CDMR

I've been using ecosote for a few years now. Seems good as everything I have used it on is still looking souns. As it penetrates rather than seals the wood it might be good on green wood as it will let it dry whilst still protecting it from rot and critters (though wasps still seem to chew it).

In the third picture, the sheep on the right appears to be pondering the same question. For my 2p it's old.

I started off using a greenhouse and still do for storage. You need to give the wood some protection from the direct sunlight so as to stop it bleaching etc. It is also a pretty aggressive way of drying stuff in the summer so don't go straight from green, I would suggest at least letting it lose its free water before going in. I wouldn't worry too much about a fan. There will be plenty of convection to move the air around. Just leave the top window open and the doors at either end. If you were really feeling creative you could convert it into a proper solar kiln. using your solar powered fan, some whitewash and some scrap timber and black paint.

"I was out nicking chainsaws when this bloke with a pellet gun took it clean off"

Lovely work.

is it f) The Husqvarna 3120?

Are the aircap/airshield thingies ok with specs and ear defenders. They seem like a good idea and F2F's story is a salutary warning.

Just for the sake of debate rather than offering a hugely informed perspective, I reckon that any given plank has a shape that it wants to be at any given moisture content. Slowing the drying, allowing the wood to ease its way to a shape by gradually losing the tensions within it is probably the only way to permanently change this shape. Straps and weights ultimately seem to just be temporary measures to affect the shape at a given time. If you don't give the wood time to ease into being that flat it will just go back to being the shape it wanted to be in the first place, usually at an inconvenient moment such as when impersonating a table top. So the recipe for flat plank has to be slow drying, with weight ideally that moves with the wood. The more the wood is likely to move the slower you dry rather than the more weight you use. Alternatively, cut it thick, dry it fast, let it be whatever shape it fancies and be prepared to cut off a lot of wood to make some flat bits, though it will probably bend some more. In summary, what they said.

A+B Bleach should get rid of the staining. Don't use domestic bleach, it will go pink.

Sycamore isn't durable so I would go for indoor use only.

You can get rid of sticker stains on sycamore with A&B bleach but much better to avoid it in the first place as Andrew says with vertical racking until the free water has gone then stack and sticker as normal. As sycamore is really a maple it makes brilliant work tops etc. but otherwise great for furniture. If you are lucky you may get a bit of ripple grain. Strong and hard so makes a great family table that will stand up to being more than a posh dining table. Maybe add a very light stain just to bring out the grain.

400mm spacing sounds good but that should leave about six/seven stickers per length? Make sure there are stickers near the ends to stop twisting (some say it helps splitting too but I don't buy that).

A bit for my time, a bit for the resin, enough for a new chain and then double the lot for the story and the enigmatic look

I would have thought if it's for weather boarding it would be more than dry enough by the end of the summer particularly at 1/2" That is quite a distance between stickers for such thin wood. Make sure they are completely in line with each other or you could have some quite bendy boards.

I am fairly diligent in putting the metal detector over before each slab but there's not much you can do about stones other than swear a lot afterwards. Had one in a sycamore the size of a shoe (the flint not the sycamore). I cut a thick slab then made it into a table top and resin encapsulated it. When asked how I get the stone in I just try and put on an enigmatic air.

Ah. Lovely area. Not so great for wood shopping.

I you have a local wood recycling project nearby they often have kitchen worktops or site hoarding which are 25mm hardwood ply which are great for worktops. My local one does a full sheet of 1" hardwood ply for £25. You can find whether there is one near you here. http://www.communitywoodrecycling.org.uk/stores/

Cant help with your questions but just found this on the wood database... ...Greenheart logs are reported to occasionally violently split apart upon sawing—sending pieces of the wood flying. As a result of this unusual characteristic, sawyers wrap chain around the sections of the log that have already been sawn... 'Unusual characteristic' sounds a bit of an understatement.

Thanks. I use The Metal Store https://www.themetalstore.co.uk/

A table and bench from some Beech planked last year with the Alaskan and the first batch out of the new kiln.

Similarly, have come across Lime with a coloured centre. Some seemed to originate from embedded nails but not all. This was in a 4' diameter stem as well with lots of epicormic growth.

This guy gives some very good (science based) advice on how to do this safely as well as explaining why it is so damn dangerous in the first place.

Its under cover now with the ends sealed so I can bring it along when next we meet.

So it transpires it wasn't quite as large as my generous neighbour envisaged. I reckon at its largest its about 5" diameter. There are a couple of 6 foot lumps and another couple of 3 or 4 footers. Obviously its green at the moment but by crikey it's dense. One for the turners I think, I can't see too many board room tables coming out of it.

I'll take and post some as soon as it arrives.