Aunt Maud

I've always thought that chainsaws didn't produce much dust at all.

If you're thinking of going to Bergen, take your waterproofs.

The air you breath is full of millions of spores already.

Just forget the shrinkage in the length, it's minute. Radial and tangental shrinkage are the only ones you need to consider.

Oh, thanks for the encouraging words. A book on Pollards is something I've been looking for, especially one with history, excellent photographs and a detailed how to do section. There are some nice Oak pollards in Ashton Court woods.

I planted it when I was 5 with my brother and sister.......It's rumoured that we stole it as a sapling from Belhus Woods, but we just borrowed it and they can have it back any time they want if they come and collect it. Dad's been up it and topped it about 30 years ago and it's been chopped at by him ever since. I started to go up it about 15 years ago and took the tall shoots off at the knuckles after he got too old to go up it, although he was up it last year and he's 80. It looks pretty good at the knuckles, there's a bit of die back where he topped it originally. Other than that, there's loads of buds, a couple of pockets with water in them at the top, otherwise it's a solid tree. It's never been completely cropped like it is now, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Judging by the number of buds on it, I don't think it's going to have any issues, but it has been cut somewhere pretty much every year of its life in one way or another.

They're the groundies socks, but I had to do his job too, as he couldn't be bothered.

Seeings we have a "Rate My Hinge" and pollards seem to be the flavour at the mo, here's "Rate My Pollard"....... Mothers Kkknobbly Sycamore, planted by me 45 years ago and hacked at by amateurs ever since. (I used the ladder to climb it ) Just had it's first full chopping.

Sometimes it's possible to change the way you do things and if that may mean taking a bit longer, buying lighter tools or getting someone else to do the things that aggravate it. I worked as an IRATA climber for a long time and ascending ropes always set off tennis elbow, until I started using a chest harness with an ascender on it and both hands on the handled ascender. I appreciate that that's not the way you lot go about climbing trees or ascending ropes, but stopping doing what causes it until it gets better and then a change in your working habits would possibly help a lot. Taking pills, a bit of MTFU and carrying on is a great way to make it worse.

Here in Essex it was sunny and bright this morning, so I pollarded mothers Sycamore, had a cooked brekkie for my troubles and was given £10 by the neighbour, because I've apparently saved him from receiving an ear bashing from his wife about the neighbours' tree (mothers said Sycamore) falling on her shed in the wind, which wasn't very windy anyway.

Sorry, didn't realise The good honest traveller folks and the clients of the Police were off limits. Here you go Dahlings, if you're having worries. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288613/gean0712bwta-e-e.pdf

I thought I'd accidentally stumbled across the Gyppos' R Us forum

Is that one of those Lumbasexuals ?

You can get fined £20,000 under The Clean Air Act for burning tyres in The UK. It also shows a very low level of professionalism.

Honestly, I can't believe you people are suggesting to burn tyres.

Thinking about it a bit more, you could just get away with a bare faced tendon on the long rails as the top won't shrink in its length and neither will the long rails. That'll make life easier.

I buy my firewood as standing trees in one of the local councils' plantations and I pay £15.00 per tonne roughly for Beech and Oak. This doesn't include anything above the clean stem. I can drive pretty well straight up to the trees and fell, cut and split on the woodland floor, then fling it in the truck. The stems are around 30cm ø and clean and straight till about 9m-10m, which is the bit I pay for. The rest is mine for free if I want it, or I can just leave it there and they come along with the chipper and sort it out..

Just noticed that I've drawn the through tennon on top of the post the wrong way round in the bottom sketch http://www.timberframe-tools.com/reference/handwork-in-wood/mortise-and-tenon-joints/

Roughly something like this. I'm sure you could make some improvements if you thought about it when making the bench. Turn it on its side if it makes your neck ache. Now you're going to ask "How much gap do I need to leave in the mortice ?" And I'm going to answer...."that depends".

It'll be particularly important, if you make the top out of unseasoned timber, that the top pair of Leg Stretchers that go directly underneath and support the top are able to slide in their mortice as the top dries. As timber doesn't shrink in its length (0.01% roughly) having a shoulder on the short stretcher tennons would possibly prevent the legs from being drawn together when the top shrinks in its width and could cause it to split. A stubby full width tennon would slide into its mortice easy enough when it's drying and they wouldn't clash with the tennons for the long rails either. You'd also have to make sure that the tusks were cut so that all the faces on the bench remain in the same plane, as the bench relies on these for all the clamping accessories to work. I'm not sure how the top is going to be milled or if you're laminating it, but you'll have to be aware that it will also cup when drying, unless it's quatersawn. As it's all going to move around when it dries you might need to do a bit of remedial work to it, so pegging it together straight away would stop you being able to dismantle it. The long through leg tennons in the top will hold it all in place if you had a 4" deep top anyway and you could probably get away with just pegging the legs in place after it had dried.

In the plans it goes: Legs 5" x 5" Long Stretchers 2.5" x 3.75" End Stretchers 2.5" x 3" Top 4" x 24" I didn't peg the top down on mine, as we were moving house shortly after I made it and moving it down stairs to the road would have been a major epic, so I made the tennons a joinery fit instead. The timber I used was kiln dried and there's no gaps in any of the joints. Having done a lot of milling and framing with Oak and Scots Pine and seeing how it shrinks and cups, I wouldn't make it out of green timber using those plans, I'd use tusk tennons to hold it all together instead. If you make the tusk tenons blind on the legs short rails, you could still mount a wooden leg vice.

Trouble is, it's a finely crafted workbench that's supposed to last a long time and you don't want it "literally" coming apart at the seams after all your hard graft. If you follow the instructions in the book and use that design, the glue up for the top is a major event and it's a two man lift, especially with Beech. Make sure you've got plenty of heavy duty sash cramps, I used 10 on the top for the glue up. If it was mine, and I've been wanting to make a Beech one myself, I'd convert it all to 2" x "as big as you can get" slabs and dry it outside in the wind with a cover on it until I'm sure it's dry. If you've only just sawn the timber, it needs seasoning. While it's seasoning you can make all the other fancy stuff to pass the time.

No, I've only got the blue one. I found the instructions really easy to follow and the bench is excellent. I put the "crochet" (the hook at the end of the bench by the vice, in the cover photo) on the opposite corner to the leg vice. The leg vice is very powerful too, although a bit funky to get used to. I wouldn't swap it out now though. The top is 2" x 4" laminate and I think it's 2'6" wide. It felt narrow at first but I think it's really well thought out. The extra weight is appreciated, especially when scrub planing doors, as it doesn't move at all. I'm sure the other book will be just as good a read and you won't be wasting any money buying both. The photos are very nice too.

You need to get this brilliant book and make the Roubo bench (one on the cover) [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Workbenches-Design-Construction-Popular-Woodworking/dp/1558708405]Workbenches: From Design And Theory To Construction And Use (Popular Woodworking): Christopher Schwarz: 9781558708402: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51cbVD9GUDL.@@AMEPARAM@@51cbVD9GUDL[/ame] Instead of solid legs, I made mine by laminating 3no. 2" x 6" together with the middle laminate left long to produce the tennon. That way you only need to dry 2" sections and your tennon shoulders are cut with the bench saw and are nice and flat. Mine's 10' long and is a weighty beasty. It's a lovely bench and I made mine from Southern Yellow Pine and a second one out of Douglas. A Beech one would be excellent, but you need dry timber for the top, otherwise the laminates will split apart if you use his design for the leg frames. All the fittings from Veritas, like the vice screw, dogs and hold fasts are available from Axminster Power Tools.

Dark, but noisy.