Billhook

Do not think that you can beat a Lucas if you have a huge log and need lots of floor boards i have a slabber and eventually made it easy to use with an electric winch, but I became so enthusiastic that I have ended up with a shed full of beautiful slabs which are far too many as there are only so many tables that I can deal with! The Lucas can also make lap boards but the main reason I like it is because it is so easy to keep sharp and because the centrifugal effect of the high speed blade keeps the cut very true. Much more so than you would think given the initial wappy feeling of the frame. I also like the fact that it will tackle or even prefer very hard and difficult logs that may cause a band Mill some problems, perhaps resulting in a wavy board. ( expecting a degree of flak from Woodmiser owners for that one!) Bought my 8 inch model and new in 1996 and it has been completely reliable.

Good attempt Matthew! Where your black arrow is I would leave the botto of the 50 gallon drum intact and put it below where the Spring is coming out of the hill and cut a hole into the back of it the advantage of a screw top is that I can inspect as well as keeping out foreign materials. i might push some land drain tiles back into the Spring as far as I dare and fill in around them with more gravel Where do you go to have the water tested?

Thanks for that i have looked at several YouTube films of doing the job A lot seem to use quick setting cement to prevent the water creeping around the sides of the main dam or pipe or whatever i was thinking of carefully digging out a chamber hopefully without disturbing the Spring and putting a 50 gallon screw top grapefruit container inside which I would seal in with clay. An inlet cut out at the Spring end, fill the container with gravel and have an outlet pipe on the other side feeding the cattle trough with an overflow pipe slightly above As for licences And regulations Stubby, I would not be surprised if some little nerd in an office with nothing better to so has already made up a series of forms to fill in and licences to be paid for before you are allowed to have a quiet pee behind a tree in the woods. Dangerous hazardous waste and all that, especially if you have been drinking some of those Southern beers!

We have a couple of springs half way up a hillside which have never stopped running last year or even in 1976 drought Have any of you successfully and reliably tapped one? i was initially going to feed a cattle drinking trough in the field but if the water tested potable I would bottle it and drink it i assume that it would be a mass of regulations to go on to sell it.

And no low power lines or overhanging branches or big ruts in the road!

People round here think I am a real man because I use a chainsaw and can fell trees, but on watching this incredible documentary I realise that I am just a wimp!

Going through the middle of London with a chainsaw? I am surprised that you were not arrested in these days of knife crime in such a violent city!

I am not on Facebook so where else can I safely donate?

Well Done! Any interesting stories to tell? Any photos of the feet. Has to be worth a fiver per blister!

What time did Andy do it in?

I agree

"Med Stikkan kloveren behover du like hugge fingrene af med oksen , nar du skal klove dit trae til optaending.” I just put the bit of Danish on the label into Google translate and it came up with "With the Stikkan clover, you also need to cut your fingers off with the bull when you have to cleave your wood for picking up." I gave the instructions to my Danish wife to translate and her version was " With the Stikkan knife you can slice the wood without cutting your fingers off with an axe" So much for google translate!!!!

I feel that I have not been fair to this old Danish tool My Danish friend who brought it over said that it was mainly used in towns and flats for making kindling out of smaller pieces of wood. In those days it was all wood stoves for heat. We set about it again using smaller lumps and we could see that it would be very effective in certain situations. Less noise than chopping and safer. So sorry Mr Stikkan ” Med Stikkan kloveren behover du like hugge fingrene af med oksen , nar du skal klove dit trae til optaending.” Or so it says on the label!

If the kitten was a slab of wood you would say what a lovely burr grain! Hang on, Burr rhymes with purr. So Burr it is then!

Well, its an ill wind that blows nobody any good, so lets us hope something positive comes out of this tragedy. Perhaps a good start would be to review the vulnerability to fire of all the beautiful UK Cathedrals and Churches and install sprinklers and hydrants where appropriate.

Owwwwwhhhh my finger!

You are right Gimlet I sharpened it today and was quite pleased to find the blade of good quality and sharp enough to shave with. Mounted it vertically and securely on a vertical beam similar to the video. Now I am not small and quite strong but I really struggled to split even a small round of ash. My wife certainly could not work it. I shall be sticking to my Quicksplitter and will hang the device in my "Bygone Tools" museum!

In a huge case of synchronicity I have just received a present from some friends from Denmark who have just come to stay. Each time we visit each other we men try to find an unusual present. Generally some old tool from the past that’s use has been lost in time. last thing I took to him was a battery terminal cleaner, this time he brought this! Now I had never heard of these devices until I saw the one posted above I need to sharpen the blade and fix it on the wall and report back!

I was not trying to make kindling here but it does demonstrate the speed of a kinetic splitter and the decreased risk of chopping your fingers off compared to trying to split small logs with an axe.

another good one to watch from a Greenpeace activist

This is precisely the kind of talk which tries to shut down reasoned debate. The 97% of all scientists figure quoted by Obama is from a very unscientific survey Most agree that the planet is warming but there is no scientific consensus that human activity is causing it When they examined the ice cores they discovered that over time CO 2 levels increased after warming and not before. How do you explain that? There has also been a deliberate manipulation of figures to give the worst possible outcome which does not help the case for man made warming. As I have said before if we concentrate on preserving our natural resources and try to improve air quality it would be something most people would agree on If you really want to tackle the problem messing about with tier 4 emissions and the like is pissing in the wind Yoi also need to stop all Military activity on the planet which must be a top polluter and waste of resources You also have to address the human population growth issue which will mean big fines on more than one child or even compulsorily sterilisation for those who continue to breed It is the truth and one day mankind has to face it but what political party is going to win on that manifesto?

I am worried about the accusation of being a climate change denier. Nobody denies that the climate changes the question is how much influence does human activity have on it. There is a hypothesis that humans are causing it and like all scientific theories it needs to stand up to analysis and it is worrying and unscientific not to challenge that particular theory. There are many other possibilities such as our orbit with the sun, the activity of the sun itself, the changing orbits of the planets, the heat coming from the Earth's core, general radiation variations. You cannot shut down conversation by shouting insults when the issue is mired with politics.

The Blackthorn Winter may just be a local saying for the East of England, Norfolk/Lincolnshire/ Yorkshire

I think that is a vindication!

I ain't perfect. I and E with me as in believe and ceiling and for some reason typing on the computer is worse than handwriting Last night played tennis under a plastic bubble but was pelted by a heavy hail storm as I walked from the car and the ground was white over as was I. I distinctly heard my father's voice. " Told you son, Blackthorn Winter!"