Aunt Maud

I'm pretty sure I've never heard of a useless forest before, especially a really great big useless one. Anyway, lets not argue, I don't think it's going to get us anywhere.

I had to clear cut my Hazel coppice 7 years ago, as there was no way of selectively removing any of the stems. It had been neglected for a good 20 years, but it has come back lovely now. The large stools didn't grow back so well from the stool itself, but it was -20ºC when I cut it and for 3 months after, so that may have had an effect. They have regrown from around the old stools though, possibly from dormant buds underground. They're a good size too, some are about 80 - 100mm Ø.

Um, let me guess...you're the guy in the videos brother ?

Ooof! Made my back ache just looking at it. I wonder if that extension lead caught fire in the end ?

I think you need to read my post again. Nowhere have I either mentioned or accused you of illegal logging. Cant you see the environmental impact that cutting and kiln drying firewood from an incredibly slow grown and ancient forest, then transporting it to the UK or the rest of Europe has, just so you can make a couple of quid ?

I can't see the article, because I don't have the journal. I am concerned about the destruction of The Boreal Forest, the worlds largest biome, for firewood ! That's why I asked where it came from. It's shameful to cut firewood from an ancient and slow grown forest in Russia, kiln dry it and ship it to the UK to be sold as a carbon neutral fuel.

It should ease up, as winter's on its way.....cough.

Not had any problem with the bearing, but mine gets a grease now and then. I did have a problem with the oiler cog (plastic, doh!) stripping, but it was easy enough to push a new one on. I'd milled at least 80 tonnes of Oak and Scots pine before any issues though.

Elu stuff is great, you can pick it up second hand for really low prices and you can still get the spares. You should be able to get a press in reducer to go from 30mm - 1". I think Axminster or Trend Cutters do them.

A spar maker uses inch and a half to two inch. I used to spend hours chatting to a spar maker in Somerset, he never used anything above 2", as he couldn't split it sitting down. He used a small billhook and tapping the end of the wood on the floor with the hook on top to get it in, then twisting the wood with his left hand and twisting the hook with his right, he never looked it it either and did it by feel. A couple of swipes at each end with it held across his thigh and that was it. He never moved from his chair until he ran out of unsplit lengths (they must have a name....it's not gads, as they go on the roof) and was always sitting in front of the telly to make spars. He must have made millions of the things. His billhook had a strip that was worn smooth like polished silver across the blade, the rest of which was black. If his grandson was there, it was his job to cut the Hazel rods and bring them in. If you went at the weekend, the whole family would be there on a Saturday morning, all making spars the same way he did it and the kitchen floor was thick with shavings. If yours are straight enough you could split them into 4' lath for wattle.

But it is lop sided, just a little less so. I think its the SW wind thats forcing it over, as it catches the wind most days. We've got a Scots Pine on the other side of the roof that's as straight as a die until it gets above the ridge, then it veers off to the left. I was mostly interested in that portion of the stem which bulges out just below where the stem starts to divide. Is that some kind of reinforcement the tree has created to cover up a split ?

Mitre Saws from Bosch, Makita, Dewalt, Sliding, Compound and Flipover

If you can get to see one in the flesh check the angles it cuts at with a square. As long as the blade is true at 90º perpendicular to the bed of the saw and the 45º stops are true too and it takes the size of cut you'll be using, you should be ok. After all it's an electric motor driving a blade and if you don't use it all the time, there's no point in spending big money. Saying that I've got a Makita (can't remember which model) which is nice, but it was pricey though and I've had 10 years of good service from it. 1214L...Just had a look.

Still snowing, rain later, then starting to get nice and cold next week -10ºC and sunny from Wednesday.

Do you do spoon carving, coz I've got some Birch burr that needs a home and a pair of good hands ?

See below where I removed two limbs From the left side.

The two limbs were going out to the left (top picture) . I haven't removed anything from the stem to increase the height of the crown.

Here it is. At breast height it's about 1000mm-900mm Ø. I've taken two branches off it two years ago and they've calloused over quite well. I was thinking of taking a couple more branches off it this winter, as one hangs over the neighbours boundary and I was going to take one from the centre somewhere to reduce the sail effect, as we get a lot of hurricanes from the West. Don't have any idea of the age of it.

It really is all a load of grief sometimes. I had to register my Ranger double cab and ended up paying £8000 in import tax, as I had to pay duty on the new price even though the truck was 6 years old. So I've paid for it twice now. But, If I balance that against the ultra cheap price of the house and associated parcels of land, I'm still better off than if I was in the UK. No immediate neighbours and a thatched timber framed farmhouse with an acre of garden, plus the coppice and an extra acre building plot all for £87,000. The girls are happy at school and my wife works locally, so it's all pretty good when you stand back and look at it.

15" of pure white snow.

We have a Beech in our front garden that may be of interest to this thread and I'd welcome any opinions on it too, does anyone mind if I post a few photos tomorrow ?

Yes there's an mot to go through.

Nice, all I need is a decent blade and a couple of bits of antler.

Yep, it needs Danish plates and they want a paper trail, so they can do their rubber stamp thing and put a tick in a box, etc, etc. Although they could just look up the model on the web and check it's one of the models authorised to be used on Danish roads. I kid not, trailer law in DK is tight, tight, tight. Not like the UK where you can legally tow a crate with a couple of caravan wheels and a numberplate on it.

I'd just forget about it, the guy's obviously a nob and not worth the time.