Billhook

Just been to a funeral of a 90 year old man. He had been reasonably fit till the time he died. His son took him to see his first great grandchild, a beautiful baby boy. His grand daughter handed him the baby and he cuddled it for some time and then handed it back to his mother. He turned around to pick something off the floor and had a massive heart attack and died on the spot. Traumatic for all those around, but what a way to bow out having just held the next generation in his arms.

Well done Steve and thank you! Is there potential for a general "Life Story " thread?

We found one of those highly polished green stone axes in a field a few years ago. It apparently came from Langdale. I have not fitted it to a shaft yet! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langdale_axe_industry

A Man can never have enough tools, so I thought a heavy maul would be a good idea I thought that I was buying this https://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Core-Maul-Inch-751110-1001/dp/B014M9LQGG/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cr_simh_0_1/254-9185871-2085030?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B014M9LQGG&pd_rd_r=e732f887-e68e-4102-b835-bb37c12f3dc9&pd_rd_w=8GAPw&pd_rd_wg=lzXMO&pf_rd_p=67aa5820-8762-4202-90ba-881bb99c913c&pf_rd_r=ZRK8EDPY1A9ETDWRE5GT&psc=1&refRID=ZRK8EDPY1A9ETDWRE5GT But what was delivered was this http://www.123pricecheck.com/Product-283926/B004BTZKJM-Fiskars+Maza+cu+a+3+7+kg+Splitting+X46+2+in+1+Axe+.html Since Amazon or anywhere else do not seem to do the maul I opted to keep the axe and test it. I think that they are both mauls really and I may have been fobbed off with an out of production model However it did split a very heavy bit of knotty yew quite impressively. It is so bloody heavy at 8lbs that I shall only use it on the occasional difficult log or give it to one of the lads to tire him out to keep him out of mischief. It is still the X27 that is King

Quite a hip thing to do though!

Do think that on reflection, the work you did bending, picking up , bashing and operating the English wheel was the cause of your bad hip? Some people put it down to a games career in a hard sport, others say it is just hereditary. Do tree workers suffer more than average? My brother in his fifties, was sitting in his parked car reading a paper when a woman lost control and ran into the back of him which set his car on fire. He was not hurt but six months later he had to have a new hip out of the blue . He had no history of pain and another few months later he had the other one done. The doctor said that it was strange and started asking questions about his family history (no new hips in our family up to this point). Then the doctor said in his experience two factors come up time and time again. One is deep sea diving and the other is severe shock. At this point I reminded my brother of his accident and the doctor said that was undoubtedly the cause..

I bought one of these in 2018 when they were £35, now £43 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141447656080 I had an old Dolmar electric chainsaw with no kickback protection so I was keen to keep the top guard. The saw horse looks identical to the Portek one but that one cost £100 I found that it was difficult to clamp the chainsaw bar without the clamp slipping so I drilled a couple of holes in the bar and bolted it and it works fine. This works for me as the Dolmar would otherwise be redundant The table folds neatly for storage and the whole setup is fine for occasional use at home when a trip to the farm and the Palax is not worth it. The chainsaw is relatively quiet and fume free for working indoors.

Just to be pedantic it was always called just a Jensen FF not an Interceptor This was a gathering of FF cars at Gaydon in May

Come on you two, I need more observation of the Jensen for its correct name!

I try to be as safe as possible in the woods but elsewhere is more dangerous. I was assaulted by three women last month and you can tell by my horrified expression that I was about to be part of the “Metoo” movement. This was nothing compared to the danger of my wife seeing the photo. I have now hidden all possible weapons in the house and will employ a food taster! Having said that, there is nothing like being in the company of “My Favourite Things” to take your mind off any aches and pains that come with age!

I am fortunate enough to have reached 65 years without hip trouble in spite of an early farming career where cwt (50kg) bags were the norm, usually lifted from the ground and then leaning over a hopper to empty. The invention of a forklift then a teleporter was a godsend but my main ambition now is to go down to a tree in the woods, bring it home and process into logs into a ton box and bring it six feet from my wood stove, without lifting anything but the final log to the stove. I put the wood through a Palax Combi now but occasionally I will cut a box of smaller pieces for my elderly neighbour using the forklift bucket and an electric kinetic quicksplitter

The trouble with these devices is that squirrels think it is fun!

Poor old rat took the blame for the Black Death https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/rats-plague-black-death-humans-lice-health-science/

Diseases Squirrels Carry Squirrels are known to carry numerous diseases, though only a few are dangerous to humans. Some of the more common include tularemia, typhus, plague, and ringworm. Such diseases are transmitted through bites or other forms of direct contact with infected squirrels. Tularemia, typhus, and plague have symptoms that mimic the flu and can be deadly when left untreated. While all mammals are capable of getting rabies, squirrels are very rarely rabid. Parasites and Disease Other diseases squirrels transmit to humans come from the various parasites they carry. Rife with parasites such as fleas, ticks, and mites, squirrels living in proximity to homes frequently pass these tiny pests on to both humans and pets. Some of the diseases humans can get from the parasites include Lyme disease, Encephalitis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Are you supposed to adopt the same procedure for rats? I cannot imagine many people putting a rat in a sack and taking it to the vet and paying £30 for a lethal injection! And there lies the problem with conservationists, for if it is apparently fluffy and cuddly it is treated in a very different way than if it is slimy and dirty. Nobody cares too much about the method of killing rats

There is certainly some muddled thinking as the law says “It is therefore illegal to kill a squirrel by drowning, asphyxiation or bludgeoning todeath.“. But in the next part it says it is ok to put it in a sack and hit it over the head First point must be what is the difference between hitting over the head and bludgeoning Second point must be how do you know where the head is if it is in a sack? It must surely also be more cruel to put it in a sack, then in the back of a car , then into a vets waiting room full of dogs and cats, then wrestling it out of the sack before holding it down for a lethal injection.

When you come to visit me in prison, could you bring some marrons glacés, as I do not think they serve them there.

I must say that I had never heard of a general licence until all the row about wood pigeon and carrion crow control appeared recently so I looked up whether there was a specific general licence for Grey Squirrels that could be revoked In this article it seems that RSPCA deem that most people will be incapable of killing a squirrel without causing "unnecessary suffering" and will therefore be in breach of the law, So this may be the next thing on the agenda from Packham/Tingay/Avery and all at Wild Justice is legal to kill grey squirrels and most people do it by trapping and shooting. But it must be done in a humane manner or you will be fined under animal welfare laws. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 rules that it is illegal to cause “unnecessary suffering” to an animal under your care. This includes animals caught in traps, like squirrels. It is therefore illegal to kill a squirrel by drowning, asphyxiation or bludgeoning to death. But it is generally accepted that a blow to the back of the head or shooting is legal as the animal dies quickly. The Forestry Commission and other groups recommend catching the animal in a sack before delivering a single blow to the head. An air rifle can also be used as long as the user is properly qualified. Free shooting of squirrels is also generally accepted as long as the person has a licence and can guarantee a clean kill. However the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals argue that most people will be incapable of killing a squirrel without causing “unnecessary suffering” and will therefore be in breach of the law. They recommend taking the animal to the vet to be put down for around £30 or calling in pest control experts who will shoot the animal or kill it with a blow to the head.

I think that you need the A18 as opposed to the A24, but I cannot see it on Amazon UK Failing that it has to be not the A24 or the A18 but the AA12! Each to their own but I think it may be cheaper and safer just to feed them so that they become too fat to enter the cage, and maybe like humans they will develop hip problems so that they cannot climb!

Poor old Sammy Squirrel! He has a lot of human characteristics. He is very destructive, like us he destroys trees for his own use But like us he does plant the seeds again. He nicks eggs from bird's nests, we nick eggs from hens. He is very territorial He is very disobedient He is a good tree climber like some of us. He is good at scolding from a distance, a bit like us on the internet. He is good at problem solving (Maybe they ought to have some in Westminster!) Lead would be an obvious answer but we have a truce with all creatures in our garden, this is not the case on the farm but the government has managed to do that with the shooting ban!

This was the result of his endeavours!

After he gnawed through the strap holding the metal cap down, I replaced it with a chain so he gnawed the top of the post nearly through to the Tek bolt so it wasatthis stage I decided to have a word in his ear. He relaxes his body to enter the feeder but with the stolen nuts and fright of seeing me he cannot relax easily to escape This made no difference as he was back inside the next day!

I would definitely be in the middle section. It is more about indirect profit by saving on oil and gas heating. It is a bit like playing music with the band, it just about pays for the petrol and guitar strings but it is a labour of love. I have to deal with the fallen timber in our woods anyway and we have the teleporter and barns and saws for the farm. I bought a Palax Combi many years ago which has paid for itself many times over. We put the wood into one ton boxes which probably hold less than three quarters of a ton of Ash logs. We use about thirty to forty every Winter and it saves a lot of gas money. More importantly because the work has been done I feel I can be generous with the heat and the house is as warm as toast through the Winter whereas I would be turning the gas down and messing about with thermostats. without the wood heat. My wife and I love the rituals of firelighting and stove tending which we have made as easy as possible I loved the earlier comment by Big J of "Selling the unprofitable to the ungrateful" which certainly sums up the attitude around here, hence I have stopped doing that. I love the whole process from tree to fire and it is not only healthy exercise but a way of life for us, so the profit is not only about the money we saved

What's he doing with his hands? Could definitely be more entertaining !