Billhook

None at the house yet but I love them when they first come. They seem so pleased to have made it back that they fly in and out of the car port sometimes only a few feet over our heads accompanied by a lot of twittering. (Not the Trump kind!) They seem to like the wind vane with the two Airedales and treat it like it was their fairground waltzer! Not a very good example here as they seem to enjoy sitting on it when it is spinning much more violently [ame] [/ame]

We are always a bit later here in Lincs but a pair were flying around the lake this evening rather wishing they were back in South Africa I should think with the cold strong wind!

There seem to be many different cone shapes as well as different thread coarseness. The Atomsplitter which is shown here Welcome to The 300 Ton Atom Splitter - Certainly has a different design and deals with the larger timber The logs in the Black video would easily go through the Palax Exac-One Ltd - Timber Splitter and if you click on the video, I see he has the same problem as my cone in that in some knotty pieces it just bores a hole rather than splits My cone certainly is narrower and is not as flared at the top but I would have thought that it would penetrate the log better being narrow but perhaps not so good on the final split. Which Black model did you order? Please let us know how it works for you

Yes I think that you are spot on there. Bit of a learning curve here and a bit of patience would help. The last video he bores into one end of the big log by the knot and nothing happens apart from boring a hole,( a bit like my first attempt) until he tries the other end, starting right at the end. I have another digger track motor which may not be quite so worn and may try that one if no more progress is made.

Or better still this [ame] [/ame]

Encouraged by the success of my post hole digger adaptation on the from of the Matbro Teleporter, http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/video-forum/105418-teleporter-hydraulic-auger.html I bought a cone screw splitter from Poland to fit in place of the auger. It has a negative thread so anticlockwise rotation but became stuck in a relatively small bit of ash. I had to lift the log to spin it to release the cone by "hammering" it against another log. It may be that I just need to have a bit more power as the hydraulic motor is worn, or it may be that the cone is not a good design. [ame] [/ame] This is what I was trying to achieve [ame] [/ame]

My father planted several acres of poplar in 1960 when Bryant and May were encouraging the idea. The graph of match use was about forty five degrees upwards, everyone smoking like no tomorrow. Father always said that I would make a fortune in the year 2000 out of them The year 2000 came and most people had packed up smoking and those that still did used butane lighters.................. A chance remark from someone who had been living in Oregon gave me the idea to build a log cabin out of some of the straightest. He told me that poplar was used for house building there and that there was a 120 year old Church that had been built from it. I went on a log cabin course in Devon with Dan Franklin at Woodenways.com He came up in 2000 with a team and we built the cabin seen on his site in the first and third photos (with the swans) Log Cabins | Woodenways We used forty trees and built with the full scribe method. The base was laid a couple of feet up on half a dozen large stones to have plenty of air around and keep it well away from moisture. It has no rot at all seventeen years later. We have used quite a bit of the poplar on the fires and I would agree with the comments from Stubby, Skyhuck and Big J As for growth rates a lot depends on the soil type, moisture content and which direction the slope is facing. If all is well they grow fast.

Buy three of these FUEL / PETROL & CHAIN OIL CHAINSAW COMBI CAN 5.5L + 3L IDEAL FOR STIHL USERS | eBay and one of these Permanent marker pens waterproof bullet tip - RED, BLUE, BLACK *High Quality* | eBay Not trying to be too clever but at these prices not too bad an option

Found several 12 bore cartridges in a cupboard that must be over 70 years old, tried one in the gun and it went "Bang" as opposed to "Pop".

Go and have a word with Bunnings in Norfolk, they make strong machines! [ame] [/ame] Failing that, when things break just keep singing this song by the Sanctified Grumblers.......it will make you feel better! [ame] [/ame]

P-51 Packard Merlin, turn up the volume! [ame] [/ame]

A couple more thoughts on subsidies. When I started farming in 1970 there were hardly any rules. I could grow what I liked, trim trees, cut down trees, pull up hedges, put up buildings and do what I liked with the old farmhouse.(now listed) We never did rip up the countryside as we had to live with it or mess about too much with the house. My ancestors planted most of the oaks and I and my father have planted many more because we love trees and nature The money from the EU seemed ok to start with but the supermarkets soon learned how much farmers were being paid and adjusted their payment accordingly to a point where most farmers are being screwed into the ground and surviving on previous profits or diversification, selling land for building or maybe having a large farmer contract farm their land. With the payments came all the rules, and there are so many rules that a farmer may as well not own his land. Sort of nationalisation by the back door. If the rules are broken there is a fine imposed by a little bureaucrat somewhere that is disproportionate to the offence and there is no judge and jury. For instance a tractor driver may be distracted for a second ploughing the headlands and cut into the field margin only by a few inches and the fine is imposed across the whole farm and may be several thousands of pounds. Certainly more than I would be fined for mugging an old lady or shoplifting. The politicians have achieved exactly what they wanted, and that was to control the farmers who are all runnng around like blue arsed flies trying to adhere to these rules. The supermarkets make more rules and fines. The value of the wheat in a £1.00 loaf is only about 5p so you can see where the profit goes. I am the average age of a British farmer at 63 and if it was all a bed of roses where are all the young farmers?

During World War 2 there was a desperate food shortage in the UK. Before the war we were reliant on shipping bringing in food from all over the world but German U boats put a stranglehold on the country. "Dig for Britain" campaign meant that every bit of land, park, garden was dug up to grow food. The great cry after the war was to make our farming efficient enough to feed ourselves so that we would never have to endure such hardship again. Grants were given to rip up hedges to make fields more manageable for larger machinery. A lot of money was put into plant breeding, chemical control, fertiliser development and education. Apart from those subsidies there was a deficiency payment if the price of wheat for instance fell below a certain level the government would step in and prop up the price to prevent bankruptcy and introduce a bit of stability. This system seemed to work well without anyone complaining about farmers receiving this help The EEC changed things. By the time I started farming in 1970 we had increased the yield of wheat from about 1.5 tons/acre to 3 tons/acre and by 1984 it was nearer 4 tons and the EU had to buy the surplus wheat and store it in intervention stores. At the time there were "Grain Mountains" and "Wine Lakes" all costing a lot of money to store Something had to be done so "Set Aside" was invented whereby we had to set aside 10% of all our land to fallow. We were paid for this but not nearly as much as if we grew a crop. This was eventually changed in a political move to a "Single Farm Payment" which was designed to make farmers unpopular in the eye of the public by being deemed to be paid for doing nothing. The main aim of this was to make subsidies for farmers so unpopular that they could withdraw it altogether. Back to square one then, import cheap food from abroad. Farming does not pay, land reverts to scrub and a whole generation of farmers sons head for the bright lights of the city. The fact is we were at our healthiest as a country in WW2 as we did not eat too much and become too fat. The drive for ever cheaper food just for the sake of it does no one any favours except the supermarkets.

[ame] [/ame]

I think her name is Chalara and if you were to venture into a serious stump grinding session with her you may find yourself with an uncomfortable case of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus leading to stump dieback!

"We all travel along the same railway line , but where we get off is a different matter..." Except for Southern Rail on strike where we do not travel!

Not the worst thing to cut, maybe the worst thing to watch! [ame] [/ame]

Yes I am pleased and proud that England won but Scotland were not overwhelmed in the way Ireland were in this clip [ame] [/ame] The way I remember the game on Saturday is that the scrums were 50:50 as were the line outs. I cannot remember many turn overs and very few handling errors. Tackling errors yes but trying to stop Joseph on his beautifully times runs would be beyond most players. Scotland put quite a lot of pressure on England at times. I have sat in the South West corner many a time and some games where one side was dominant, you had a rotten half visually as a spectator as the action was all down the other end. This was not the case on Saturday. I just think that the score did not reflect the game. Maybe 42 to 21 would have been fairer. Scotland have been playing well up till now and it is a real body blow to suffer such a defeat. Just a shame to knock their increasing confidence as I would love to watch more even games like the Welsh Irish match which was genuinely exciting.

I think that the reason we have not heard from the OP Logdesperate is that having lit the blue touch paper on this forum, he is now cheerfully warming his hands on his computer screen!

Tyres are good with new ones on the front LAND ROVER TYRES 600-16 and 750-16 For Sale on Car And Classic UK [C330200] But you are spot on with rest of your comment, especially about the weight being spread at the rear. It was just a demonstration to show that on a level grass field, no special off road course, that a six wheel drive Landie with five wheels turning can fail to progress to the surprise of many, except for the knowledgeable few on here! PS Good job the rain held off until Saturday night for the Rugby!

I still stand by my opinion that Scotland did a great deal of good work and that it is a bit unfair to judge them harshly when they were down to 14 men and lost a key figure with Hogg injured. They showed great spirit and determination at the end when many a side would have just given up. Joseph's tries were a piece of individual magic and impossible to defend against. I just read John Barclay's comments on the game and I am amazed that they still could come second in the six nations! "“It’s pretty dark at the moment but we get to finish with Italy at a sold-out Murrayfield and still have the possibility of finishing second. So there’s a lot to play for but we also have to learn some lessons.” "

Went to Twickenham yesterday and was slightly underwhelmed by the massive England victory. Felt sorry for Scotland who played well and tackled hard and never gave up right up to the end. The final score did not reflect their strong performance against the favourites. All the players are so good now that there are hardly any errors. Few penalties given away near the posts and very few handling errors. It only needs a small mistake now or an unlucky bounce to make a try scoring opportunity. All the tries were excellent but the game did not really flow. By contrast I was on the edge of my seat watching the Wales/ Ireland game. It was 80 minutes of full steam, great Rugby and the tackling was so brutal you wonder how those young men's bodies will stand it. Maybe they will start to introduce American football type of protection at some point. Anyone else feel the same?

It is my special field for demonstrating to people who think their 4x4 is invincible, that it is not! The one wheel which is not turning you can see has quite a chunky tread on it, as have the other five, but they have been turned into slicks by the sticky clay. In this case I do not think locking diffs across each axle would have made any difference,. Charging the mud may have helped if momentum was maintained on the other hand it may just put you deeper in the mud. In the same way letting the air out of the tyres which are crossply I do not think would have helped but I am willing to be corrected on this. I was very impressed with a German friend when we were in Namibia driving over very soft sand on the way to Sossusflei. We had bottomed out in a really soft patch of sand and the chassis was resting on the sand. He let the air out of the tyres. I thought that all it would do was make the chassis go down even further onto the sand but the Defender just pulled out easily. I am not sure how that translates into sticky clay.

I suppose y'all would have found it a more interesting video if Sandringham Sydney had suddenly found a bit of traction while I was outside filming and had started off towards the beck with me running after it!

This is delightfully dated. Perhaps I should invite them over to try the grass field if they still exist! [ame] [/ame]