oakandmaple

 If you decide to get pigs in the future, I’d recommend Oakland Pigs not too far away as a source of piglets and knowledge. They used to run courses and they maintain an excellent book with everything you could possibly want to know starting out keeping pigs.

I had them three times so far clearing ground over winters. Great fun and super effective. Message if you want more info - I’m just down the road in Cuckfield.

Home - Oaklands Pigs

OAKLANDSPIGS.CO.UK

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Oaklands pigs one day pig keeping course - why not buy a Christmas gift voucher - expert training, practical...

2 hours ago, nepia said:

@oakandmaple do you know what the bottom centre specimen is?  I recognise it but can't name it

 

The Small Copper is a beautiful little thing.

Hi Nepia,

Looks like a Brown Argus.

Brown Argus | Butterfly Conservation

BUTTERFLY-CONSERVATION.ORG

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This small butterfly is characteristic of southern chalk and limestone grassland but occurs in a variety of...

1 hour ago, Robbyrasta said:

Awesome shots. 
I feel this has been the year of the butterfly- I’ve seen loads. And unfortunately hardly any bees

Agreed.

G777 Revised Mk IV Granberg Small Log Mill Chainsaw Mill

WWW.CHAINSAWBARS.CO.UK

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The Small Log Mill design is based on the Alaskan Mill Mk IV and can be used with bar sizes up to 20". Compact...

Is it the small log mill (cuts parallel but doesn’t clamp the far end of the bar), or the vertical mini-mill?

I’m interested if it’s the small log mill.

Thanks!

11 hours ago, Johnsond said:

I don’t but the words of these delusional idiots has an effect, after years of SNP/Green stupidity the UK sector NSea does not need a fool like starmer pandering to certain groups to garner a bit of perceived extra support. The constant lies regurgitated by politicians regarding the so called “ thousands of renewable jobs” is a joke, even a modicum of basic research will show we get the crumbs off the back of these projects here but literally pay 100% of the bill in the long run.

Not going to help if they build them overseas like this giant project:

We finally got going on the mill(s) this month and I'm hooked. 😀

Many thanks for all the tips and encouragement.

One 3 foot and 2x 6 foot logs done so far - and 30 feet to go that we've painted up till winter.

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Many thanks Jamie. MyForest looks like it has what I need - and QGIS seemed well past my tech capacity.

I'm about to begin writing my first Woodland Management Plan for the 11 hectare wood I volunteer in.

Any recommendations for apps / tools for the mapping?

Back to the wood burner topic, I met an oncology consultant a month back who specialises in lung cancer.
She said that there’s been a rapid rise in recent times in people (especially females) in their forties getting lung cancer who have never smoked.
She said the consensus assumption is that it’s down to the rise in wood burning stoves given other forms of smoke have dropped in their life time, but it didn’t sound like convincing research had been done yet.

Many thanks for all the helpful comments. 

I've ordered a bar and chain set, as recommended by Rob @ chainsawbars (very helpful too), and I'm looking forward to getting going!

To begin we want some 3' planks to use in maintaining the paths in the wood - start relatively easy.

Beyond that, lots of ideas, but want to see some of it before deciding.

Stiles, kissing gates and narrow footbridges in all directions prevent vehicles, so nothing huge and I guess we'll probably want to get a mill that cuts at 90 degrees at some stage (the one we're borrowing initially doesn't). 

Could we plank it up over a few years or will it likely deteriorate or harden up much?

With a bit over 40 feet to the first union, I suspect we wont get it all done this year.

That fireplace is beautiful and inspiring. Appreciate you sharing. 

Thanks again for sharing all your wisdom.

I just wrapped my regular Oregon tape measure round it.

It was 172cm round a couple of feet below the first big union, and 208cm three feet up from the base which work out around 55 / 65cm

Hi,

I am looking at trying milling for the first time on this oak which fell about 9 months back. I have a friend with a mill who offered to lend it and help.
Putting a tape round it, it’s about 2’ diameter average with bark.

Before I borrow and buy the bits I need, I just wanted to ask if it looks like a decent prospect to plank or are we obviously wasting our time? 
 

Thanks for any views and sorry the pictures aren’t great!