Macpherson

Algae bloom ??? ?

I wouldn't worry yet...looking back into the distant past I've had at least 2 other lives since then ?

Hi, yeah I've got a Pioneer 620 stripped for restoration if I ever get round to it....rescued from a bonfire, it's previous owner wanted to see if the magnesium would burn, pretty sure it's a Villiers engine but if I remember correctly it's got a tillotson carb. Another Villiers engine......probably

Yeah, I run my Yamaha outboards on Stihl HP ultra. 100:1's probably only fine long term as they really don't get hot { until the impeller goes } and compared to a modern saw are in a very low state of tune, really thirsty and also under very little stress compared to most other 2 strokes. I remember some of the 2 stroke old bikes I had, mostly powered by Villiers engines used to have the oil measure cup built onto the bottom of the gas tank cap.....Now they were smoky. The lead did act as a lubricant and to prevent pre-ignition, back in the day I ran my Triumphs on 5 star at 11-1 +, don't really like fecking 2 strokes ? cheers.

Very very nice?

Had a skyline operation taking out wood on a hill behind me last year, interesting to watch...they left a real clean job.... compared to the mess left by the mob harvesting the block next to them.

Very nice...good luck

Yeah, me too....big style ?

I would imagine that going back a long time Ireland and Scotland would have been inhabited with similar species.... on Rannoch moor for instance I know the roots of the ancient Caledonian pine forest can be dug out, so if it's old enough to be buried in a peat bog ....who knows. I think the programme I saw about the pine tar was from Scandanavia, Cheers.

Just a thought....depending what the root is from it may be full of natural ' creosote ' if it was a pine I think these roots were dug out at one time and used to produce pine tar....but very nice anyway.

Totally agree, at the end of the day it's all about temperature, with the correct mixture just keep it gassed up..... basically only thing that needs bedded in is the piston ring in a modern engine.? Thinking about it i doubt if hardly anything today needs running in..... if it did it would be a nightmare for the manufacturers.

As this worked out well for you, fair enough......perhaps if only at tickover with the flywheel fan keeping it cool enough it may be ok.... but with 2 strokes very little fuel = very little oil. When running in or even just normal running of a powerful 2 stroke dirt bike for instance you keep it gassed up as much as poss... not necessarily using all it's power but blipping the throttle constantly to put as much fuel through as possible, I must admit to doing this with my saws even just in normal use......old habits die hard....just my take on it, cheers.

I wonder if this idea might be practical to help you get any particularly nice pieces that you want to keep up to a high enough temperature to kill any beasties...all you really need is a wallpaper steamer. I've tried this and the wood does get very hot but them it also gets wet. https://www.google.com/search?q=steaming+wood+in+a+bag&rlz=1C1GGRV_enGB751GB752&oq=steaming+wood&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.14429j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1

Hi, just used my new msa 200 for the first time yesterday, well impressed. A garden clean up, generally used it all afternoon pruning small trees and cutting up anything of size for the fire......it went down to 2 bars on the battery but by the time I got home it was back up at 3....looking forward to seeing how much firewood I can do on 1 charge, +1 for the ap300 battery. The chainbrake is the off switch...but not really any use when released to access the chain... so I recon it's real important to take the battery out before messing with the chain, a light for the oil would probably be handy as on my other cheap Chinese battery saw I often forget. cheers.

Similar happened on Skye a few years back, the high voltage set the machine on fire so the poor bloke eventually had to jump and was killed pdq, can't remember how many volts but I think just about any overhead power are well dodgy.....it looks your driver had one foot in the grave from the photo, lucky man, cheers.

Just a thought....you've got to remember whatever species you burn the trees slowly grown in high Scandinavia bear very little resemblance to the same species grown for instance in the wet environment here in Scotland....never mind further south. I have a cabin made of arctic circle spruce { Norway I presume }, the growth rings are 1 - 2 mm apart and the wood is quite hard and dense.... In the FC plantation near to me the Spruce albeit Sitka the gap between the rings can often be up to 1/2" so carting that away for firewood is a bit soul destroying as it's very wet and weighs sfa when dry....the shit you buy in Jewsons or a post that rots in 3 years ! As a matter of comparison I recently dropped a self seeded stand alone Sitka and as soon as I knocked out the gob I was delighted to see how tight grained it was compared to the same trees a 100 yards away in a plantation....it was knocking on for 80 years old 75' and about 30" dbh. whereas other trees of the same size recently harvested were only 35 - 40...... I burn mostly Birch and love it....I do dampen down at night, it really never goes out and every now and then I use a bit of chipboard to raise the temp enough to set up the flue and have a controlled burn. Arctic circle Birch must be amazing firewood....can't wait to try the tatty peelings?

Hi, yeah your probably right there...I read somewhere that the holes you see are from when the adult bugs emerge and fly off so it can be a good idea to find out if the infestation is still active....one way of doing this is to hoover up all the dust as best you can and wait till the appropriate time of year to see if more dust appears or not....I know with furniture and small stuff for instance folk inject down the holes to get the larvae, but obviously that's not practical for you, cooking the wee buggers might be the way to go. I still think a borax solution could be a good cost effective way of protecting any timbers of your property that are so far untouched.....When I mix up a solution to paint on freshly milled timber 1kg of powder dissolves into 5 gallons of {hot} water so it goes quite far. good luck. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Borax-Sodium-Tetraborate-Decahydrate-99-9-Lab-Grade-500g-1KG-2KG-5KG-10KG-25KG/321094621563?hash=item4ac2bb197b:m:mpNzfokOBvQTL1AwYsJjjnQ:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

Hi, also look into treating the timber and any other timbers with a sodium borate solution... borax, it's the been the basis of many wood treatments and other stuff for decades and the common salt is real cheap on ebay .. give it a google.

I'm up the west coast, the prevailing wind is more than often SW....a lot of rain and even so my air dried firewood at the moment is sitting at about between 12 - 15 % mc after roughly 9 months. Mostly Birch and Alder. 1" boards are at about the same or quicker than the firewood and most of the big stuff, Larch, cedar and Douglas mostly [ 2 1/4" ] will get to a similar mc in about 12 - 15 months. We quite often get drying easterly with some sun in the spring at which point I usually try to take advantage and rip to a slight oversize if I know what I'm gonna use it for, re-stack inside for a while to get it a bit drier before using as is or planing to a finish. I'm not doing this as a commercial operation and while on the one hand it's therapeutic and enjoyable... ..on the other it's got to be at times the most effin frustrating thing I've ever done ....... However as a late starter I've really got the folk on here to thank for the wealth of knowledge and experience that's freely passed on, making what's { at least to me } a really steep learning curve much more achievable... so cheers ??

Personally I don't think trying to rush seasoning works at all, it's fine for firewood, but if you want to use the timber to make something which your going to invest a lot of time and effort in it really wants to be as stable as possible....and time is the answer, just my take on it..........and as you said.. some Larch being possibly the most frustrating to mill and stack, goes as hard as nails and then moves and goes banana when you plane off an 1/8" ???

Wow that's quite severe......from the photo the top cut looks a bit wavy as well. +1 for the Granberg......and diamond burrs

Interesting vid, thanks.....just about to send off a pair to be resoled... to that workshop presumably, cheers.

Burning cherry at the moment, cut and split in June I think and air dried outside, currently about 12 - 14 mc....lovely stuff

In a nutshell. What channel please ?

+1 for corrugated sheets, I tie round the stack with rope which gives a kind of nissen hut effect and slip of timber under one end so any wind blown water can run off.