Billhook

Not as good as the Mustang cockpit!  I flew the Mustang at Kissimmee in Florida and the Spitfire MkIX at Coningsby.  An hour each of bliss, well you only live once!

Nothing digital on these two!

7 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Good shout.  Maybe they are trying to keep it quiet - scared of losing street cred?

I have driven a friends Model S on a couple of long trips and yes the screen i s bad as it is not central and you need to read it rather than glance at it.  To alter things like radio or temp you really need to stop the car and pull over or put it in self drive.  However there is no temp or pressure to worry about or RPM and it tells you about battery range remaining

Some aircraft panels have analogue dials with all the needles pointing vertically when all the temperatures and pressures are good so a single glance will tell you all is ok and it shouts at you if one is off.

I have a strong dislike of touch screens and digital information in cars and tractors.  With digital read outs you have to actually read them which is not as quick as glancing at needles on dials.  yes it may be micro seconds but that can be all the difference between an accident and a good result.

The old Bourdon tube gauges told me far more accurately what was happening with engine temps and pressures and kept working when the engine was switched off.

I have a Fastrac and the dash must have been invented by a spotty geek who had never been on a farm.  Try adjusting touch screens when you are being bounced around!

The only car that has sensible instruments and switch is our Volvo XC70 from 2005.  It has a couple of rotary knobs for volume and stations on the radio and the wipers and lights are intuitive and the minor switches also

With one of my old classic cars from 1967 the dash layout looks scattered, but because the switches are well spaced it is not long before you learn them all without looking.

  Unlike a classic Jaguar set of switches from the same period, where they look neat and wonderful but you really have to stare at them to find the right one

I am like everyone here drawn in to this mystery.  I assume as has been stated that the police know more, but if that was the case then surely the Grandparents and family would be taking a different line.

Last November a young lad was killed after hitting a tree after a dangerous bend right by our farmyard.  I am still trying to work out how it could have happened.  The Mini looked as though it had been hit by a truck, and when I first saw it I thought it was a convertible.  Glass was embedded six feet up in the tree and I found glass that had been thrown 20 yards into the copse.  There was not a mark  on the road and the soft grass verge was untouched.  The line of hollies I had just put in with bamboo canes were untouched, one right by the car.

The car itself had actually gone round the worst part of the bend.  If you were driving over 40 it would be too fast but the way it hit the  tree it must have been going faster than that.

It honestly looked as though the car had been picked up by some force and taken to the tree

The couple in the cottage came out and were very upset to find the lad dead but without a mark on him, checked for a pulse and breathing but concluded his neck had been broken.

I go round that corner sometimes many times a day and it is still a mystery to me and much on my mind, especially as his distraught family and girlfriend still keep leaving flowers and messages by the tree.

I suppose some things will remain a mystery

Living not far from a key UK air base and hearing and seeing an increase in activity with Euro fighters does concentrate the mind somewhat.

19 hours ago, Wonky said:

Whichy elm 😉

This is the sound as the Lucas sailed through the Whichy Elm, which is definitely female as it was quite resistant to being told what to do!

Must be Elm methinks

Old age hitting my brain cells perhaps.  I had it in my head that it was a Sycamore as I remember taking the two halves of the tree from a neighbour.  It had blown down in a storm and hit his roof damaging some tiles and his car..  But this was some years ago and we also did take down a huge diseased Elm but I am 100% sure that was planked.  The Sycamore was full of burrs which may be the cause of the grain and colour.

I will check with him again as he wanted a dining table out of it.

Is there any other method of checking what tree it was? 

Now I look at it again the bark is not Sycamore and it may have been from one of the large upper limbs of the big Elm.  Also the Lucas did not like  it very much on the 8 inch vertical cut and for the first time ever in 25 years jammed on the sawdust as I approached the end of the cut!

Some good looking beams for the fireplaces too

Just took the top off this Sycamore with the swing blade to have a look, think I will have a go with the slabber!

I also have had little problem with the bits and pieces that are inevitable with any splitter.  We might have a carrier bag full after filling a 2cubic metre box which is great kindling.

10 hours ago, Doug Tait said:

 

I might be wrong but I think it's the Lockdown Firewood Splitter...

 

The Lockdown Firewood Splitter https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/121866-the-lockdown-firewood-splitter/

Thank you for all the likes.

It was really all a result of the Lockdowns and my wife being fed up with me mooching around the house, so I was told to go out and find something useful to do.  I was sure that I could make a splitter around the Matbro 270 with all that lifting and hydraulic power.   But everywhere was shut and all I had was the scrap in the yard, so if i was starting the project now I  would perhaps incorporate a saw and make it more of a processor than just a splitter.  One of the problems with the Ash and Sycamore that we have here is that many are bent sometimes at 90 degrees.  The Palax Combi will handle these up to 10 inch diameter, but the big stuff still has to be cut in my case to 16 inch blocks with the chainsaw and then rolled onto the log lift.

Using the tip and crowd to pick up the logs would work well with straight lengths of pine, but not with the stuff we have here

Now I find it very steady and therapeutic with the engine ticking over at  the back of the machine and the remote control operating the hydraulics, so no lifting just easy rolling, which is also easy on my old limbs as Stubby will I am sure sympathize!

  In am sure that i could make the ram quicker by altering the pipework but it is surprisingly productive and safer at its current speed

Keep a look out for modification number 1035!

find someone with a Lucas Mill planer sander

Quote

 

Help!  I have developed CRSD!

Compulsive Repetitive Splitting Disorder!  I cannot stop, I just love it!

On 05/12/2022 at 13:16, Witterings said:

I haven't split logs for a while as I had bad wrists that took ages (months) to get fully better and did about 1/2 hr last night and my wrists are absolutely killing me today.

 

I've recently been using a Fiskars X25, before I bought this just used to use a standard wooden handle axe and can't remember having a problem but I'm also getting older.

 

Has anyone else experienced anything like this since using a Fiskars, I'm wondering if maybe the type of handle gives off some sort of vibration.

 

I'm not here looking to bash a product but simply asking of anyone's experienced similar and whether it could be the cause, it may just be I'm getting more prone to arthritis although if it was that I don't think it would have completely got better.

After decades of playing league hockey, tennis, squash, workshop hammering, axe work, hoeing sugar beet, shovelling corn, potatoes, my wrists said enough!  I built the splitter out of scrap during lockdown.  My X27, which I rate highly, has been put on one side and instead I operate a remote control which is bliss.

My wrists have gradually been improving with the rest.

We had a foggy start followed by a shower then it cleared and the sun came out

m Hope you have all had a wonderful day.  What a wonderful sunset to cap it all

Now this is what I call a split tree!  Any advice welcome

I find his arguments persuasive, what do you all think?

On 18/12/2022 at 07:32, Woodworks said:

Nice relaxing one for a wet Sunday morning 😃

 

We see division everywhere with no common goals nationally or internationally so are we at the  beginning of the end of our current way of life? 

I think that the level of personal debt is unsustainable together with one quadrillion dollars out there in the ether of derivatives that nobody understands means there is going to be one gigantic life changing crash soon.

On 19/12/2022 at 21:48, GarethM said:

Birth control in the tap water wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

I thought I posted some time ago that putting birth control in sugar would be a good idea.  It would free up the NHS  from a lot of problems with morbid obesity, diabetes, hip and knee operations and heart disease.  It would increase the active workforce, it would cut out those who have little self discipline not just with food but also money and having multiple children that they cannot cope with.  When you are retired and the old fella will not perform any more you can gorge on as much sugar as you like, die early of a heart attack and free up another room in an old folks home.

My uncle came across a van blocking a narrow lane near his farm in Norfolk.  So he parked his car in front of it and sat there reading the paper.  The van driver then opened the door of the van and took out his little dog and went for a walk up the lane.  A battle of two strong wills!  Uncle said I knew I would win as I had a whole book to read and I had all day!

On 13/12/2022 at 17:37, Doug Tait said:

I've had a lot of abuse from the general public over recent weeks while doing traffic management for roadside work, several threats of violence, a couple of people even got out their vehicle to "do me in", all in the name of being delayed for a few minutes by a traffic light.

 

Today we were working over a busy junction so 4 way lights operating, unfortunately someone posted on Facebook last week the lights are broken which has led to a substantial amount of drivers ignoring red lights, it was mayhem. When this happens I'll stop them and explain what's happening and how it is for their and our safety. A guy in a Navara took exception to being delayed and when I tried the polite explanation he totally lost it, came out his window punching me before trying to drag me by the collar alongside his truck! I dissuaded him at that point by gently squeezing his windpipe until he let go, then a lady got out her car filming him and asked if I wanted the police which calmed him down and he apologised.

 

I know as a driver myself how frustrating it is to be delayed but what gets in to people to behave like this over a couple of minutes at a traffic light?

 

Anyone else been assaulted at work?

Less likely I would have thought if you were holding an idling chainsaw in one hand!

On 22/12/2022 at 13:04, Patrick goulding said:

What are they field fare and red wings? It’s good though nice to see. They semt late this year we usually see them on the hawthorn berry’s. Great to see 👍 

Just had a closer look on the original  iPhone footage expanded and it seems that the vast majority are Redwings but also a lot of Fieldfares.  Not sure now about the Mistle Thrushes as it is hard to keep track 

There were also a lot on the hedges feasting off the red Hawthorn berries