Steven P

Might be that you were asking the wrong department? Down my road, one side is owned by council 'parks and recreation' and the other side by council 'estates' or something like that.. and they don't talk to each other.

That's the only problem I have had with it so far, but for split firewood and about the garden, not a problem, I'll put it on to charge and grab a coffee. Not sure I'd only have this saw with me anywhere away from the house if it was important. However always hoping there wll be cheaper batteries or 'spares or repair' with the battery on ebay, I reckon a spare battery would be handy

It is this one Qualcast 36v 4A 35cm Cordless Chainsaw | Homebase Weirdly, not available in store and not available for delivery this morning I'm going to get some Garlic bread gong this evening then, expect a post later "how to clean bread and cheese out of a chainsaw"

You do in a way, and learn to get by in a 'right hand' world. Personally anything needing fine details I use my left hand, anything needing brute force, my right, just the way I learnt to do things when I was younger (like screws for example, had to use right hand, so followed on to use a hammer in my right as well, because to an 8 year old, tools went in the right hand). I don't think the distinction is as clear cut as left handers can't do things right handed and vice versa, we just prefer to do things the correct way.

Mine is only a cheap saw!

Just putting this in here, a recommendation perhaps or to see what everyone else thinks. Last year Homebase were selling a battery chainsaw at half price £80, and worth a punt. So far, and so long as the battery has a decent charge and the chain is sharp (I am sharpening it more than my 'proper' saw), I can't fault it.. for what it is. 650W so half the power of my MS181, I use it to cut to size any split logs that are too long, and it works just as well. In fact in some cases, better - for example, the 7:30 am logs that are too long, no longer needing to wake up the neighbours, and then odd long log, pick up and go for it. So as an occasional saw and for split log use, can't fault it and worth looking at. Oh, anything over about 8" diameter... I'll go petrol. Any other views?

It is possible that it isn't the suppliers usual quality - regardless of cheapest, or most expensive, might be that this winter there has been a lot of demand all they have left is what they would normally leave drying till next winter. You did right splitting a log to see what the moisture is like inside - we can all get the faces of a log to be low moisture content by leaving it in the sun for a coupe of hours but that doesn't mean a (split) log is dry all the way through. There are a couple of rudimentary ways to check you can find online. Blow through one and the air will go through, you can put soapy liquid at the other end and it will make bubbles (there are videos of this). Knock a couple of pieces together and they should be a ring to them and not a thud. Depends on the species they shouldn't be 'heavy' - compare them to what you have now and if similar sized pieces are heavier chances are they are wetter (comparing soft wood with soft wood, hard with hard), rudimentary but might also give you a indication of dry or not. End of the day though, buying and burning cmp wood for the rest of the season isn't the end of the world, chimney will need to be swept soon anyway and you won't get quite as much heat out the stove (my stove is off today, first afternoon with no fire (on purpose) since November!)

You want to get something like mine then.. It hasn't flinched carrying 50kg sacks of coal about so it will do for the gardening and moving the logs about

I'm going to get reported looking at stuff on the work computer... the other night how to break into shipping containers and tonight how to take apart palisade fencing. If you are looking at taking the nut off, would a nut splitter work in fence?

If they want to get in they will, and probably get away before you get there - chances will be that you are having a rare night out in town 20 miles away when they do. Seeing the lock boxes can you make them double layered, 40mm offset between the 2 to stop battery grinders? Each welded in place, at last they have to spend time taking the first layer off before they can get to the second and then the lock... not sure, will filling the space between the 2 with sand wear away the grinder blade? Might also make it trickier to use a torch on them. however like my comment, and aatimbers, they will go for the weak spots.. so a good lock, double strength protection for it, and they will take the hinges off, or just go through the doors themselves. CCTV... yep, but get decent quality and talk to the police as to what quality they need to secure a conviction (no good if we all know it was Bob Pikey if the courts reject the images), and of course, infra red. Also perhaps a more covert one covering where they might park up to get number plates or them getting out a car before they put on any masks. Likewise there was a Topgear episode breaking into vans, and the quickest wasn't breaking the lock, it was just crowbar into the door and off it popped.

So reading this a few thoughts. I know most of it is said in joke but rigging a trap to cause harm to an intruder isn't an option really. A lost chipper is a smaller loss of income than 5 years inside. Think dopey apprentice opening the container up at 7:30 on a Monday morning for what could go very very wrong. If you are assuming that they will get in might be you let them with the least damage possible and then claim off the insurance. For example I never lock the shed, a £100 lawnmower or 2 new doors that would get ripped off as they break in is almost even. Chipper is more than that so probably not an option either. The bloke I bought the house from had bikes in the garage, and a fuse labeled 'Blaster' (no house alarm by the way). So if you are thinking of setting up a wireless alert to the phone, how about a signal the other way to sound a 'blaster', something deafening but since you are in control of setting it off, it won't anoy the neighbours. Couple of cameras to be sure. Note that in work we had to put warnings on all the alarmed doors 'Ear defenders must be worn until the alarm is disabled' Second thing he had was a bar at the base of the door about 6" up (great trip hazard by the way), you couldn't just wheel the bikes out, had to lift them out, and this might be an option. A bar at the front locked in place so you have to lift the chipper out or cut the bar. Couple this with 'Blater' going off....Put blaster in the container so it can't be damaged before they break in Third thing he had was a roller shutter door.. not at all quiet to open (held shut by 2 spark plugs wierdly), you could put one of these insde. For false alarms, I have seen it with 2 beams passing a door, got to break both to set the alarm off, a mouse or something won't break both beams but a human will So far apart from an arial on top, nothing to show high security system and make it attractive from the outside. Of course, you might get some people breaking in speculativly and they don't follow the rules of going in through the door, might go through the roof or side. Saw a reinforced filing cainet once, 5m steel frame round the front to hold the drawers sut - built to the specs, but a 'tin opener' would open the back up in seconds. Put a big lock at the front they will cut round it or through the doors themselves to look in. I will guess that over time you will keep more than the chipper in there, assume it will be broken into a lock everything down

If you have the time stacking them will give a greater surface area to the wind and sun (? not convinced about sun, it does the job, not relying on getting sun in the Great British summer that's all)

I was about to swear and curse again at you... just replaced the tyre on my barrow. The first one (Chinese if that makes a difference) was very very tight to go on, the metal band came out the tyre, and I managed to get about 6 pinch punctures in the inner with the tyre levers. Tried a crow bar because of how tight it was a dented the rim. The UK supplier was great, replaced the tyre no problem. Second inner tube had a 'leak' in it when I took it to the tyre place - they struggled to get it on, told me to get a new wheel. Last go.. and it went on with no force sitting it on my knee watching Top Gear repeats or something (the first tyre needed a lot of body weight behind it...and the dented rim, plus a bent tyre lever). Oh in between all of this once the old one was on and 1 puncture left I tried a can of puncture sealant.. it blew the inner tube apart and spewed sealant all over the garage. So.. all in about to swear at you. I did cut up an old bike tyre and line the wheel rim with that in case of spiky rust (glued it in place) and seeing your post, should maybe have done the same and another old bike inner tube between the tube and the tyre? Old mountain bike days - had Kevlar between the tyre and tube for protection. If that's any use for you? I wanted to repair this since the wheel had a fixed axle in it, otherwise would need to get a new axle and shims to make it all fit if I had a new wheel, adding to the hassles. Oh, also needed a trip to B&Q for 2 bolts and nuts after having drilled the old rusted ones out. Not confident now about the new inner tube, but I have the old one still - a lot thicker from the feel of it (Noting that I had put a new hopper on this last year... sometime I guess they just wear out)

If it cuts OK then to me it is doing the job.

Th farmer opposite me did that, tightened it all up with the tractor

I'm going to jump in and call your bluff,.. it's what the people want I guess. I'm not so far from Paisley (Thornliebank direction if you want to make up your story), where is the tarmac job? I'll take a run past it at the weekend. However I might add a note about pilot holes in woodwork - I do that myself but I tend to use the cheapest screws from the cheap isle in Aldi, and a lot of my projects are made with pallet wood - not the best combination of cheap and cheap.

however.. most threads die away when everything useful has been said... good as a reference but not a lot new to add

Yup, get what you think you will need, then add some more and a little bit extra or good measure is where I aim for. According to what I read 5m3 should do my house, with a single 5kw stove heatng the house. I also am on good terms with the coal man too (multi-fuel stove), which gets to my first piece of advice, know where you can go to to get more if you run out - nothing like a 6:00 trip to B&Q for overpriced logs or coal after work when it has all gone. So if you are using all 4 stoves and based on my use 25m3 -might- be OK (not knowing your location, it is windy? and colder but maybe better insulated?) 25m3 looks like a line 25m long 1m high and 1m wide?....Noting here that if you make a bit 25m3 pile(gong with this number for now) the outside will dry nicely, the inside can stay wet - no airflow to the inside, no direct sun. I'll go 2 ways for my logs, either a stack, maybe 60cm wide (2 log lengths) along the walls, head height (I have kids, don't want it much higher), or I'll buld them a tower of logs, hollow centre (look in the log book), and a log roof, same size thickness walls, but I am not so keen to just lump them into a pile. Making a stack gives more surface area to the wind (location as well - get sun and wind?). It is a bit more work but mostly I am happy to burn wood seasoned for 8 months - so what I split now, I'll burn in the winter. Oh, split it as soon as you can. Pallets on the floor are great (I also have them on the garage floor when I take the dry logs in there), if not couple of bricks and sme long logs on top to make a base off the ground. I don't bother with a tarp in the summer, I shoul get one for the winter - the summer rain wn't affect it too much, winter rain does because that is constant here, 2 or 3 dry days drys out sumer rain easy enough, and of course i am not chasing tarps ll over the place in any heavy wnd

I was thinking it all depends on the local rules what things are made from, however paper cups.. plastic insides all over. Canada: Fast paced living in the cities - not every city, som still have time for breakfast (I regularly go to Quebec, mostly relaxed there) Another thought I had today - getting The Boys their ice ceam fix. how about silicone ice cube trays? Do a melted wax mix, pour into them, set, pop them out, job done, I reckon 30 minutes (to melt the wax) can make hundreds

If you are gong to the expense of candles my first thought is it would work out a similar price to firelighters from the shop with more hassle? Oh, one I used to use is just bung a tea light under the kindling. Myself, a decent dry kindling and a newspaper does me fine, but with lockdown and no 'metro' on my commute I am going bog standard firelighters from Lidl. Still with kindling on top, and they does well. If you are making your own, might be that you want to melt the wax in a pan, and mix in all the sawdust, shavings and so on and them spoon that into your egg cartons? You could even pour this mix onto a baking tray (grease proof paper it first) to make a fire lighter slab and just break bits off a you need them, or chop into squares? Might be better to get a dedicated pan for this, saves arguments.. I do the same with bird feed, melt lard mix in bird seed, pour into yoghurt pots, hang from a tree On a very similar theme - my boys love their ice cream so take those boxes, stuff them with sawdust and onto the fire - a lot cleaner and saves covering the hearth with sawdust

Take a nail out the fire, glowing orangem that will be at about 850 deg C. Am sure a lot of us have either had the sides of the stove begin to glow, or heard of it happening, that is at about 650 deg C Normal operation, outside of the insulating firebricks and cast body, 200 to 300 deg C soubds about right. The magnetic thermometers are fo the flue - not a part of the stove as such, not insulated and much thinner waled which is why they are hotter

Maybe, just been looking at saw dust burners and stoves. similar apart from the bit at the bottom

The stove manufacturer would be able to tell you and to tell you what the minimum sec for a hearth for that stove is. So maybe see a stove you like and in budget, and ask the manufacturer. I would expect more problems if you were changing a stove and just assumed an existing hearth was OK if the new stove is physically bigger. Wouldn't expect a modern stove to heat a hearth above 100deg C though (Going downwards - Fire, Grid, air gap, ash pan, base of stove, air gap, hearth would need a fair heat to get through all of that)

Stainless steel shell -could- be there to make it look nicer and not affect the stoves operation. When I was looking last night I had a feeling that the top hole should have a cover on it and for some reason thought it would be removable with a handle or something but no cover shown in the pictures. If you take the pipe out the back as a flu connection (controllable which does happen to dampen the fire), then the top hole doesn't make sense to be left open as part of a passageway for the smoke - it wold flood the room with smoke. There might be alternative flu connections of course for a more versatile installation. If so is the back connection removable, if not then it only has 1 flue connection. (and then going by these guesses, rear flu, with a hole on the top... what is that hole for?) The next piece to work out then is maybe fuelling the stove. Can you get a log in past the grid at the front? If you couldn't get a log in then it isn't a log burner and is for smaller stuff like coal, chips or pellets. it isn't a liquid stove because it has an ash pan and no feed pipe connection from what I see.

Looking again at this, it it some sort of pellet stove? Pour the pellets in at the top, they fall down to the fire? Only thinking what it might be.