flatyre

just being curious as I dream of building my own home some day, timber framed, stone and cladding exterior, zinc roof, something like a contemporary Hebridean Longhouse. You can buy similar kit homes from a number of suppliers but I can't help thinking I could save a lot of money making it myself. I have seen more and more timber framed homes being built locally and can't see anything beyond my own skill set (time served bricklayer, twenty years landscaping experience including a lot of joinery). I have no doubts I could with some help from friends still in the building industry, assemble a kit house, but what about supplying my own wood? I plan on keeping a recently acquired 070 and using it for hobby milling, but why not put it to use milling up the timber for a timber framed house? If you can buy in trailer loads of timber for processing into firewood, surely it would be reasonably cost effective to buy in a load for milling into lumber? Daft or possible?

i'll send them an email and see what they think, much appreciated. John

I don't think it will improve the amount I can carry, plus there is only so much chip can fit into the small load bed, even with gready boards, I doubt i'll ever exceed the max load of the vehicle. its more to improve handling and looks.

Hey folks there is a local guy breaking an L200 single cab and asked me if I needed any parts off it. Does anyone know it the leaf springs are the same in a single and double cab L200? and will an extra leaf compensate for the heavier tipping rear end? thanks.

Cheers guys unfortunately I don't have access to willow. I do have a pile of mixed logs which I was going to use, does the type of wood matter?

not being funny but if you can afford to buy 16 acres of woodland you should be able to afford a decent saw to maintain it:confused1:

much appreciated guys, will give both methods a go and see if I can get some free charcoal.

Hey folks just been reading Marko's 'growing firewood' thread and Spandit provided a link on making charcoal on the house fire. Has anyone tried this in a wood burning stove as I have the stove lit all winter and barbeque all summer and Tesco's charcoal is expensive and crap.

i'm all for redneck ingenuity, but even I wouldn't fancy operating that!

quick youtube link [ame] [/ame]

took the plug out of the contra this evening, good spark so poured some fresh petrol down the bore and gave it a pull and it fired up, carb needs an overhaul and fuel lines replaced but at least its a runner:thumbup:

I wasn't sure if they were 070's or not but thought i'd take a chance as some people still use 070's for milling. Failing that a collector might want them?

yeah the guy bought them over ten years ago, somehow he managed not to loose anything from the stripped one, all nicely sorted into tins and little cardboard boxes for the nuts and bolts.

Guy was selling a ride on mower on the local gumtree and mentioned he also had a couple of old Stihls for sale, seeing as he was only fifteen minutes down the road I decided to have a look. I don't know much about vintage Stihls but knew these might be worth buying IF they were decent models. They are both complete though the dismantled one doesn't have any gaskets, piston is scrap, and the sprocket cover has been poorly repaired, it could still be made into a runner again with a new piston as the bore is very good, the casing is still in one piece, and it shouldn't be too hard to make up a few gaskets, it also has a 36" bar, and two chains, one looks fairly new, the other has about a 24" bar. I think its a contra whatever that is? The model is 1106 and serial number378665, there are no obvious number or id plate on the stripped machine.

much appreciated:thumbup1:

interesting reading, seems I could claim more than I thought to reduce my taxable profit.

Would a 5.5hp Briggs and Stratton petrol engine power a duty cycle ram suitable for a small portable log splitter?

Don't I know it, check out my L200 build thread:blushing: In saying that I think most of these new breed pickups are over priced and not the robust work horses they used to be, can't say much about the Hilux but know of Rangers, Rodeos, and Navaras that are under five years old and all had major engine work.

something like this? Hydraulic 3 way steel diverter valve, DF3VIE 1/2" AP ACC | Diverter/Ball Valves | Hydraulic Valves

just have to keep plugging away, nowt else for it!

Much appreciated tree tastic, the missus has been great which really helps. My problem seems to be booking in work, as a newish business in a fairly congested sector, people are happy to wait months and months to have the big reputable firms fit them in, but when they phone me up unless I can do it right away then they move onto someone who can. Understandable they are prepared to wait on firms with established reputations, but it will be a few years before my business is a recognised name.

I thought you claimed for anything work related? I know a guy who takes his missus off to a hotel/spa one weekend every month and puts it down as work related stress relief!

I'll need to think about next years business plan over the winter. This year has been busy but not in a smooth organised way, pretty chaotic in fact. In order to get my business up and running I needed to take on grass cutting contracts to subsidise the landscaping work. Unfortunately its hard to run a tightly scheduled business alongside random landscaping and tree work, especially with our unpredictable weather. It also meant working ridiculous hours, working all day at the landscaping then all evening trying to maintain the grass schedule. I was coming home late at night shattered and barely able to stay awake long enough to eat my dinner. I didn't see the kids for days on end. I'm now at a bit of a crossroads, do I invest in better grass machinery which will save time, or move into wood processing? I'll be honest I really don't like cutting grass, don't know why. On the other hand for some reason I enjoy wood processing. Also as its more of a winter business, i'll be free to spend time with the family during the summer and have something to do during the winter when the landscaping tails off. How have you guys found juggling a multi service business? any tips welcome.

Well I've created 24 folders (money in and money out) and matching spreadsheets on the laptop, one for each month of the tax year, April 2016 to April 2017. Went through all receipts, invoices etc and filed them away accordingly. Unfortunately I'm missing a lot of fuel receipts, and also I just buy my lunch food when we do the weekly shopping for the house. Do I need to go through every receipt we have from Tesco etc. and mark off my lunch food? My van uses roughly £10 a day so can I not just mark down £50 or £60 a week for fuel and £30 for lunch food? Finally I have a zero hour casual contract with a government run estate, I am on PAYE and get taxed accordingly, do I need to incorporate this?

i'd take the embarrassment if it got the damn thing going:blushing: