Youngstu

I understand what you're saying and the points you've made. Due to the opinions often expressed on here and treatment of those with more liberal view I rarely post but felt that today some opinions and statements needed to be challenged. I didn't expect my point of view to be agreed with by some, but have to admit to being quite shocked by the responses and the venom directed towards those with different opinions, which is probably why you see much less in the way of a liberal point of view on these forums.

Where are these accusations towards you and the white population and where have I made broad sweeping statements that would be classed as racist in another context? I'm just curious and have read back through my comments and can't find anything that would fit into either of those categories.

If you read what I've written I don't think I've attacked any white people and I haven't accused you of being racist. As far as I'm aware I'm not in the "hate filled individuals" category either. The anger that you're displaying (which is in response to reactions to your original comment) shows that the hate is coming from your direction not mine. I know that on previous threads you claim to read information from all sides but it certainly seems that your views on this topic are very fixed and you seem completely unable to see how and why others may think differently and still be reasonable people.

Not a fan of people with opinions that are different to your own then it seems!

And for thousands of years our ancestors and those of other groups of people in the world would have been regarded as "uncivilised", killing one another left right and centre, mistreating or exploiting their enemies along with their own countrymen and families if they were not deemed to be worth treating well. If we were to consider ourselves to be a civilised and just country at this time (and possibly for the last century give or take a few wars, war crimes etc), is it not important to recognise the wrongs that were committed by the people who came before us which lead to our country becoming rich, powerful and "civilised" at the expense of other nations and their citizens. Many of our towns, cities and people still benefit from the profits made at the expense of those who were exploited, whether that's through our public buildings, universities, parks and other things that benefit the general population. I understand that you don't feel that you would want to apologise for something that wasn't your fault and many people don't wish to do so, but do you have no empathy or understanding of why there are many in our society who still feel the pain of what happened to their ancestors, how that has effected them and others within their social grouping due to the treatment that has continued up until now? Do you also seriously think it's unreasonable for others in our society to wish to stand alongside and support those who have been wronged through exploitation and discrimination over generations? If it wasn't for the British (and several other European nations) exploiting their colonies we would not have been able to maintain our position in the world. Surely we should help and support those (countries, people) who were exploited for our benefit.

So, to those who have expressed such horror at these protests: if the protests had remained entirely peaceful, without any violence and disorder, resulting in injuries or vandalism ( which unfortunately were inevitable when the reason for the protests causes such strong feelings in many!) Would you have supported the cause? If not, why not. Do you not believe that racism is a problem in this country? If that's the case are those involved making it up? Do we as a country not need to recognise the wrongs that have been committed by our countrymen in the past and do something to right those wrongs? I don't believe that the writing from a doctor said anything about the virus being racist, it just stated well known facts about how if affects BAME people disproportionately. If you can address these points without referring to those as "disgusting", "animals" or "scum" that'd be great as those terms in this context wouldn't be out of place in the 1960s, or even 1860s. On a couple of other points: Something being worse elsewhere doesn't make it ok here and maybe as a country that has been "developed" for longer than many we should lead by example in improving conditions and treatment of members of our society. It is possible to be proud of your country and patriotic whilst criticising what has happened in the past or is happening still. The use of the term "All lives matter" is completely ridiculous and inappropriate, there are plenty of statements, videos and cartoons explaining why. "Coloured on coloured" demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge of what terms are considered completely unacceptable at this time due to their association with a more racist past, segregation etc. And I agree that the caste system is extremely unfair, should be dismantled, but is this racism and as I said before saying that is worse doesn't make our problems ok. Progress was made with the abolition of the slave trade, outlawing slavery in the USA and the colonies, civil rights changes in the 60s, banning of racial discrimination, making racism a crime etc but all is not ok and our society is not fair for everyone, particularly people of colour.

I can't say that your response surprises me, but the venom of it does, directed towards an opinion that is different to yours is pretty extreme to put it mildly. Do you not think that those attended did so "in the knowledge that they themselves are responsible if they catch C-19." If you seriously believe that this cause has no relevance in the UK, there are a lot of people who strongly disagree with you, many having been subjected to or witnessed the reasons for these protests. You should probably read this statement below, not that I think it'll make much difference to your opinion but maybe your newsfeeds don't include this type of opinion normally?! "As a doctor who has worked in covid wards for the last 3 months - I support these protests and the BLM movement wholeheartedly. Anyone who works for the NHS should do the same. I am sick to death of people who don’t even work for the NHS using us as a reason to disagree with the protest. No. Don’t you dare. “Think of the NHS workers” is not your get out of jail free card to express your deep rooted racism. And yes, protesting and mass gatherings are not ideal during a pandemic. But this cannot wait. It has already gone on long enough. The racism, hardships and countless deaths that black people have faced have gone on far longer than covid - and if you are using the virus as an excuse to rebuke the protesters and the BLM movement, you are part of the problem. Black people are 4 times more likely to die from covid. They know this. You know this. Yet they are still willing to risk their lives and go out and protest. Have you even bothered to think about why? It is because they know that racism is far more deadly than covid. And it’s about time you realised the same. Where was your outrage when people were flocking to beaches to tan? Where was your outrage when people had VE Day parties and didn’t social distance? No one will blame these events for a second wave - which was already coming before this protest. These protesters wore face masks and social distanced the best they could but that is not enough. Some of you would rather see them stay at home. Some of you have forgotten your outrage at the murder of George Floyd already and have now focused your outrage on black people again. And you don’t even see that as a problem. This is how deep rooted your (and my) privilege is. And it needs to stop now."

Or from the alternative point of view ... If all the "retards" take their families to the beach, congregating in their thousands, arse to elbows "sunbathing" and do not face dispersal or repercussions then people fighting for a cause that needs fighting for can protest in the towns and cities around the world!

Hi. I'm wondering if anyone could either give me an idea of the current going rate for larch sawlogs, or point me in the direction of the best place to find out. I've been offered a couple of loads and just want to know if it's the going rate or more negotiable. Thanks for any pointers

Interesting reading this as I'm looking to get a couple of loads of larch sawlogs sometime soon. Could anyone more in the know than me (just about anyone!) confirm if £70/cubic metre sounds like a reasonable going rate at the moment. Thanks

I've messaged you Sam. Thanks

I did make an extension from stock steel padded out with spacers to extend the mill bed into a shed for storing the mill on. This allowed me to use the full length of the track I have. This may be suitable depending how long the logs you want to mill are.

Thanks for the thoughts, looks like tractor mounted is the way to go then! So I guess the next question is which winch to go for? It won't be getting daily use but I'll need it to be reliable, are the Kirpan/Wirax ones on ebay good, bad or??? And what size of winch would you put on this size of tractor, about 68HP and weighing in about 3 tonnes? Thanks again, thoughts/experience appreciated.

I've finally committed to getting a tractor to help with the day to day jobs around the slopey North Devon Woodland that I manage. It's an old 4wd Case 65hp loader tractor so not too big but big enough to pull timber around, help unload the sawmill and basically avoid handling every log 7 times before it gets burnt. I'm planning on getting a winch of some sort but am unsure whether I go for a portable petrol powered one or one that attaches to the back of the tractor. It's not a big tractor so I obviously can't pull huge weights with it and dragging cables around the woods would probably be worse than ropes but I'm hoping that someone with more experience than me might offer some suitable suggestions considering that there wouldn't be much difference in pulling power if I went for a big portable or a 4-5 tonne tractor mounted. Thanks for any thoughts

I manage and work in a woodland in North Devon. We have quite a few ash in certain parts of the site. During the summer I had noticed a few showing signs of dieback, but have now noticed quite a few completely leafless crowns. Would you assume that they are dieback and remove if in a high traffic area and if safe to do so or would you expect some ash to have completely lost their leaves at this time of year? Thanks for any thoughts

I cut into this 15piece of oak with the intention of cutting some nice long 2x4 and 2x6s but the pippy grain is so nice it seems a waste. What would you do? Thanks

I had the same concerns as you, regarding the hole size, but when fitting it all together and getting it completely straight and parallel from end to end and even side to side a bit of wiggle room was definitely useful.

Get in touch with local wood turners. It can be made into some beautiful bowls by someone with the right skills and kit.

Rob do they have any more info on the Timberpro. I'm keen to get one of their tools for moving logs about and would obviously rather take advantage of your discount but can't find any information about them at all. Thanks

What portable winch did you got for? I'm thinking about either getting a portable one or one for the front of my ranger, not sure which to go for, especially as I'm pretty sure the so called discreet winch mount won't be as discrete as it's supposed to be with the intercooler in front of the radiator. Thanks

Thanks for your suggestions guys. Some good things to bear in mind.

Hi. I'm planning on building a shepherds hut on a bale trailer in my woodland. I'm going to be getting some milling done this year and ideally would like to build it from as much of my own timber as possible. Just wondering about suggestions for which timbers would be best for framing, exterior cladding and internal cladding. The home grown options that I have include oak (lots), beech (enough), cherry, ash, birch (some and much of the ash and beech is smaller diameter). I'm planning on building the shepherds hut in place without any intention of it actually going anywhere (but it can if it needs to;) Any thoughts greatly appreciated Stu

Thanks for the advice Will, duly noted!

Thanks. I'm in North Devon

Hi. I'm after tree tubes, prob 1.2m + to give the 400+ trees that we got free from the woodland Trust last year a good chance against the roaming Reds that we have in these parts. Who would anybody recommend for a cheap supplier or a good alternative. Thanks Stu