flail and tied it up and jumped started the tractor again with the forkinlift, and drove it back to the yard. Managed to find someone to take me back to collect the forkinlift . Back to house for a hot cuppa to find that someone had eaten all the ginger nuts......

You just started me thinking after that and all I can say is that anything I am any good at now, I was not taught at school!

And people just love to quote that tired old line "You get what you pay for"

While touring South Africa my wife and I came across (not a good choice of words!) Ronnie's Sex Shop in the Karoo. Ronnie had a boring old cafe in the middle of nowhere with few customers and a friend put up a sign "Ronnie's Sex Shop" as a joke but now it is a tourist attraction Stop for a pint at a fun pub ? Ronnies Sex Shop on Route 62 – South African Tourism It is a sad fact of life perhaps but we are all sexual beings and sex sells.

For a lot of work places where it is usually an all man environment such as tree surgery, machine workshops, farming, garages it may be sad but pictures of pretty girls do brighten the day. If those offended have their way are we to ban calendars with girls in swimsuits, ban all those perfume advertisements on the TV, ban Miss World, ban James Bond, ban any display of cleavage? It certainly worked for a company called Abertay who were trying to sell the most boring product you could imagine back in the eighties, a humble paper potato bag. (the farming equivalent of chain oil!) Abertay girls were seen in the press and at all the farming shows drawing large crowds. Their advertisements were backed up with glorious calendars which have become collectors items (so I am told!)

I think it is the 5 skip chain, whatever it is it came with the package. Yes I can see that now that it would be stupid to plane it until it has seasoned. (The advantages of having Arbtalk for advice!) It will be interesting to see how you find the planer so keep us posted. Leaning against the carriage as in the first video is hard work even with the pretty French lass helping. The hand winch was less hard but I think it would hurt after a day. The electric winch helps me enjoy the job rather than endure it. I set the bar up by eye as level as I could and kept checking the chain tension and was pleased to see that all the slabs were cut straight and true with no dips or waves. I was lucky Shaun in that the land was sloping in the right direction and you only need a small slope. But pay attention to the little brake as one time I thought I had applied it and turned away but something made me turn back round to see the whole carriage gathering speed to the far end, I only just caught it in time! For me the Lucas has been fantastic. I bought it in 1997 for about £8000 and the engine has always started first time and has never been short on power. The blades are the originals with a few re tippings over the years. It has been mainly used on Ash and Beech. I have put down several floors from these woods. It is relatively easy to transport and set up in difficult places over huge trees. I found my self in Ned Kelly country near Beechworth in 1998 and decided to look up the Lucas family. I drove the hire car for what seemed like miles down a dirt road to find an assortment of open sided farm buildings. The most unlikely setting for production. I shook Geoff Lucas by the hand and he was so chuffed that I had bothered to come and see him all the way from Pommyland that he gave me some bits, a new filter assembly, a rev counter and more. Great family.

Blowout on A14. It went with such a bang I thought that someone had shot me!

Thank you for all your replies I must first correct one thing looking back through the records I bought the slabbing attachment from Fuelwood Warwick in Feb 2011 so only five years ago, not ten, and it was £785 +VAT which I recovered. I think that I measured the speed of the Powerwinch AP3500 as five feet per minute with a direct pull. This is too fast especially on the Holm Oak and I had to progress in a series of switching on and off rather than a constant speed. The only reason for this is that the winch did not have enough cable to pull the whole length using an idler pulley and I would need to replace the cable with something half the diameter and twice the length which I would do if I was going to do a lot of slabbing The best result was from an idler pulley as in this video of going through a 40" Ash log. The rate is 30" per minute. The Lucas slabber seems happy at this speed. This creates an even pull on the trolley. When I mounted the pulley on the base of the arm for the direct pull it was a bad place as this was designed for the circular saw and tends to pull the engine side forward first and then the other side catches up. It did the job but I was not happy with that arrangement over time. [ame] [/ame] The pulling power is doubled so I had to set the clutch to slip if there was too much pressure Another safety valve is that if the pressure is too great I hope the bit of 4x2 pine which is the anchor will break before anything else does! As I said the AP 3500 is a light duty winch for hauling boats out of the water and not heavy duty 4x4 material. I thought that the cutting speed was hardly affected by the width of the cut and with the Ash it went full width to 5 feet on several occasions I have a liberal flow of engine oil at one end as recommended by Lucas and another flow of water at the engine end. I am not sure if the latter helps the cut but the blade is always cool to touch. Opinions on this welcome. Thank you Se7enthdevil for the leg advice. I see there are no end of youtube videos on the subject so I will spend a few hours trawling. Big J I am sorry to hear of your tale of woe with the Holm Oak. I suppose a lot depends on the age of the tree and how long it has been down. My one had rotted at the bottom which caused it to fall and it lay for a couple of years. I hope by clamping it down well as advised I will have a result. At 2.5 inches I should have a bit to play with if it warps and if it cracks I will remember the comments here "I told you so!" I find that the chain stays remarkably sharp. It only has a few teeth to sharpen at 10-15 degrees with the "skipteeth" ripper chain which I do with the little Oregon Suresharp with the chain on the bar. Seems to work well with a custom 10 degree gauge once you practise a bit. I should think that soft wood may cause some clearance problems. Muttley have you also considered a planer and sander? I would love to have them but they seem expensive and there is a lot of faffing about to fit them, I was thinking of finding a good electric planer and welding up a frame that would have its own carriage so it could sit out of the way at one end while the slabber was working. A sander would go on as well. Cons. You cannot "feel" the load so well except by listening to the engine and I have yet to discover what happens if I find an iron gate post in the middle of a tree! It makes the carriage assembly heavier with the winch and battery but when I move it I tow with the Teleporter or car. My conclusion with the winching is that for me as an aging specimen it is complete bliss to operate a little switch as opposed to leaning heavily on the thing all day long. This costs me heavily in the evening with muscle cramps and glasses of whisky to dull the pain!

Thanks for that. The grain does look as though it has potential. The tree has stood in front of the old house for a long time and it would be good to make some furniture from it as a memory if the wood is stable enough. The Matbro is rated at 2.7 tons so I should find a pallet of something heavy somewhere. Have you any ideas for what looks best as wany edged coffee table legs and how to fix them? I am torn taking two part slabs and sculpting them, making four substantial square legs or making the legs out of whole branches I want to stay with wood rather than metal. There are a few knobs and interesting bits I shall put on one side in case any turners turn up! I think that Maidenhead may be a bit too far from Lincolnshire!

Somehow the actual slabbing video is missing from the previous post so here it is. [ame] [/ame]