Billhook

It is your eulogies that tipped the balance Jon!

I was very surprised to see it so calm as I am sure it is one of the three that are often in the house garden by the farm about half a mile away. Although they come right up to the window there they are very nervous and the slightest noise sends them skittling for cover. Perhaps this one has been taking some weed!

Surprised to see this Muntjac sitting quietly on some dry leaves while I entered my car only about ten yards away and not far from the house. It stayed there while I started and backed away and was still there on my return. Later it stood up and walked around looking quite healthy. Cute but it could be Deerburger if it nails my fruit trees I have just planted!

Been trawling the web and youtube to find a log peavey/log cant and nearly built one in the workshop but glad that I changed my mind and bought a Woodchuck Dual off F R Jones. Beautifully engineered in thick gauge aluminium, strong and well thought out to combine peavey and log cant. It arrived nearly the next day and I took it down to the snow covered woods for the big test of a slippery 20" diameter 15 foot long piece of Ash. Of course I needed a piece of wood to put under the foot as the ground was sodden, but once I stopped the foot sinking in it worked well keeping it off the ground to chainsaw. It would be fine back in the yard without the bit of wood. Easypeasy or should that be Easypeavey! Should have bought one years ago!

Couple of things as a green student on a dairy farm, First day taken by the boss to meet the head cowman who was out in the field fixing a fence. "Mick I want you to meet Billhook our new student" Held out my hand to shake his and nearly jumped ten feet in the air as his other hand was gripping the electric fence! Later the vet was busy castrating young bull calves and the old stockman was a bloke called Harry who wore a brown coat and had a runny nose and had a habit of sticking his hand in his pocket, bringing out a dirty handkerchief , wiping his nose and putting it back again all in the space of a few seconds. The vet mischievously dropped a couple of testicles in is pocket and Harry duly obliged by wiping his nose with them. Everybody laughed but obviously the young student laughed a bit too loudly. I was living at home at the time and sharing an old Moskvitch car with my mother who complained after a week or so about the smell in the car. We took the car apart trying to find the source and under the back seat my mother found the problem. "Here is the trouble but what on earth is it?" "Bull's Balls mother!" She dropped them like a red hot brick!

I think that I could end up like Bond! [ame] [/ame]

I will give it a go with my two Stihl BR 600s!

It means you dig what he said!

Looks like an Arb trolley is coming his way from Father Christmas at the end of the year!

As the interviewer said ". How can I go home and sit on the couch and say I am too old to do something when I know that Lou is out there, ski racing down a mountain somewhere aged one hundred"!

Here is a bit of inspiration for you all. He is one hundred years old and still competing in downhill ski races, but listening to him being interviewed is educational. Still cycles 17 miles daily and goes off in a high powered motorbike and side car saying anything less than a thousand miles is not worth dressing up for!

You missed out Nigel! I cannot see any real change coming until we regain control of our destiny from the European Parliament. Certainly not wanting to be out of Europe in trading and goodwill, but not wanting to be run by a load of unaccountable bureaucrats, many with old communist agendas. As I understood it initially UKIP wanted to be voted in just to give the country a proper referendum on Europe. After the vote they were going to have another election and you could vote in whatever party, but at least they would have the power to change things. I am not sure where this idea changed into one where UKIP now has to have a full manifesto.

I wonder if Jack Bruce cut down a rowan.

What happened to the forty chainsaw file candles???

I cut 120 three inch lengths of two inch diameter yew (could be any wood)from branches. Drilled out the middle of each with a one and a quarter inch flat wood bit mounted in a bench drill, but not right through, leave a base. Then cut a slot across the top for the name card. There was enough room for four acorns in the hole.(held in place by the card) Put the mini yew logs on the tables as place markers with instructions to vernalise as well as to send us a Christmas card each year with a photo of their progress! Took a bit of work but left a good impression!

Confucius say, passionate kiss like spider web, soon lead to undoing of fly ...

Electric Firelighter from Grenadier Obviously not much good out in the woods, but although expensive they make an almost instant fire, go on for ever and are excellent at reviving an almost dead fire. We bought our first one back in the 1970s made by Pifco

Could have been worse. You both could have been married to Katie Hopkins!

All I could find on the web Wood - seasoned & dry kg/cu.m Afromosia 705 Apple 660 - 830 Ash, black 540 Ash, white 670 Aspen 420 Balsa 170 Bamboo 300 - 400 Birch (British) 670 Cedar, red 380 Cypress 510 Douglas Fir 530 Ebony 960 - 1120 Elm ( English ) 600 Elm ( Wych ) 690 Elm ( Rock ) 815 Iroko 655 Larch 590 Lignum Vitae 1280 - 1370 Mahogany ( Honduras ) 545 Mahogany ( African ) 495 - 850 Maple 755 Oak 590 - 930 Pine ( Oregon ) 530 Pine ( Parana ) 560 Pine ( Canadian ) 350 - 560 Pine ( Red ) 370 - 660 Redwood ( American ) 450 Redwood ( European ) 510 Spruce ( Canadian ) 450 Spruce ( Sitka ) 450 Sycamore 590 Teak 630 - 720 Willow 420

I was just driving past one of the farm field gatewaysthe other day, directly opposite a pair of semi detached cottages which belong to the farm. There was a small white van parked at the entrance and a middle aged couple were in the field but I could not see what they were doing as I had a big Mercedes right on my tail. Glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the man carrying something on his shoulder. I had to go down the road for some distance to turn round as the Merc was still right up my backside. By the time I had returned to the field entrance the van had gone, but there was a pile of sawdust. About four years ago I had heard that a load of Gypsies were on their way to the area and we put some fairly rotten pine logs across the gateways. About 18 inches in diameter and about twelve feet long and certainly not worth putting through my processor. It was one of these that they had cut up and taken. As I say they were half rotten four years ago so imagine what they are like having sat in the weather for that amount of time. The effort of chainsawing them, the risk of an earful from me (very frightening!) driving out from wherever diesel/petrol used, energy used in sawing/carrying and then ending up with a load of sodden rotten wood. It is almost a case of Karma causing them to be automatically punished for their deed, as I am sure it would take more energy to light it than the energy you might recover from it! It is no wonder that some people can make money selling unseasoned, wet, poor quality firewood if these are the sort of people who will take it. They walk amongst us!

2 x 9......... because I have a split personality!

We have a Clearview 650 with double doors and an Aarrow Stratford 90 with boiler. They both take large logs and stay in easily overnight. I prefer the Aarrow to deal with as it has a single door and the ashtray is easier to empty. Also the controls are simpler and it is easy to riddle and clean. Both do the job and neither was cheap.

I changed the blade on my Palax Combi from over 100 teeth to about fifty something and yes it is more aggressive cutting through the Ash but quicker and easier as long as you hold the wood firmly. You need to be especially careful when cutting small branches as it will snatch a length if not held tight and the sliver may jam the blade. However overall, now I am used to it I would not go back to a blade with more teeth, especially as it costs more to re-tip!

I agree. You can buy over a dozen new Stihl Picco chains for my little 170 for the same price as the sharpener!