TuscanPhil

Or better still, post on the Stalking Directory and you'll be inundated with offers!! https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/ I have a local chap who controls muntjac deer for 2 neighbours and me - about 40 acres in all at a rough guess. We leave the roe deer though - each to their own etc etc.

I've just bought one of these: Metal Detector GP-POINTER Pin Pointer Water-Resistant HandHeld Gold Pinpointer WWW.EBAY.CO.UK 1 PC × Detector. Size: Approx. 215.5 41.5 43.52mm. Working Environm ent: Temperature -20 ℃ -60 ℃. 1 PC × User Manual. 1 PC × Leather Case. 1 PC × Pinhole. The sensitivity distance... to compliment my 'full size' detector, but my full size detector wasn't bought with milling in mind.

Cheers. Next time I'm in the (storage) garage, I'll try to take some better picks of the underside (cleaner side) and see if that helps.

Eventually (once I've removed several other floor boards where I'm doing other work) they will get sold off. All floors where they are will be carpeted so they won't be seen. They need to come up to do plumbing and rewiring etc. They don't smell 'pine' when cut - not really sure how I'd describe the smell. I'm not looking to restore, just want to be able to accurately describe them when I come to offer them for sale.

Whilst undertaking many house refurbishments and improvements, many an old floor board has been removed and are currently being stored in my garage. I'm hoping someone on here will be able to identify the wood type from a few pictures and the limited info I can give. The boards were likely to have been from the early 1930s. Our house burnt to the ground in Jan 1930 and was rebuilt shortly after and all existing floorboards would have burned in the fire (there was not much left save for a couple of chimneys!!). Even now, when cut, the boards have a real strong smell, not unpleasant, quite fragrant in fact. They appear much darker than they truly would be, but that's just 90 odd years of dirt, grime and possibly polish etc. They were covered by carpet, so not exposed, when we bought the house. Pictures are just a very small selection but hopefully show enough grain etc for identification. I have higher res if needed.

Yes, the HC260 labelled machined are pretty much all clones of each other - I'm guessing they are all made in the same factory and then badged for each individual reseller (Elektra, Metabo etc etc). Very similar process to some of the benchtop planers as well (and quite a lot of domestic white goods etc).

Went for £710 in the end (no, not to me.)

Ha Ha - any one want to buy any gold dust...... no? ah well... I've just put a '25Kg' sack full out to the bin man. (the sack was a 25Kg compost bag or something). We are on heavy clay here so lots of woodchip goes down as a top dressing and slowly but surely the soil is getting improved.

Thanks @spudulike - a lot of AliExpress sellers seem to have this one - New Handheld Metal Detector Positioning Rod Detector|Industrial Metal Detectors| - AliExpress WWW.ALIEXPRESS.COM Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com does it look similar to the GP Pointer you have? Gotta be worth a punk for a tenna or so - now the Ever Given has got out of the way, it might even arrive in the next 2-3 months......

What does the ash do for the 'planting medium'? I have a fair bit (25Kw biomass boiler) and currently just bag it every once in a while and send it out with the domestic waste.

Any 'pointers' as to which one you've got please? Just looking on AliExpress now....

My wife (the gardener amongst us) uses rotted wood chip (1 yr old) as a top dressing (2-3" or so) but I'm not sure she's ever used it as a planting medium...

I attacked the second part of my Doug Fir, having decided to leave the first part in case I get any words of wisdom as to how to rectify my mistakes. 2nd section is approx 32 / 30cm dia so I'm aiming to mill it into a 6" beam/post/lump etc etc. 2 cuts so far, not quite sure how I'll support the remaining lump to mill the next 2 sides - I don't have a vertical mill (yet) so I'll likely just support it against some blocks and square up my ladder against a carpenter's square. Photos show: Pic 1 - left is the scrap top piece, right is the good centre piece Pic 2 - shot along the good lump Pic 3 - left is the good piece, right is the scrap bottom piece.

In other news, my new 36" Oregon bar arrived today - yippee!! and so did my new chains for the bar - yippee. But, I didn't check closely enough when ordering the chains and I've got 3/8 and need 404 so back they go for a swap out - triple damn!! Not too much of an issue as I still need to wait for the new 404 sprocket to arrive, so couldn't use the new bar yet anyway.

Another quick (or not so...) play today. This time with my 18" bar as I've taken the 30" bar off in preparation for my new incoming 36" bar. Time to have a go at the old Doug Fir that's been on the ground for far too many years. It's not an issue if the wood turns out to be rotten or no good, I'm still learning and happy to play on potentially duff logs before I start on the better logs that I currently have available to me. I set up my ladder and support rails, started milling, then half way through the first cut, realised that the far support had collapsed (screws were not holding into sufficiently 'firm' wood) and the cut has ended up a couple of cm lower at the far end than the start end - damn!! I also put the spirit level across the log and I've also managed to cut on a twist - double damn!! The intent was to try and cut a 5" or 6" beam (or post) out of the middle and so far I'm only one cut into it. Any advice on how to recover my mess, get the log trued up and do the second cut? Log is 2.2m long.

Cheers @topchippyles, in fact, I've just spotted another one, about 35 miles away, so not too far, seems a bit newer, possibly a 'stronger' motor as well. Now the question is the first one is a buy now price (if still available), or the second one is an auction (damn, given the game away there!!) with the same 'start' price as the first one. Decisions decisions...

Reviving this thread as I've just had a 'bump' for an advert about an hour or so away from me. I've previously researched new benchtop PTs and on one fairly thorough review, the Triton TPT125 came out fairly near the top - it beat the Dewalt one - so that's my 'backstop' if it gets to the point where I just want to get one. But, what's the collective view on an Elektra Beckum HC260? I don't know the specific model as there are lots of different motors and power, but it's a single phase one in green (so an early one as the newer ones are blue). Seems to have a larger table, so I'm thinking it would be a more stable platform to true planks etc. Thoughts, comments etc welcome.

The 'claim' for our thermal store is that it loses only a degree a day, so negligible temp losses. It has a 4" thick hi density foam insulated jacket. In reality, I'm sure it loses more than 1 degree but I don't think it loses that much more as we can get 7-8 days of DHW only out of it in the summer.

@Mr. Ed, as part of the 'delivery' process, the installer provided me with a heat requirement based on my EPC (had to have a new one done for the RHI). From this heat requirement (CH + HW) they then worked on the calorific content of beech / oak to generate the logs required. I think the amount is based on 'solid' so I've allowed an extra bit for stacked (tightly stacked not loosely stacked). Here's their calc. The TDA boiler is rated at 25kW and has a seasonal efficiency of 91%. Fuel type: Beech @ 20% moisture = 4.13 kWh/Kg Beech bulk density = 500 kgs/m3 From the EPC dated 23 May 2017 the total amount of heat required per year is 27844 kW/hours. This figure includes hot water requirement. The annual mass of log fuel required per year = 27844 x 1.09 divided by 4.13 = 7348 kgs. Volume = 7348 divided by 500kgs per m3 = 14.70 m3 An old pic of my 'tightly stacked' log store. I split relatively small so that it seasons more quickly. The boiler will take big chunks without issue as it is lambda controlled via O2 sensors, primary and secondary air, temperature etc etc.

Cheers Rough, the Pop is why I need a longer bar - I'll probably have to trim the sides towards the base anyway. Not sure what I'll use the Pop for but going on your previous advice, I'll probably mill to 2.5" or 3". I have a covered woodshed where my firewood seasons so I think I'm going to have to clear some space at the end, so I don't have to keep moving the boards as I empty and fill with logs for seasoning. I have a few in there already, 2 of the American Oak boards are still on the remainder of the trunk and I just throw a groundsheet weighted with bricks over them if it's going to rain.

Thanks @Rob D, much appreciated. Are the diagrams to scale by any chance, so can I print them out, cut them out and line them up? The previous patterns I was working to, I got from here: http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.nsf/BMP/14 - that's the one for my Homelite. I totally get where you are coming from about surfers - I'm still playing on the shallows, falling off every now and then!! Ha ha! I've not even contemplated entering any competitions yet (selling the boards) and funny you should mention it but there is a local farmer who has offered me some trees!! Actually my 'second' outing with my mill was on one of his ginormous conifers that he'd felled and I just about got in to cut one board (my cheap mill broke - buy cheap buy twice...) before he lit his bonfire and it's now a charred log that I still might have another 'chop' at. I've since repaired the mill (I'm an engineer at heart) and have been using it on the Turkey Oak that I've milled 4 or 5 boards off so far. It's very much a hobby, I don't have large amounts of time to spend on it and I do a bit every now and then when I get an opportunity. My next 'project' is a Douglas Fir that I'm intending to make some beams out of with the plan to refurb a water well that we have in our garden. Felled since Feb 2016 aprox. Roughly 17.5m long, 60cm max dia down to 25cm min dia. No picture of the main trunk but it is virtually dead straight!

I'm in total agreement with you (in principle), but I don't have access to the raw timber and I'm not looking to have a set up where I'm buying logs to mill up. From an other of my posts, here's the sort of thing I'm 'playing' with.

Thanks @Rough Hewn, I very much know that you know your stuff - but I only have those trees available to me that are being felled in my woodland. I have some large Poplar (been on the ground for a few years now....) and the odd bit of larger Oak - oh and a stem of Sitka Spruce, but nothing substantial that I would mill and look to sell. There's a local chap who advertises boards on Facebook Marketplace eg https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3820466818010214 and he probably has all the right kit etc. so I'll be competing with him on price. I'm just trying to get some useful wood from my felled trees (only 4 acres and it's all TPO'd, most also SSSI !) so that I can have a 'play' at making some bits and pieces. The only thing I've probably ever contemplate is smaller items, not whole slabs, or if I end up with enough bits and pieces, garden benches etc. but in kit form (too heavy to move otherwise).

The info I have is: You can make a large Husky mount D009 bar fit with a little work. File the adjuster holes upwards so they open into the bar channel and you're good to go. It only takes about ten minutes to do both holes so you can flip it. You are basically making a D096 mount by doing that.

From what I've read on Homelite forums, I need to modify a D009 mount, that's same as on a Husky 576XP from my reading, so I'm looking for bars/chains to fit that saw when using 'product selector' guides on various websites (such as Rob D's). I don't think the Stihl mount can be modified to fit (or at least I've not read anyone doing it.).