Macpherson

Never had any Corsican pine and probably never will so I hope it works for you. I just brush it on as I mostly only have small quantities of milled timber for personal use, the last load I treated was about 60 x 8" boards so I made a plastic lined wooden trough to contain the stuff and also stood the treated planks in it to let the excess run back in, so it ended up more like a sheep dip which worked really well and I used far less solution, it was only through reading on this forum that I discovered borax for wood preservation. I always wear waterproofs, gloves and a full face shield just to be on the safe side, I did consider spraying and I suppose in controlled conditions there would be no reason why you couldn't spray....I just didn't fancy the risk of aerosol particles getting in my eyes or being breathed by me or anyone else. Having said that on a recent job some dry rot specialists were happily spraying a borax based product about everywhere with next to no ppe....I got well out the way.... Here's a link to some tech and safety info, cheers. http://www.chemicalbook.com/ChemicalProductProperty_EN_CB6233954.htm

Hi, I mix my own and have been successful at preventing blue stain / mould on milled timber even though it can be particularly damp up here in the west highlands, at the moment I've got douglas, pine and larch boards which have been stacked stickered for more than a year and is showing no sign of staining even though they gets damp when rain blows in sideways I use this which dissolves into 5 gallons and is very cost effective. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Borax-Sodium-Tetraborate-Decahydrate-99-9-Pure-Best-Grade-Available-1-Kilo-/112073697552?epid=600913216&hash=item1a181ce910:g:ONkAAOSwARZXmTcy I don't have too much worries about planing the milled timber but I always wear a mask anyway, although I did have someone reply to previous post warning of the risks associated with borax. but everything has risks if handled incorrectly, hope this helps, cheers.

Slight derail, but on the subject of alternative engine design I came across this a few years ago. Originally designed for model planes but developed for hand held applications. http://www.rcvengines.com/applications_forestandgarden_engines.html

Aye ye seem to be gettin by alright now

Yeah, really liking the new set up as I get used to it, I'm not great with all the in and outs of computers but I'm finding this straight forward and easy to navigate so far.

Hi, this may be what your looking for, unfortunately you got to pay for it to find out, someone else may be able to point you in the direction of a free version. https://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/274701984-stihl-ms-240-ms-260-service-repair

Hi, having re-investigated the uses of borax powder solution since reading the info provided earlier in this thread, and just to satisfy myself that I'm not being exposed to unnecessarily to any danger, I've not come up with any reason to stop using it. It would seem that the borax method of treating timber is considered to be the natural way as opposed to many of the brand name products in which the active ingredient is permethrin. Obviously you ultimately have to make up your own mind when deciding how to treat your woodworm problem. I've no scientific training so I'll correct myself in that the solution I use is 10 per cent not saturated, also it's borax crystal powder solution not boric acid {if that makes a difference}. I'm sure there are folk on here who have more experience of using this stuff than myself. https://www.greenshop.co.uk/documents/borax_timber.pdf There's a lot of reading out there on this subject, much of it tangled in controversy, but if it was me I'd inject it down the holes to get the woodworm, once successfully treated fill the holes with epoxy, re-sand and re-oil and I doubt if there would be any residual danger, good luck.... whatever you decide to do.

Fair enough, I know It was used historically for many things, which of course doesn't mean that it's considered safe these days and appreciate your knowledge and experience on the subject. Perhaps I'll need to have another look into the subject regarding the safety aspects of handling borax crystal solution when treating timber, I'm generally careful with all chemicals and I avoid skin contact with this as much as possible. Regarding the treatment of milled products as I described... would you also consider this to be dodgy / unsafe?...... I haven't found anything else that works as well....thanks for the info

Yep, boric can be used, if you google it, in the past it had many different uses including sterilising and preserving surfaces and food amongst many other things, there's been much on here about it as regarding preventing blue stain / fungal stuff etc. on fresh milled timber, the Crystals are real cheap on fleabay, 1 kg makes into a 5 gallon saturated solution. Borax, Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate, 99.9% Pure, Best Grade Available, 1 Kilo | eBay Of course this natural substance is not currently being recommended as being ' natural ' product it can't be patented, ......cheers.

Amazing craftsmanship, thanks for that.

Yeah, I,m no expert, I only looked into it a little out of curiosity after coming across a similar scene to the op some years ago. cheers for the info.

Hi, I don,t think they'll kill the tree, certainly the trees I noticed this on all survived and haven't been re-infested since I noticed it several years ago, the web will disappear eventually. It's interesting that your trees are whitebeam as the article I left the link to says that the bird-cherry is they're specific food source, cheers.

Yeah, saw it last on a small prunus in Mugdock country park just to the north of Glasgow which you may know, cheers. The most disliked moth? - Scottish Wildlife Trust

I've got an ms650 simply because it came up when I was looking for 660, the 6.7cc less doesn't bother me,as far as I remember at the time I bought it Stihl wanted a saw in the 85cc bracket in order to appease the US epa emissions legislation. I'm fairly sure it's the same bottom end and I think 660 top end would fit from what I've read { perhaps with some slight mods } but I don't know how the heavier piston would effect the balance of the crank / vibes , somebody will.......I've not had any problems with mine...cheers

Yep, I got a link to these from a thread on here not that long ago, previously I could only get the much shorter ones that Rob's talking about, having said that they don't go in the Granberg as that requires bits that thread in as opposed to being held by collets. The Granberg sharpener is a great tool and gets milling chains bang on and although I've used it freehand many times to quickly touch a normal chain, the dremel at 33,000 rpm is much faster and sits nicer in the hand. When I googled the Granberg just now I got 2 results for rpm 14,000 and 24,000, I don't have it with me at the moment but I'll need to put a tacho on it at some point just out a curiosity. Cheers.

Hi, I've been looking into water jet cutting {for metal} but while looking online I noticed some stuff about folks cutting wood this way, perhaps if you could get it to a size that the machines would accept it may be worth a try, interestingly enough Nottingham seems to have several companies and the university involved in doing this type of work, ....just a thought.

Dremel 1453 Chainsaw Sharpening Attachment with 4 Grinding Stones, Guage & Guide | eBay There you go, the diamond rotary files are much better as they don't lose their diameter through use but you'll get a fair few sharpens with the stones, cheers.

Items in Gloster Tooling store on eBay ! I use these in a dremmel fitted with a sharpening angle guide, a 240v in the workshop asnd a 12v with a power pack for when I'm out and a Granberg also with diamond rotary files for the milling chains. A rotary FILE is still a file and these leave a superb finish and you'd need to be extremely heavy handed to cause any blueing of the teeth. The small burr that can form on the top edge of the tooth also happens when hand filing and traditionally would simply be knocked off with the wooden handle of the file once the tooth had been sharpened. Most of the firewood I cut {for myself} is clean, but I can totally imagine the frustration of trying to make a living cutting firewood with stuff that's been dragged out of a wood with the bark full of mud and stones, for that reason most of the wood I mill whether by bandsaw or chainsaw gets the bark removed first, not a nice job and I would imagine totally impractical for the OP. Cheers.

Hi, I would agree that sycamore isn't very durable outside but I've used it fairly often , if it's any help I coat it with many thin coats of rubbed on chinese tung oil thinned 50/50 with clear spirit based wood preserver as opposed to white spirit and a touch of oil paint driers {terebene} to get it to dry more quickly, the main problem with linseed oil is that there's a good chance of it getting mildew and turning black. cheers.

Hi, assuming nothing is damaged or missing what about a slight rag left on the edge of the blade from the sharpening process, it wouldn't take much to cause the prob you've described, cheers.

If it's any help I use driers with pure tung oil which speeds up drying time considerably and stops the finish feeling rubbery, I find this makes a fairly big difference, cheers. https://www.manomano.co.uk/catalogue/various/rustins-paint-driers-250ml-blend-of-chemicals-to-speed-the-drying-of-oil-2293713?g=1&referer_id=537135&gclid=Cj0KEQjwxPbHBRCdxJLF3qen3dYBEiQAMRyxS1dl8xvssqOufUNhUiMemQI0fnr3hEm6hbRDidBbIkoaAohE8P8HAQ

Hi, I just get epoxy resin on ebay, it's readily available and not too expensive, cheers.

Yeah, I was surprised to be informed of this recently whist talking to a forestry manager about the timber they were harvesting near me, having said that it may just be going for sarking and strapping etc although it's normal to see 4 x 2" sticks etc in the local timber yard with very few growth rings, and it's just rubbish to work with in my opinion. I,m just about to start using some Douglas that was milled last year...beautiful wood...the trouble is that once you start using your own decent timber there's just no comparison to most of the stuff in the average builders merchants, cheers.

I know the FC supply Sitka to Jewsons and the likes for constructional use but personally I hate the stuff that's grown here, I would imaging it's probably completely different timber when grown in the far north as opposed to the soggy weeds that grow here in the west. Scots pine, Doug fir, and euro Larch if you can get it, are my favourites, cheers.

Good shout on the diamond bits, cheers