Billhook

Was it anything like this Sean? [ame] [/ame] A bit more practice and you'll be keeping up with this guy! [ame] [/ame]

Hope that you are soon settled in so that you can start to put together that book of your photographs, the one I shall buy when it comes out!

Or should it be "Rate my Minge!" I think that I lost count of the number of safety issues!

Does not look like this Paulownia at least. Paulownia Tomentosa si Paulownia Elongata - Seminte Paulownia Tomentosa Elongata Mimosa Pudica Goji

All these machines with high speed cutting blades are wonderful when they are working well. But they do give me the heebiegeebies when I remember stories about them 1. A straw chopper on the back of a tractor lost a blade and it came out through the casing just like the Jensen but still had enough energy to go into the tractor rear tyre and puncture it. 2. A blade on the big old Cooksley planer/thicknesser broke up and a piece went up like a bullet through a striplight on the workshop ceiling. 3. A lad was killed near here when using something as mundane as a Bosch angle grinder. On his own in the workshop in the evening and the blade broke up and a piece went into his neck and jugular artery. 4. The Lucas Saw always worries me when the blade is in the horizontal position .I know that it has substantial plate to try and shield but seeing the velocities involved it is worrying especially as it is spinning at the same height as my balls! It is a dangerous world, working with high speed tools and even with all the precautions and protective clothing there is still an element of bad luck. We take all the safety precautions.........and then we drive on the roads!!!

Seems to be a lot of manual work to cut into rings and load onto the machine. Would it not be better to split the large trunk with either a screw splitter or a hydraulic grab splitter into long more manageable diameters and then feed through a conventional Palax processor or similar?

Very much aware of this. It comes with a seemingly endless list of rules starting with the words "YOU MUST" or "YOU MUST NOT" the penalty for an average farm may be to withhold the farm subsidy. The people who decide are not judges and there is no court or jury. This penalty is in many cases a hundred times more than you would be fined for stabbing your ex girlfriend. Man fined after stabbing ex over 'love trap' - The Scotsman He was fined £650

There must be a compromise here. It cannot be good to lie in the sun all day by the beach, (or the beech!) and have sunburn and it cannot be good to avoid the sun altogether in some form of paranoia. Exposed as I am both in farming and wooding, I find that my poor nose bears the brunt of the attack of the sun's rays, it can go very red if I have not taken precautions and everyone thinks I have a drink problem! This is amplified by its angle to the sun and by the lenses of my glasses. So a hat and a dollop of factor 40 there first thing and maybe a bit on the forehead and just rub the excess on my hands onto the back of my hands.

This must be an opportunity to deter clients (particularly women who seem to be more nostrilly sensitive) who watch if the unpleasant smelling result takes place some time later!

Image quality excellent with only a small half second delay between it and real time. No false alarms yet, but I find it comforting just to look around the place to see that all is in order when I'm away.

Just rigged up my iphone to a Maplin security system "Sentient" with face recognition and email warnings. It runs for something like 40 days continuously but to save trawling through the whole period, when you review it comes up with a red line to show an event and you can then examine what happened either side of the event. Eight cameras and can see what is going on anywhere you have an internet connection. £400 seems to be a good investment. A cheaper solution I think I mentioned on here before. We had an electrician called Richard back in the 1970s and he told us about a farmer who had been burgled three times in his workshop and decided to do something about it. Richard called in some time later and asked the farmer if he had come up with anything. The farmer said "Follow me" so they went into the small room which leads to the workshop and out of the ceiling there was a massive cable as thick as your arm going down to the door handle, with the copper wire wound round the handle. The farmer had also nicked one of those DANGER 33,000 VOLTS signs off one of the pylons which he had nailed to the door. Richard stood aghast "You can't do that, you'll kill someone, it's totally illegal" Farmer "It is not connected to anything above the ceiling........but would you open that door!!!"

Grazing sheep on ragwort?

I know that view so well as my Aunt and Uncle used to run the painting school at Inniemore.

Culicoides Impunctatus I was camping on a beach in Mull near Carsaig bay in my youth in September. We bought some anti midge paste locally which we concluded the locals sold as a midge attractant to deter tourists! I put some in a matchbox and brought them home for my father to examine. A keen amateur entomologist he put one under a microscope as he took out an old book from the shelf something like "Midges of the British Isles" There were seventeen different varieties identified only by their wing vein pattern. The only bit of humour in the whole book was in the section on Culicoides Impunctatus, which we had now decided that this indeed was the midge under the microscope He said " This midge together with the kilt was probably the origin of the Highland Fling!"

I've been on the google to Mull! But I have always suspected that Ragwort has been over demonised by the horse fraternity. None of the vets I have asked around here have ever positively identified a case. Usually they put it down to Ragwort when they run out of other ideas. Horses are the most vulnerable not only because they are tender animals but because they live so much longer than cattle and sheep which are murdered much younger. From Google MYTH: Ragwort is "extremely toxic" to horses. FALSE . This claim was made by the British Horse Society in a survey in 2014. It over estimates the toxicity of ragwort by around TEN THOUSAND TIMES! See Ragwort is not extremely toxic MYTH: Ragwort is a foreign plant that has invaded the UK FALSE . Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris formerly called Senecio jacobaea) is a common native British Plant. You may be confusing it with Oxford Ragwort which is a foreign coloniser. MYTH: Ragwort has increased in the UK and is spreading across the country like a plague. Sources for this myth FALSE. Ragwort like all other wildflowers subject to regular surveys by botanists. The recent surveys show its distribution has not changed significantly since the 1960s. The 2007 UK Countryside Survey shows significant declines of ragwort. MYTH: A sudden dramatic crash and disappearance of the Cinnabar Moth population has caused a plague of Ragwort. Sources for this myth FALSE. The cinnabar moth, whose caterpillars eat ragwort , has declined but this is in numbers not distribution. The Rothamstead survey moths traps that were catching them still are but in reduced numbers. Since the ragwort population is declining or stable rather than increased the evidence is firmly against this myth. As stated above there is no real ragwort plague. MYTH: Under the Weeds Act 1959 landowners must by law control Ragwort on their land. Sources for the legal myths FALSE. The 1959 weeds act gives the Government the power to order a landowner to prevent certain weeds from spreading. However without such an order, there is no legal obligation on a landowner to do anything. See Ragwort and the law. MYTH: Under the Ragwort Control Act 2003 landowners must by law control Ragwort on their land. Sources for the legal myths FALSE. This act provides for the government to produce a guide to ragwort control. It places no obligation on landowners at all. See Ragwort Control Act 2003. MYTH: Under the Town and Country Planning Act Section 215 landowners must by law control on their land. See this link for a debunking of the story which carried this and other myths in Your Horse magazine FALSE. This act provides for powers for councils to order landowners to tidy up unkempt areas. This isn't meant to cover ragwort and doesn't create any automatic liability anyway. See Town and Country Planning Act Section 215 MYTH: The law says that government departments or local councils must control ragwort. Sources for the legal myths FALSE. There is no obligation in any of the legislation. There is no obligation on local councils and the powers granted to DEFRA and its equivalent bodies are discretionary. MYTH: It's not an offence for ragwort to grow in certain areas, but spread of ragwort onto high-risk land is an offence. FALSE. This is a direct quote from The British Horse Society's Ragwort Toolkit. but as all the other myths about the law it is false. MYTH: Ragwort is a "Notifiable Weed" FALSE. There is no such thing as a notifiable weed under UK law. There is no obligation to tell anyone about Ragwort . See Ragwort the Notifiable weed falsehood MYTH: A tiny amount of Ragwort will kill a horse or a cow. FALSE. Research has shown that a very significant amount of Ragwort is required to kill. This can be several stone in weight. See How toxic is Ragwort . MYTH: Every tiny amount of ragwort consumed will cause damage. FALSE. The biochemistry shows that this is not the case. See Ragwort cumulative. MYTH: Ragwort can poison a horse even when it is not in a field. This quote comes from Equiworld magazine and it has been repeated elsewhere."It has been said that horses can get Ragwort poisoning without the plants growing in their fields. Spores or seeds or both get carried by wind from anywhere where people are irresponsible enough not to pull those plants up in their gardens or fields. Horses will inhale the seeds or spores whilst grazing and the slow process of poisoning will begin." FALSE. Ragwort has seeds not spores! It is highly unlikely that any seeds would enter a horse through breathing. Research has shown that the overwhelming vast majority of seeds do not disperse far from the parent plant. (See ragwort dispersal) In any case the scientific literature shows takes a very large quantity of Ragwort to poison a horse. The seeds present no threat. MYTH: The Meat from animals that have eaten ragwort is toxic. FALSE. It is only the damage from prolonged heavy exposure that does damage to the animals.The toxins do not persist in the meat. See Ragwort Meat MYTH: It is OK to uproot ragwort where ever you see it FALSE. It is illegal to uproot any wild plant if you are not authorised by the owner or occupier of the land on which it grows See Ragwort is sometimes protected. MYTH: Ragwort is dangerous to human beings FALSE. Ragwort is not a poison of any consequence to humans and the plant and poses no serious risk to people see. Ragwort poisoning in Humans for a short explanation and Ragwort Humans for a longer one. Because this is a common myth that really upsets people a special simple non-technical explanation of this is available here Ragwort poisoning humans MYTH: The alkaloids in ragwort build up in animals' livers FALSE. In 2008 the Scottish Government issued a consultation on ragwort containing the following quote "Chronic ragwort poisoning is most common as PAs [pyrrolizidine Alkaloids] build up in the liver over time." Despite being a government publication this is WRONG. The alkaloids DO NOT build up in the liver only the damage that they can do does. It is a good example of the poor understanding of ragwort that is prevalent even in official circles. MYTH: Ragwort is a risk to the health of dogs. Sources for the dog myth FALSE. Dogs are not threatened by ragwort as it is not toxic enough and they do not eat it. See Ragwort and dogs MYTH: 70% of Ragwort Seeds can germinate after 20 years in the soil. FALSE. The British Horse Society made this claim on their website. The apparent source of the 20 years figure is a scientific paper predicting when only 1% of the seeds could germinate See Ragwort germination myth MYTH: Common ragwort may have contaminated bread and poisoned people in South Africa. FALSE. This claim was made by Professor Derek Knottenbelt but the experts in South Africa say that our ragwort does not occur there and the literature says it was other species of plants. See Ragwort South Africa Myth MYTH: Ragwort is poisoning the cinnabar moth and causing its population to decline. FALSE. This crazy idea is another one associated with Professor Knottenbelt. The cinnabar is reliant on ragwort as its food and is not poisoned by it, See Ragwort does not poison the cinnbar moth. Some of these myths have led to action by the advertising regulator in the UK. See British Horse Society and Advertising Standards Authority Some have also occured on a facebook forum discussing Ragwort Awareness Week

We used these on the farm in the grain bins. A filter round the back of your neck keeps out the dust and a fan blows air over your face. They were not cheap but you might find a used one on eBay http://solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/PPE_SafetySolutions_EU/Safety/Products/Product-Catalog-PoW/?PC_Z7_U00M8B1A0OP590IB369UJT2UU4000000_nid=S04VHF4B4BbeW0B7RL808Wgl

Well I don't want to upset Simplesawman so thanks to him as well!

Arbtalk comes up trumps again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it really is a bloody good website! Thank you Aspenarb

Correction, it slides back out of the way as the arm comes down?..

The square metal piece seems to slide forwards as the arm comes down. Why should this be necessary if it was a straight forward press?

And another

Another photo

The man who sent me the photos said that he took it to the Antiques Roadshow the other day and none of the experts or anyone in the two thousand strong crowd knew what it was. Yes I think some sort of die perhaps was put in the square cradle to imprint a shape or letters on a flat strip of metal which would be trapped by the four wing nuts . But quite what the round bit at the front is for is beyond me.

Another picture

What is this?