Billhook

I'm a Big Balls Christmas Cake. Well I cannot think what else the three asterisks could be!

O K less of the jokes and let's be serious now. I need a left handed chainsaw! Seriously!

It would be quite interesting to see how we supposedly older and wiser ones would deal with the situation armed with what we know to expect. For instance being asked to go for a long weight , I might be tempted to pick up one of these road signs and take it back to the bloke who asked for it

I just remembered the other well worn one "Go down to the stores and ask for a tub of elbow grease"

Copied this one off facebook, another version of the long weight Bucket of steam...Straight hook..Skirtin board ladder. When I worked in Brit steel North East, someone sent this lad to the stores (about 3/4 mile walk)for a long stand. He was sent back with a note "how long" ...Sent back with note 1/2Hr...Came back with note "havn't got one ...Sent back with...Wot you got....came back 1/4 Hr ...Give him two of those then .Poor lad was knackered by the end of the shift.

Just discovered the fastest ever COVID test. The Stihl had a log dropped on it which split the fuel tank. Bitter cold in the workshop so what is a man supposed to do but come inside by the deliciously warm wood stove Crept in to the conservatory with a tray of tools and nuts and bolts having liberally cleaned the whole lot outside with carb cleaner. Shut the conservatory doors from the rest of the house just to be on the safe side and was only seconds into my work when my beloved came storming in” What’s that bloody smell!” Well that makes her clear then!

The new government proposals for dealing with the future of farming without the previous subsidy system E.L.M.S Environmental Land Management Systems https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/939683/farming-changing.pdf Just wondered what everyone's thoughts are on this, as it may affect most of you . As a farmer with woodland I find it difficult to see how it will replace the previous system where the price of grain and other crops has not changed much for forty years. For instance the price of wheat was £100/ ton in 1978 and has hovered in the £150s for the last few years so any money to be made from farming was from the subsidy, which was a brilliant way of controlling farmers. We have been part of several schemes over the years, my father planted poplars for the match industry in 1960s and fir trees for pit props but when they came to maturity there was no market. The cost of taking these down if I employed one of you people and replanting? What would you charge, £3000/acre £5000/acre?? Whatever you then have to add some more money on top of that if farmers are to stay in business as there will be a loss otherwise. I cannot see the schemes giving away that sort of money in the current climate.

I used to have some catalytic heat pads for gloves and feet when skiing in very cold conditions and they seemed to last all day, I see Amazon do heat wraps for backs which you could adapt for bum and would have the benefit of working when off the seat https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heat-Company-Wraps-Large-Cells/dp/B077D8N39Y/ref=sr_1_11?crid=39G5TINJEJ4CI&dchild=1&keywords=heat+pads+for+back&qid=1607066341&rnid=1642204031&s=drugstore&sprefix=heat+pads%2Caps%2C230&sr=1-11

Thought that I would have a go at splitting a couple of logs to see how my arthritic wrists would cope . This was about a month ago Gave the log a mighty blow and it split admirably and I was just congratulating myself when there followed a loud buzzing and I was chased to my truck by an angry swarm of wasps Now that they have died out in the cold weather, I did an inspection of the log.

BBC Radio 4 - Gardeners' Question Time - Carry on Gardening: when gardeners' tips got mucky WWW.BBC.CO.UK A selection of filth from 70 years of Gardeners' Question Time.

Totally agree with that Irish word that needs no translation! ( not saying "Euagh" about the blond though!)

I used to live near Lynn and there were massive flocks roosting in the conifers at Magdalen in the 1960s and I remember my father taking me there just for the spectacle. I also remember the trees being white with excrement.

You are of course absolutely correct and I as usual was confused!

Stratford TF90 Multfuel Stove With Boiler Stove - Spares and Accessories WWW.ARADASTOVESANDSPARES.COM Aduro 9 convection stove with three side windows WWW.ADUROFIRE.COM An impressively large glass area is achieved by adding side panes and minimising the bars between the glass in the door... dunsley+neutraliser - Google Search WWW.GOOGLE.COM Rumford fireplace - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG I built my house in 1983 and did all the plumbing myself and electrics as I could not afford to do otherwise. The theory being that if the place caught fire due to my faulty electrics, my faulty plumbing should put it out ! I started off with a Bosky 90, Jack of all trades and master of none, so it was scrapped. Managed to connect to mains gas in 1986 even though I am way out in the country, but the main happens to run past my front driveway. Connected a Condensing gas boiler to an Aarrow Stratford boiler via a Dunsley neutraliser. This works so that the gas boiler senses when the Aarrow has cooled down and will start up. Gas comes on only on cold nights. We have a Danish Aduro 9 stove in another room which is very efficient and just on for watching a film on TV and an open fire built to Count Rumford specification in another room, which is only used to welcome guests. I thoroughly recommend both of those. The summer water is heated by solar tubes on the roof which work well The Aarrow is in a conservatory which has a door opening to the driveway so that I can deposit a 6x3x4 foot box (Old potato ton box) of wood right by the door. The wood is dropped loose from the Palax conveyor and not stacked so there is plenty of air in it and I would be surprised if it weighed more than half a ton but I will weigh one to find out. We go through one box of Ash or Sycamore every ten days. From about the beginning of last November to April we used 15 boxes. When I started living here on my own I hardly used any wood, then I decided to marry............. 20 radiators and three underfloor heating systems now! The Aarrow I can thoroughly recommend, well built and reliable. But we have a lot of wood here and it is free, as is my labour. I feel it is important to have the main stove in the conservatory and out of the main house which keeps the dirt and dust out, but also gives easy access to the wood and to the ash bin. I could not operate such a system without a Teleporter.

Not going to put a picture of a Starling up, just to say that at one time we had Starlings everywhere on the farm, following the plough, swarming in vast flocks and even regulars at our bird table. Have not seen one here for ages. I was waiting outside the bank yesterday in a long covid queue and there were at least a dozen Starlings pecking around a bench in the High Street. Have they left the countryside for an urban life? Another article claimed that Blue Tits and Great Tits were suffering because Spring weather had not allowed insects to develop at the right stage for breeding birds. Judging by at least thirty birds on our table with maybe fifty more waiting in the hedge, as they definitely have a pecking order, I would suggest that this story is not true, at least where we are.

Firecrest?

It has come up with “This site is not safe” on my iPhone a couple of times, but I have always known that, which is why I joined!

I did manage to hold a log cabin course on the farm for about ten people so a lot of my cabin was paid for by a government grant scheme at the time which was aimed at training people into new areas. It was also fun with quite a bit of socialising at the pub and also axe throwing competitions on site (not after the pub!)

If you are mad and Finnish!

I watched him work and it is impressive but Dan Franklin does more hand tool work and rarely uses the chainsaw. His axes are so sharp you can shave with them and he makes special gouge chisels out of old car springs to make the groove in the log. When Dan swings his axe wood flies!

Slovenian

This man?

We built this in 2000. Wooden ways did a full scribe log cabin course on the farm here using poplar that had been planted by my father in 1960 for the match industry. The millennium came and fewer folk smoked and those that did used butane so there were a lot of poplars looknig for a home. I had heard from somebody living in Oregon that the ultimate cabin there was made from poplar and that there was a Church built of it that was 120 years old. Dan Franklin and his team came and I think were pleased to work with poplar for a change and the result is a 25 foot by 15 foot cabin that you see in his cabin photos one and three by the lake with the swans. It is really only a place we go to enjoy the lake with friends over a beer or two but I highly recommend Dan and his skill. If you have a good source of timber locally all the better but I would hope that there is plenty around in your part of the world. The cabin is now twenty years old and because it sits on six great lumps of sandstone and therefore is away from moisture and has plenty of air underneath, there is no sign of rot. My wife and I have stayed in a fully developed cabin in Washington State and you have to be aware that sound travels along the wood, so be careful what you say or do! But a lovely feeling. especially for those who have worked with wood for a living. Log Cabins | Woodenways WWW.WOODENWAYS.COM