Proton BASIC Community

It is quite a rare event down here in the Fens now, but we have snow, and they are very large chunks. :-)

I do hope they settle, so I can build a snow bear for my Rachel.

We have an open coal fire, so when it is cold and snowy, it is such a lovely thing to see, especially with two of our girls lying in front of it (see attached image). They are Hannah (tabby) and our new addition, Abbie (black and white). Our Chloe is always on the couch, but doesn't like being too close to the open fire.

It's just such a shame that coal is so expensive now, and I am getting too old to cut logs, but it is fun to use my chainsaw. :-)

Regards
Les

Hi Les,

yes, keep warm, I just looked out the window and it has started snowing here too!

I have a log splitter which is excellent to make smaller stuff after the chainsaw has done it's work.

We also get logs delivered late summer for winter use from a local sawmill, maybe you could do the same where you are?

John

Hello,
It's soothing to watch coal or logs burn.
I worked for 18 years in the coal mines in Lorraine (in eastern France). The deepest I went was 1,140 metres. Everything has been closed down in our region for over 20 years now.
Have a nice Sunday.

Unfortunately down south we only got defrosted show

Bob

Here in the illegal British colony of sick africa it was scorching hot a few days ago, temperature was up to 32oC at night indoors.  You sweat yourself to sleep.  Expected, we are in the middle of summer.

Today is winter again, now 18oC indoors and during the night was probably around 13oC outside.
We all suffer from temperature shock.

Another disaster looming.  The "government' wants to vaccinate all animals here for the distributed mouth-and-claw disease, probably because so many refused to be vaccinated during the pandemic.  There are alternatives but BG wants his jabs in everything, getting it into consumers weather they want or not.  Sick to say the least.  Farmers are now securing their borders to try and keep the paid distributing parasites out.

We could use some of your snow, it reached 39C in the shade on our back verandah this afternoon, our pet galah enjoyed a sprinkle of cool water from the hose. I will take the galah for a walk around sunset. It's 6.35pm and my weather station shows 36.7C at the moment, thankfully the on roof solar supplies the air conditioners power, the electricity supplier only gives me 2 cents a unit so use it or lose it.

Here in Zimbabwe we are having our summer rain season and it is lovely as everything turns green. Unlike in the north hemisphere, when the sun shines it is perceived as a rare particularly celestial phenomena but the rain here is very welcomed. LOL

Unfortunately, it did not snow for long enough, even though the snow flakes were quite large, and started to stick.

I use a large axe for the logs John, and it doesn't half knacker my hip. :-) I also make paper briquettes during the summer, because they are free to make and use, from all of the free newspapers and bumf that is posted, and the papers given to us by our good neighbours.

I am going to try to make a semi-automatic press for the briquettes, because pressing them and lifting them from their mould is knackering, when 40 or 50 are being made in one go. :-) Ohhhhh the joys of getting older. LOL

Where I grew up in the north east of england Gerard. There were coal pits all around, and I applied for an electrician apprenticeship when I was 16 years old, in Westoe pit, but my dad talked me out of it. He didn't want his boy down the pit. :-) But, they were all shut down, along with all of the other industries in the UK. :-(

Best regards
Les

Hi Les,

I have an axe too, but I can really recommend a hydraulic log splitter, much safer than swinging an axe and much more capable when working with large logs

John

An Ax in my opinion is a dangerous tool, even to chop wood.
Besides my back doesn't allow certain movements so conventional axing is out.

I built myself one sliding axe.  It takes up little space and works very easy.
I seat myself on a low chair and chop the wood up.
The axe can be any axe with a chopping edge mounted or welded to a weight.
Mine has a 101mm square tubing filled with old bolts and nuts for weight.
The frame is a 76mm square tubing with a foot like an L where it stands on.
And wheels when I tilt it it rolls anywhere you drag it.
The slide is threaded rods with roller bearings sliding up and down the 76mm tubing.
The springs are from chairs or something I found somewhere.
Bungee cord work as well, mine perished in the sun.

The springs take up the weight, making it easy to push the axe up,
and when pulled down have quite some force to split even hardwood.
Below is a 300mm high large chopping block on which the wood is placed.
The chopping blade I have was made by a friend and has a hardened edge, but any axe will work
Notice there is a thin rope that holds the axe still so id does not bounce when you move it.  It's the safety brake.
The wood should be sawed to the desired length, then chopped.

The hydraulic splitters work too slow to my liking and is expensive.

This video has some interesting ideas.
The third one has a hopper cooled engine with an atmospheric inlet valve, very cool.
All things considered number two must be the most dangerous, sort of a kinetic killing/maiming machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ks_lbtgJSw

Quote from: ken_k on Today at 04:37 AMThis video has some interesting ideas.
The third one has a hopper cooled engine with an atmospheric inlet valve, very cool.
All things considered number two must be the most dangerous, sort of a kinetic killing/maiming machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ks_lbtgJSw

Agree, that no 3 is the safest and fastest splitter that does not claim body parts.  There are a bunch of the same mechanism driven by other methods than the paraffin/diesel engine, which is dangerous with all those flywheels and pulley's.  One day I'll make me one that runs off solar.

That first machine reminds me of the bench saw that dad made himself when I was a boy. It used an old sewing machine motor and rubber belt, and a small bought unit to hold the saw blade. All pulleys and bare metal on a plinth that he made from wood, but it worked well, until the rubber belt needed replacing, then the blade stopped while cutting. :-)

The second machine looks terrifying, with its spinning wheel with axes on it, and that bloke using his hands to move it into place!

Regards
Les

I'll stick with using my hydraulic log splitter as I prefer to keep out of hospital emergency departments.

John

I was half-expecting the bloke on the last machine, with his shirt flapping about, to get dragged into the mechanism. Amazing but yet another example of Natural Selection I suppose.