06-12-2013, 05:15 PM
Hi,
Thanks Gary, yes building on flood plains is lunacy and if necessary surely as you say build on substantial supporting columns high enough for the main building to be clear of the water surface; I can't understand why so many after receiving a severe flood warning ended up with their vehicles virtually submerged?
Yes give me a nice warm workshop any-day Gary rather than being outside frozen; I don't like to get wet and I can't stand the cold. I can of course dream of ever getting into my well lit garage with heating and 3 phase laid on? I can't swim either so I keep away from water deep enough to drown in.
You are so right Gary about lathes and imagination; novices always regard lathes as a machine to turn round items only but with a bit of practice and working within the lathe's limits a lot can be done by "surfacing" this is taking the tool across the face of the chuck or face-plate; fly-cutting is extensively used and I've used this method many times in order to produce a dead flat. At the moment I'm very limited regarding the Clarke because it only has 3" chucks and no face-plate so even making a new bearing housing to replace the broken housing would give me a lot of extra work; I could do it if pushed but a bigger lathe would have laughed at such a small item? I'll never be without a lathe or two because they are so useful and once bought they then cost nothing unless of course tooling is needed and only a few items of tooling can quickly cost more than the lathe; as you say though Gary imagination works wonders; I've done lots of unusual jobs on my lathes over the years. Just owning lathes gives me a lot of pleasure.
When it comes to lathes; anyone never having owned a lathe possibly will never miss it but for someone like me who has had lathe access for the past 50 years it would leave a big hole in my life if I didn't own at least one lathe. I wouldn't recommend a novice buying an industrial lathe like a Colchester because lathes can be highly dangerous machines in the wrong hands and a big lathe won't stop if it grabs the operator; if I had the space I wouldn't have parted with my Colchester or even my huge Dominion Woodturning lathe but I do need space to work in.
Plenty more trees in our garden this size Gary; two oak trees; blue spruce; western red cedar all over 40' tall plus lots of large conifers; even our laurels are big.
Thanks for your good wishes Lawrence; it was indeed a bad one to sort out not breaking at ground level and being on the steepest part of the garden; it couldn't have been in a worse position; of course the petrol chainsaw was stored in the shed and the picture shows the damaged tree directly above the shed hung up badly in one of the oaks and laurels; fortunately the terrific wind of yesterday had left us with just a stiff breeze so I pulled out the chainsaw only to find I needed fuel so another trip to Morrison's for petrol. I then fueled the chainsaw and topped up the chain oil working under the tree which was the only bit of flat area; I reckoned the tree would need to crush the shed to get at me?
Yes Lawrence the see-saw laws are very important when cutting logs and a lot of care is required to remain safe. the tree was about 45 degrees so I started by dropping it from the main trunk then with its base on the ground began chopping lumps from it with the chainsaw; each time it looked as though it was out to get me I attached a rope getting me well out of its way before giving the rope a good tug.
The steeply sloping garden was the worst part because it was hard to stand upright making an escape route difficult and to work below would be asking for trouble; the breeze was blowing the sawdust all over me so I was wearing my safety kit including goggles which I dislike. Little by little and taking my time I had the tree cut up by dinner time just leaving me feeling tired out; cutting the tree up wasn't too bad but standing on my feet on the slope was extremely tiring; I had to cut logs parallel with the slope because cutting across the slope would see the log disappear at speed down the garden; oh what fun? My big safety boots gave me some grief as well due to rubbing my skin; anyone into torture would love working in our back garden.
I've now got lots of trips to the tip to look forward to but at least if I cut the heavy sections into sizes I can lift they will be collected for a wood burner.
Eucalyptus Lawrence; did you see any Koala bears? Enjoy your firewood hunting Lawrence at least in your case it's voluntary; I felt perished when I started this morning as it was bitterly cold but within fifteen minutes I was nice and warm once I got moving around. It scuppered another day in the garage; it's possible this bandsaw restoration is going to take quite a while at this rate?
It's upsetting to see such a beautiful tree so badly damaged and it also damaged one of the oak trees breaking two big branches so I was up the oak tree as well making good with the bow saw.
I'm much more cheerful today Gary; I didn't get any work done on the bandsaw but I think I made today count? How wonderful not to suffer more power cuts but we had the candles ready.
Kind regards, Col.
Thanks Gary, yes building on flood plains is lunacy and if necessary surely as you say build on substantial supporting columns high enough for the main building to be clear of the water surface; I can't understand why so many after receiving a severe flood warning ended up with their vehicles virtually submerged?
Yes give me a nice warm workshop any-day Gary rather than being outside frozen; I don't like to get wet and I can't stand the cold. I can of course dream of ever getting into my well lit garage with heating and 3 phase laid on? I can't swim either so I keep away from water deep enough to drown in.
You are so right Gary about lathes and imagination; novices always regard lathes as a machine to turn round items only but with a bit of practice and working within the lathe's limits a lot can be done by "surfacing" this is taking the tool across the face of the chuck or face-plate; fly-cutting is extensively used and I've used this method many times in order to produce a dead flat. At the moment I'm very limited regarding the Clarke because it only has 3" chucks and no face-plate so even making a new bearing housing to replace the broken housing would give me a lot of extra work; I could do it if pushed but a bigger lathe would have laughed at such a small item? I'll never be without a lathe or two because they are so useful and once bought they then cost nothing unless of course tooling is needed and only a few items of tooling can quickly cost more than the lathe; as you say though Gary imagination works wonders; I've done lots of unusual jobs on my lathes over the years. Just owning lathes gives me a lot of pleasure.
When it comes to lathes; anyone never having owned a lathe possibly will never miss it but for someone like me who has had lathe access for the past 50 years it would leave a big hole in my life if I didn't own at least one lathe. I wouldn't recommend a novice buying an industrial lathe like a Colchester because lathes can be highly dangerous machines in the wrong hands and a big lathe won't stop if it grabs the operator; if I had the space I wouldn't have parted with my Colchester or even my huge Dominion Woodturning lathe but I do need space to work in.
Plenty more trees in our garden this size Gary; two oak trees; blue spruce; western red cedar all over 40' tall plus lots of large conifers; even our laurels are big.
Thanks for your good wishes Lawrence; it was indeed a bad one to sort out not breaking at ground level and being on the steepest part of the garden; it couldn't have been in a worse position; of course the petrol chainsaw was stored in the shed and the picture shows the damaged tree directly above the shed hung up badly in one of the oaks and laurels; fortunately the terrific wind of yesterday had left us with just a stiff breeze so I pulled out the chainsaw only to find I needed fuel so another trip to Morrison's for petrol. I then fueled the chainsaw and topped up the chain oil working under the tree which was the only bit of flat area; I reckoned the tree would need to crush the shed to get at me?
Yes Lawrence the see-saw laws are very important when cutting logs and a lot of care is required to remain safe. the tree was about 45 degrees so I started by dropping it from the main trunk then with its base on the ground began chopping lumps from it with the chainsaw; each time it looked as though it was out to get me I attached a rope getting me well out of its way before giving the rope a good tug.
The steeply sloping garden was the worst part because it was hard to stand upright making an escape route difficult and to work below would be asking for trouble; the breeze was blowing the sawdust all over me so I was wearing my safety kit including goggles which I dislike. Little by little and taking my time I had the tree cut up by dinner time just leaving me feeling tired out; cutting the tree up wasn't too bad but standing on my feet on the slope was extremely tiring; I had to cut logs parallel with the slope because cutting across the slope would see the log disappear at speed down the garden; oh what fun? My big safety boots gave me some grief as well due to rubbing my skin; anyone into torture would love working in our back garden.
I've now got lots of trips to the tip to look forward to but at least if I cut the heavy sections into sizes I can lift they will be collected for a wood burner.
Eucalyptus Lawrence; did you see any Koala bears? Enjoy your firewood hunting Lawrence at least in your case it's voluntary; I felt perished when I started this morning as it was bitterly cold but within fifteen minutes I was nice and warm once I got moving around. It scuppered another day in the garage; it's possible this bandsaw restoration is going to take quite a while at this rate?
It's upsetting to see such a beautiful tree so badly damaged and it also damaged one of the oak trees breaking two big branches so I was up the oak tree as well making good with the bow saw.
I'm much more cheerful today Gary; I didn't get any work done on the bandsaw but I think I made today count? How wonderful not to suffer more power cuts but we had the candles ready.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
