Cae Ffynnon

Outstanding work, goes to show talent is always better than equipment...

Are the wetspots in a line following a contour? That would indicate ground water, spring line. Do they move up and down the slope with the seasons, ground water levels increse in winter and drop in summer. Any chance these are old mine workings of some sort that have been backfilled? If a new occurence has anything changed above the site to redirect water, or below to cause ponding? Any ponds or reservoirs been constructed downslope? Dowising is worth a try, it is more reliable than the electronic gizmos, to try and locate any pipes, field drainage etc. Dig a couple of trial pits, one in a wet bit, see whats there. One in the natural, have a look. Then fill with water and time how long they take to drain. Will give you an idea on porosity of the ground. Quick thoughts, over a brew. Chris

I know Network Rail are working with I think Swansea University to research an organic control measure for JK. Which boils down to, someone went out to Japan to find out why they aren't buried in the stuff. Turns out, JK has its own Aphid, which effectively controls it. A lot of testing has been undertaken to prove that this Aphid won't cause any problems over here. It only appears to feed on JK, and has/is about to be released on a few test sites. It will be an interesting one to follow. I also half caught something on the radio the other day, this bloke reckoned he had had success with planting spuds amongst JK. The spuds killing the JK off. Not sure how that would work, I know spuds have natural insecticide but not herbicide... Did make me wonder if there an Aphid which would control the numbers of politicans...

Just seen this thread, very fine sandpaper and lots of water will bring up a good surface. To short cut with elbow grease. It doesn't need sealing for a hearth. We haven't sealed the slate hearths we have. Slate is metamorphic, basically baked and compressed mudstone/shale. The risk with heat and any rock is trapped moisture becoming steam and exploding. Good looking slabs, probably set you back £600+ in a salvage yard.

Cracking vid, great presenting style. Looking forward to seeing more videos.

Had that with a Stanley Logger that showed up Minera, Wrexham last week on fleabay. Went to ring up after lunch, listing taken down. Auction as well, with eight days to go.. Still another one will come up.

The estate should be paying you to clear up for them....

I would go for breakfast in Pete eats in Llanberis and give the Horseshow a miss. The weather is rough as hell at the moment on the tops. Llanberis path is probably okay, if you have crampons and ice axes. The weather at the moment is likely to give rise to avalanches. Probably 2000' of ice to get over up to the summit. Chris in Snowdonia

The sooner they are all taken down for corruption the better. In the same week they passed a big solar farm outside of Four Crosses and refused a small one at Cilgwyn.. How many schemes that would bring much needed work have they stopped. Yet can shut all the village schools.

Justme. Gwynedd Council, is a law unto itself.. They have no conherent policies and are only contactable via the witches coven at the call centre.

What gets me is these bastards are supposed to work for us. Why have we allowed the civil service to create a situation where we can't do what we want with our own land. Some berk with a poxy house in suburbia can cover half his garden with a shed. Yet those of us in rural areas need to jump through allsorts of hoops to build a decent shed. Its even worse if your property is listed. Usually by some tosser who has no knowledge of buildings and hasn't even been close enough for a good look... I have no problem with building regs, but planning needs a serious amount of rethinking.

With a shotgun? I'll stick with Snowdonia, on a clear day I can see Ireland, look out out over Caernarfon and Anglesey. Roads have lichen growing on them its so quiet here. I'd leave the wind behind though, I know why residents of St Kilda used to go deaf during big storms. And the 1300mm of rain since 1st November. :thumbdown:

Sadly most things come from China or are really expensive.

There is no one correct answer to this problem. As a world we need to move to more local generation of power, this avoids the losses through transmission, its why the grid starts off at 400kv and reduces down as it gets to your house. The bigger the voltage the more efficient it is to transmit. Yes new builds should be built to use the best of current technology, without needing to be subsidised. What to do with all the older buildings, millions of homes and commercial buildings to be torn down and rebuilt? My own house is listed and i'm prohibited from energy improving features becausce it would change the look of the house.. Madness. Why build a barage across the Severn? That would be enviromental destruction on an enormous scale, millions of birds over winter there. I'm not against Nuclear, but can't see how the business model works, 35 year payback on the new plant at Hinckley, but can't see another clean way to provide the base load on the grid. It would take an awful lot of undersea tidal generators to to provide that sort of power. But they have a place, a prototype has recently been commissioned off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Remember though that some industrial sites will use as much in services as a city, its not just a question of keeping the lights on. Locally we have two pumped storage hydro-electric power stations that act like "batteries" fir the grid, there are others in Scotland. Another is planned a few miles away. More could be built, but unless you have a moutain range to loose them in.... not much use in southern England. A lot of scare mongering is being used regarding fracking. The boreholes will be in to layers a long way below the aquifers, geologically different rocks, which is why thet contain gas or oil. Earthquakes, well coal mining and quarrying can produce them as well. It will happen because it move reliance away from foreign fuel sources, and because Joe Public like the easiness that comes with burning it. I'm not an expert by any means, I'm not a left wing hippie, but I do think more can be done in a sustainable way, which requires a political will to liberalise planning laws and to modify building regs to allow greater use of local materials. Just my two pennies worth....

Interesting, did you look at any other bandsaws? I have a Startrite 351, but could do with something bigger.