Steven P

If he had been drinking the day before, and was suddenly 'sick' on the monday, would you really want him in working if he was still, say over the drink drive limit? Sometimes it is better not to know the whole truth, "Sick" sounds better than "Still drunk and a danger to everyone around me if I touch any tools or drive" If it was a one off then no problem, we are all ill every now and then. However if you thik illness is a regular occurance then have a friendly chat "I've noticed you have been ill a lot in the last year, is there anything I should know about or do differently to help you while you are in work". Could be that he is too sick to be out on site with you (say an occasional bad back) but could be happy say, doing some paperwork for you for a day. You never know till you talk to them In my work (office based) if you are ill for moe than a day we get a return to work interview (partly to see if there is anything they can do to stop you beinf ill in the future and partly to check out the story), and on the first morning we have to phone in and talk to the boss. I guess he records it on the system when we are ill. As for texting that you are ill.... probably not the best. Supposein a couple of weeks you could have a chat with everyone and remind them off the sickness process they need to go through (so a phone call in the morning each day they are off, that sick days have to be recorded, and to let yuo know if there is any issues with the actual work)

That doesn't sound quite right to me! Our house, 7mx7m upstairs and downstairs, so about 100m2 or there abouts not too far off 127m2 really, though semi-detached. I have only used our 5kw stove for the last 18 months now, in fact even taken away one of the storage heaters (...put it into storage just in case), and we keep our house at a cooler consistent 19deg C with that. I use about 1 sack of coal / coke a week (Mrs Steven P forgets its a wood fire and needs feeding more often than the boys did when they were babies, with coal she has more chances to remember fuel). So far I think I have used 3 or 4m3 of mixed wood this year. Thats with the fire on most of the day. Hot water is electric immersion heater and we use about 14kwh a day electricity (water, washing, cooking and the ****** tumble drier), no gas, oil, or whatever else. Using a 28kw stove plus a load of oil for heating and hot water sounds a lot to me to be honest! (plus electric I assume for the laundry, cooking etc?) To give an answer, I reckon that my 5kw stove puts out a lot more than 5kW when needed, it is marketed as a 'nominal' 5kW. When its ticking along nicely like just now, 5kW sounds about right (2 1/2 electric fan heaters, yes, about that). One day I am gong to turn off the fire and go to electric for a week or so and just add up how many kWH it takes to heart the house. As for insultion, I remember an advert on the radio saying the free insulation can be given out even if you are a tenant and not the owner. Worth keeping an eye on that - even if the wood is free, better insulation means its warmer in the morning before the fire gets going and fewer trips to load up the stove (and so fewer trips to the log store in the rain...) As for the stove if you replace it, think about one with a boiler as well, if the fuel is free why buy oil for hot water?

I'd also be tempted to suggest a tripod mounted 12V LED task light (if you can find one or the parts to make one up). 12V so you can use a spare car battery for power Tripod mounted in case there is no handy tree you can hang it off Task light lights up a larger area than a head torch

I suppose I should ask the obvious, what are you going to use the head torch for? Do you need to light up where you are walking or need more light than that How long do you want to use it for between charges / battery changes and so on? Loads of torches out there, most are LEDs but the prices, qualities and styles vary so much, it wou;d ne mice if you can give us more what yuo are going to use it for

I'm not an expert but a quick internet search suggests that silver bircj have shallow roots. So looking at the picture where the tree is on a raised garden above the level of the house, Iwould guess that there would be few roots affecting the house itself. So I wouldn't worry too much - do with it what you want,

Pity your not nearer to me, if you are going to throw it out or burn it anyway I could make use of it keeping my house warm - saftwood wokrs as well as hardwood apart from the need to throw logs on the fire more often

Reading this, I feel quite blessed, 3 years with my wood burner and piles of logs in the drive / in the garage and no wasps yet. I did get a wood wasp one autumn aftrnoon - huge but aparently harmless. but no real wasps. Does location affect them, I am just outside Glasgow

Reading this, I can see how it would be attractive, but got to be worthwhile. A mobile kiln, how much would it cost to transport (including loading x 2 and unloading x 2) a container? £2 a mile? 50 mile journey will cost 50 x 2 x £2, about £200. Then add on wages and fuel if you were to operate the kiln for the customer, and their costs / wages to process the wood before and after, then any profits either of you want to make. In my mind this is a good idea but looks quite expensive for smaller amounts. You could hire the mobile kiln out for say, a week, equipment hire type of thing if the customer has a good stock of wood to dry I guess - they poewr it and operate it. If they bring the wood to you, if you got them to load a cage with wood you could consolidate several customers wood into one drying session, split the xost and get them to load / unload a cage to put into the kiln and that could work - could be good for domestic use who might have small supplies of wood to dry. That could work and be the cheaper option.

If I can find the photo tonight I'll post it, I came to use the 'beehive' stack by mistake for my domestic wood stacked on my drive. If you leave a 2' x 3' or 4' high gap in the outside wall.. and dont fill the inside, the boys turn this into a playhouse! I supported the roof with palet wood / logs that need chopping Then of course on the inside a couple of logs chopped to be chairs and a table. This year I started getting clever and made a 2 room log house / stack. The Boys now want an upstairs so I need to think for next year. Anyway - done this, it drys the wood pretty well. The wind and rain usually come from 1 direction so the opposite wall is kept dry, the sloping roof sheds some of the water, the summer heat creates its own draft and it being a 'toy' it is acceptable for the garden (OK it was also one of my less mad ideas which might have made it more acceptable too) Can't take a new photo today - 1/4 of it is in the garage now, and the rest is keeping my toes warm as I type.

There is nothing worse than finding a maggot in the apple you are eating... except finding half a maggot in the apple. And for what its worth - nice apple tree I would like that in my garden, the boys would love playing round that

A quick update -I got the engine running this morning. I think it was the carb, had that off and cleaned up, had the diaphragm cover off to check that moved OK, and set the high, low and idle screws to 1 1/2 turns from being fully closed. Somethin I should have done when I got it. Thanks again for the advice

Not made a schoolboy error yet and forgot to change choke - the trimmer only fires once - usually it would fire a few times before I would want to do that, thanks for the suggestion. Back to the flywheel - I'll have a look at that, thanks. I didn' get chance to look at it today. It needs a bit more dismantelling to get at that but will give it a go. Just a bit sceptiocal - I know its an older model but it can't really have had a tough life so I am dubious if parts could ahve sheered -but gues since you menti0on it it must happen fairly often.

Just a quick update... So tonight I had the exhaust assemble off and looked in the cylinder - all looks good, smooth, and as it should be (while I was in there the exhaust got a good clean too). So I guess the piston and cylinder is OK. Turning the engine over and the piston moves smoothly and no sticking poiints. All good there. Took the starter assembly off and some of the housing to see the flywheel - again all looked good, looks to turn as it should, no wobbles etc Also took the air intake housing off to clean lots of tree out from behind it So put a bit of fuel in the direct cylinder (saw than on another site), with the exhaust and air intake cover (and filters) off, a few pulls and it coughed - which I didn't expect. Tried again, skinned my finger (see my next post, first aid for daft sods playing with hdgetrimmers), few pulls and a cough. Did the same by pouring fuel direct in through the carb. again, a few pulls then a single cough So thats where I got to... I guess it is sparking under compression (at least some of the time) and there is some compression there some of the time. Coughing - it took a few pulls and didn;t do it every time So any other clues? I am thinking that the fuel line might need some attention but not sure what else to look for still thanks again for any advice

Thanks Stubby, So tonight I'll have a look at the piston / cylinder - that looks easy to check for scoring, half a dozen bolts. Can check to see if the rest looks in tact as well while I have the spanners out again Flywheel - I'll assume for now that the flywheel gap to the coil hasn't altered and should be correct? So - and this is where I have to admit my lack of knowledge - checking the spark while the plug is in the cylinder - I guess there would be a meter to do that and I guess that you cannot do it with a bog stadard multimeter - is there a DIY way of doing this? (lets assume that I have just been watching the fireworks and the shops are closed now to buy new gadgets) Similarly - and again a lack of knowledge, is there a DIY way to check compression? Thanks - got some more things to look at tonight

Good evening, and appologies if this has all been asked before recently I got a second hand Stihl Hedgetrimmer (HS61, if it makes much difference - the advice I am looking for will be the same I guess for all 2 stroke engines) Came as sold as seen, and they couldn't get it working after it had been sat in the garage for a while. Silly me reckons I can do better and failing that my local dealer will take a look for a few ££. So far I can't do better. So: - The spark plug sparks OK and looks new (it might have been replaced recently) - There is fuel in it (ruling out the obvious, and the fuel is fairly new, my chainsaw works well with it still) - Trying to start the engine and it makes the purring noise as it moves (not sure if that is the technical name for the noise it should make?) - nothing unusual. A decent amount of resistance to the pull cord so I guess compression in the cyclinder is OK - After turning the engine over the spark plug is wetted with petrol so I guess the fuel lines are OK and the carb isn't blocked? - The choke works OK, opens and closes - The mesh over the exhaust outlet was pretty black when I got it, I've cleaned that up - I need new air filters, trying to start the engine with no air filter (in a clean environment) and nothing - After a while pulling to start it, petrol comes out of the exhaust, guessing the engine is flooded by then? - The cutting blade is off ther machine (just in case that and the clutch was jammed)(Oh, clutch isn't jammed on) - It has run on twice, once at 11:00 last night, and I turned it off after a couple of seconds thinking better - The Boss and The Boys were in bed upstairs (OK, I know I should have been in the garage but I had a film and the fire on in the living room). And again for a couple of seconds today before it died So as far as I can tell, fuel is getting into the cylinder, the piston moves freely, air is getting in, there is a spark, and some compression. Where am I going wrong? Not thinking it is too serious to fix thanks in advance for any help

I got a Stihl MS181 for firewood and light garden use - a great little saw but I think it cost me just a bit over £200 - if thats your top end budget then the MS170 plus safety kit - remember chippings wil find your eyes and a saw blade will make easy work of your legs.

10kg for £6.... I can get half a sack of smokeless coal for that, will last me 3 or 4 days, 10kg of logs lasts me 1 day. being green is great... but being skinted and green, not so great. Hotter and better than oak? As far as I remember it, 1kg of wood (and I guess you could count bracken as wood for the argument) has the same energy as 1kg of wood regardless of the plant at the same moisture content. So it sounds great, if you have to clear bracken from the land anyway and can dry, process and burn it great, but as a commercial product it has to compete and I am not sure it can

Reading this reminded me about all I read when I got my stove - I'm no expert, I got a stove fitted and don't ecpect to replace it for about 10 years. I might put in a small wood burner in the bedroom, the thought of a canal boat wood burner sounds good (existing bedroom fireplace is only 12" accross, 8" frontto back!) So what have I learnt - well MY 5kw stove takes logs from my elbow to my wrist in length - cannot always take a tape measure out when collecting wood but I do hope to have my arms for a while longer. I never really noticed large differences in fireboxes when looking - though I do now I am temped by a small stove upstairs. I've no idea if this is smaller or larger than what they used to be.Certainly smaller than is it was jusr an open fire place. Air supply - As far as I remember the 5kw - go over this size and the stove needs more air than the average leaky house can supply without adding extra vents. So the stove burns ineficiently and can produce Carbon Monoxide in the room (hence the requirement that a CO detector is also to be fitted). Typically this is to add a vent brick to the specified size in the room. This has never sounded quite right to me - I want to heat my room so I knock a hole in the outside wall? If you can I would put a direct pipe to outside. My fireplace has an 8" pipe under it leading to the underfloor space - which is unusual, similar idea to the photo above Then damp - loved the description of house draft oproofing and dampness - sounds about right. I assumed when I got this house that it was designed somewhere or other, or used lots of experience in the design - 5 buildiers didn't just get a load of bricks and just make it. So all the vents are meant to be there i reckon. Windows and floors can be sealed better - they were never meant to leak air. The open fires were a part of this design - we have no extracoter fans, in the summer the windows open for ventelation, in the winter tha fire is on drawing air from the house to send up the chimney.. drawing moist air from the house to send it up the chimney to be replaced by drier outside air. So the fire keeps the house dry in the winter - in fact in the summer I will often put in a small fire to change the air about.

That's a pity Steve, I am based just outside Glasgow, bit of a trip to come and see them (petrol money would probably be the difference between them and a new saw) else I would have asked what you had and wanted for them. Thanks so far, some good advice. Am I getting this right so far? - The cheaper saws are pretty much comparable £ for £ - mostly from the same manufacturer in China anyway, and limited spares availability - You get what you pay for but for smaller logs most will do the job - Titan from Screwfix is cheap but they do a decent returns policy if they go wring. Similarly if I can find a cheap one in Aldi they will do the job too - Get the wrong chain / bar an they vibrate more than you would expect - Goes without saying to keep the chain sharp Then I saw the comment about a table saw.... that was my first thought before I got the chainsaw but it wouldn't do the bigger stuff I was getting at the time... but it might do well for the smaller logs that I would use the electric saw for. I'll look at them later, but first thought that the chainsaw would be more versatile but maybe harder work just for logs.

Thanks so far. I have been tempted by a battery saw but comparing other battery power tools with their mains powered equivalent I think I will stick to mains power for now. So Titan are still the saw to look for? There appears a few on the internet at the moment

I saw this earlier: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/chainsaws/24720-stihl-261-max-chain-speed.html might give you an idea

Good afternoon, I get firewood for my stove which needs to be chopped and split (cheaper / free), and my little Stihl MS181 has done well for the last few years for what I need. I have a backlog of logs to chop this year, so I am thinking I can lay into these in the evenings if I take them into the garage with the lights on and with an electric chainsaw. - I can saw in the evenings when the kids are in bed so a quieter saw is better (winter daylight is limited, I want The Boys to play out for as long as its light, The Smaller Boy runs off in tears when I get the chainsaw out when he is out - limiting what I can do) - There is a ready power supply in he garage - No concerns about fumes - The logs are smaller diameter, 6" - 10", not tree trunks - later in the year the logs can be stacked inside to dry (got to burn the dry ones there first) So what should I be looking for? - I am guessing the more power the better? 2kw? - Chain speed - for a similar powered saw will the chain speed vary much since the saws I've seen so far all quote power over everything else - Second hand is cheaper - so what should I be looking to pay? Or would new be better for the increase in price - any recommendations, I see another post on here saying "Titan" could be a brand to look out for? Are Sihl electric saws really worth the premium? - Not too fussed about battery powered since I will be within reach of a socket - Chains and bars - would these be easy to swap to better quality if it came with a generic cheap one? (thinking to put on the same as my Stihl so I can use the same chains - then only really need 1 spare for both saws) Thanks in advance for any advice, and sorry for being a heretic and thinking about electric motors rather than 2 stroke engines. I don't want to go to a shop to ask for the advice because I have no will power to say no when they show me shiny new toys.