Puffingbilly413

Interesting - I genuinely love it. Occasionally frustrating but more often than not that's down to my rushing. Find the whole process quite cathartic.

Would agree with what everyone has posted above. Will only add that in my experience a lo-pro set up works great on my 48" panther mill with a full house chain (using both 661 and 881) but have stuck to .404 (mix of hyper skip and skip chain depending) on my larger panther with a 6' GB bar. The thing to watch out for here is bar sag and the weight and/or power of the saw can pull the mill slightly out of alignment making adjustments between cuts a bit more fiddly - this is further compounded when doing deeper cuts. I have the extra long uprights that allow a 24" cut for milling from the bottom up. Definitely worth doing despite having to take your time and be much more careful. After a few sessions cutting larger and deeper stuff you do get used to it. If you haven't already watched them check out all Rob D's videos on YouTube - I found them invaluable. Perhaps also check out the panther intersect videos. I have one of these too but haven't really used it in anger yet but @doobin you might find that useful for what you're after?

Very interesting. Mine is a different stove but my jets have also become less frequent. The ropes and glass gasket are overdue for a change so I'll definitely get that done. Thanks 👍

If you want to do it old school, Google FMT 1001 or ATUD. It's what the MoD has used for decades. No reason why you couldn't put it on excel or whatever if you didn't want paper docs.

Interestingly a lot of old folk up in Scotland will still refer to sycamore as plane. Don't hear it that often anymore though.

Not sure if it's been mentioned already - didn't read all of this. Brash/arisings removal is where your time and money is at rather than the actual cutting. That's what should really dictate 'your' quote. Others might differ.

It is indeed.

Move to Wales or Scotland then Eggs

Was going to say the same thing - lime bark always wants to come off when the wood is being split. N maple won't be the same. The cut face in the photos suggests n maple to me but I have been know to be wrong... I wonder if there are any tell-tale buds or seeds in with the timber that might help? And yes, lime isn't a dense timber when dry so more trips to fill up the stove. But it does burn well - just fast.

Ah ok - never knew that one existed so I stand corrected! Good to know actually. Thanks Joe. But I guess the the point I was trying to make is that rigging knowledge for ground staff seems to be fairly random. Most - as we seem to agree - have never done any formal training. That's not to say they need it - nothing wrong with being taught in house or learning by experience. It's just making sure that people are working within their capabilities at the end of it.

No just responding to your post. The assumption seems to be that ground staff involved in rigging should know their stuff. They should. Climbers similarly involved should too. Difference is that non-climbing ground staff don't really have a formal training option. So the onus to train them is on the trained - the climbers. I know it's not that simple in reality of course I do.

How many ground staff complete rigging courses...? It's always been a beef of mine that rigging training in the UK (formal courses at least) is climber centric. The onus is then on the employer to ensure the groundie is trained and competent.

Lawsons also has a translucent gland in the leaf that you should be able to spot when holding up to the light. WRC you don't even need to have your eyes open as the pineappley smell is unmistakable.

Not in the same league as this one but I used to own an '83 Mk1 Golf GTI and it was the scariest car I've ever driven. Brakes awful out of the factory and massive understeer. Swapped it for a bottle of wine in 2004 when I had to move abroad with work at short notice. So wish I'd been clever enough to keep it. I've looked it up but sadly seems it's no longer on the road. Dread to think what it would have been worth now.

The spoiler is a good spot for sharpening a saw on too

Seems unlikely but impossible to gain much from a few photos. Can you see healthy winter buds? In any case it's a street tree so more than likely council owned. If you're concerned then flag it up to them. They should have a look at some point before the end of time.

Chains will stretch from new so you'd need to adjust the chain tensioner accordingly. Often the tensioners on cheaper saws aren't that great so you might need to re-tension more often. Could be that?

Blimey that is quick - I'll definitely give some a try next chance I get. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the reply - in arb it tends to be (but not always) limes that are being removed due to K deusta colonisation and subsequent degradation of the timber. Hence some of it can be nicely spalted. Is this in any way desirable with lime or is it best 'clean'. Better to mill up a few beams to sit and dry until demand is proven or would you say better to mill up, say, 2" boards. How's the stability as it dries?

What sort of dimensions do you process lime into? I was aware it is popular with carvers, turners etc but never got as far as doing anything useful with any lime I come across. And does it matter which of the tilia spp it is?

I treat it like softwood. Find it dries well and burns fine - just goes hot and quick like softwood. If the bark looks like it's coming off easily then I'll pull it off. Lime always seems quite wet when green so perhaps this has helped mine dry quicker. I'll keep a bit if it's nice and straight but otherwise I tend to give it away as storage is tight for me.

Turning it round, I imagine a spell teaching in a state school would be a real eye opener for many self-employed. My wife teaches primary and is regularly punched, sworn at and has even had one kid threaten to cut her head off (not quite sure how a 7 year old would manage that but still). She does 8-6 Mon-Fri and still has to work at home regularly. Working conditions are fairly shite and this is an ok school. On the face of it, the salary is ok after you've done a decent bit of time but when you factor in hours worked it's not so great. As for the pension and deferred wages slant, I guess 'experts' can massage the figures to support a point of view but I'd only describe the teacher's pension as 'ok'. If you can stand a full career at it then you'll be ready for the knacker's yard by the time you're eligible to claim it. I wouldn't go into teaching that's for sure.

Yep - it's a pruning saw the 536 certainly. Handy to have near the chipper though. Also good for early starts in the summer when a petrol saw would piss off les voisins. But that's true of all battery saws.

I have a 536 top handle - find it pretty light to be honest. I have a 300 husky battery too and agree it does change the balance. Still find it usable though. All the more with two hands - it's fine in the ground saw version too. Balance wise I'd say it still feels less tiring in the hand than the 540 petrol. Seem to remember that the 540 needs the bigger battery to deliver it's full cutting power whereas I don't know if there's any difference with the 536 - I don't notice any that's for sure.

That's roughly £30k a year then before tax. You'll struggle to get anywhere near that just starting out I'm afraid. Depends where in the country of course but outside of London and the SE ARB salaries just aren't that high. Don't wish to seem negative but if you need 1800-2000 take home per month then you might need to reconsider.