chainsaws

[philpjuk100]

Hi F-W, I do not have a tip guard and did not know about them but will now get one.I do not think my accident was caused by tip contact but will now be extra careful (thats if the wife does not put my saws on freecycle!) up early,no breakfast,have a thirty mile trip to the derby hospital where they have a "hand" unit,getting the hang of this one finger keyboard typing! phil.

Here's what you need Phil - significantly reduces the risk of kickback:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Chainsaw-Bar-Safe-Tip-/150574877542?pt=UK_Home_Garden_GardenPowerTools_CA&hash=item230ef64b66

Thanks F-W, item won,will fit it if the wife has not put my chainsaws on "freecycle",cheers,phil.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Good - glad to hear it.

 

[LadyArowana]

Hope things are healing up OK, and you can be back to projects very soon.

 

[Penners]

item won

I do wonder who bothers to sell something on eBay for 99p. Seems to me like a load of hassle for zero return.

 

[Feltwell]

Well, you hope it will go for more! But I agree, listing at 99p something that is only likely to fetch a couple of quid at best does seem rather pointless. But, in my case, sometimes it's useful to get shot of things that are otherwise a pain to dispose of.

I listed a very sorry looking greenhouse when we first moved in here - very honest listing, at least 2/3 of the glass was broken but the aluminium frame was OK. I only listed it save me the hassle of taking it apart and transporting it to the tip, and was quite surprised when it went for about £80, from memory. Similarly, I had a load of old paving slabs - just plain grey slabs - a pain to take to the tip, but Ebay at 99p and they went for about £60 & the buyer collected. Plus my precast concrete sectional garage - 99p start, £100 finish and the buyer took it apart and carried it away, with help from me. I would have been happy enough if they'd all gone for 99p, anything's better than sending to landfill something that is of use to someone else.

Since then I've discovered Freecycle and a local furniture recycling project. Freecycle is a great way to get rid of things that aren't worth selling or that you can't be bothered/don't want to sell but may be of use to someone else, no hassle really as the people collect. There are some scroungers on there without a doubt - some the wanted ads are quite funny - "Cream leather 3 piece suite wanted, must be in excellent condition, a 3 seater and 2 chairs" - what do you expect for nowt?? But, for example, I had an Ikea light fitting that I'd taken down, nothing wrong with it, probably only cost £5-£10 new so not worth selling, no good for a charity shop but fine for Freecycle. Pretty much everything that gets listed up there seems to go.

I hate sending good items to landfill - the classic example being I cannot understand how people can throw good clothes in the bin rather than give them to a charity shop. Such a waste.

 

[Moo]

If there is an auction house within easy reach, it's worth while doing what some friends of ours (in Beccles) used to do - send the stuff off to the auction. If it sold, all well and good; if it didn't the auction house would get rid of it, which saved our chums a trip to the local tip.

 

[Gervase]

...and they'd usually sell it to me! I must have bought a ridiculous amount of tat from Durrants Mart in my time in Suffolk.

 

[Penners]

some the wanted ads are quite funny - "Cream leather 3 piece suite wanted, must be in excellent condition, a 3 seater and 2 chairs" - what do you expect for nowt??

I'm just drafting my freecycle ad now:

Wanted - Aston Martin V8 Vantage. As new condition. Max. 10,000 miles on clock. Will collect.

 

[philpjuk100]

Hope things are healing up OK, and you can be back to projects very soon.

Yes thanks,have moved from great big dressing and sling to great big dressing to just dressing down to wrist to just finger dressing with a splint,great service from the NHS, no real pain just the odd reprimand (you`ve got this dressing very grubby!) can drive and cut my own food up so I will soon be finishing felling the tree(I cannot get my chainsaw gloves on over the splint!) thanks for your concern,phil.

 

[Moo]

...and they'd usually sell it to me! I must have bought a ridiculous amount of tat from Durrants Mart in my time in Suffolk.

Actually, said friends virtually furnished their whole (large, grade 2*) house from Durrants auctions at a time when they had two different sheds - one for the decent stuff and one for the real old tat. They tended to patronise the latter, both for buying and selling.

 

[AMc]

Well, you hope it will go for more! But I agree, listing at 99p something that is only likely to fetch a couple of quid at best does seem rather pointless. But, in my case, sometimes it's useful to get shot of things that are otherwise a pain to dispose of.
....

Since then I've discovered Freecycle and a local furniture recycling project. Freecycle is a great way to get rid of things that aren't worth selling or that you can't be bothered/don't want to sell but may be of use to someone else, no hassle really as the people collect....

I hate sending good items to landfill - the classic example being I cannot understand how people can throw good clothes in the bin rather than give them to a charity shop. Such a waste.

I listed our old oil boiler on eBay with no reserve and started at 99p buyer to collect. It was removed working but it was also +10 years old.
I expected to get £50 from a plumber with a customer who needed parts, or perhaps someone with a large workshop and boiler maintenance skills.
In the end it fetched over £400 and the guy hired a van to pick it up. I was scrupulously honest in the description and answered questions about it publically and in the open e.g. "Has it been serviced this year?" "No, we run it for 18months after it was serviced then removed it to the garage a year ago.".

We also sold a kitchen island unit for £150 to a bloke who drove from the Wirral to Norfolk and back for it ?!?

On the other hand my Freecycle (now Freegle) experience is a bit more mixed. I managed to dispose of most of our old bathroom suite inc. the stained cast iron straight side bath that I had no way to dispose of. The odds of the old kitchen also went quickly and easily to a guy who just needed a hand loading. Corregated plastic sheets also went almost immediately.

But a used pushchair resulted in 2 weeks of irritating broken promises about collection then radio silence even though I KNOW THE WOMAN and she has a kid at our daughters school!
A load of good quality radiators went to scrap because people didn't read the descriptions on the sizes or expected me to deliver them & plumb them in.
I have a bag of gypsm plaster, self leveling screed and big bits of plasterboard that no one wants.

Today someone offered an iPod with weak battery so there are some real finds for nothing if you have the interest. The trick I find with Freegle is to not end up collecting more than you give away

You've just reminded me I need to list the old hall carpet though!.

 

[Feltwell]

It is amazing what folks will travel to collect, but I guess it depends on how much you want it! I went to Gateshead to get some secondhand roof windows, but as it saved me about £3500 it was well worth the trip.

Re. the radiators - people expected you to deliver them AND plumb them in???? :shock: How stupid can people get?

I tend to give folks 2 chances to collect, if at second chance they haven't been then that's it.

 

[Penners]

I have ... big bits of plasterboard that no one wants.

That's a problem these days. How do you dispose of plasterboard offcuts? The council tip - sorry, recycling centre - won't take anything with gypsum content. So what does one do with them? They're too small to be of any practical use, and they currently sit in my garage getting damp .

Anyone got an answer to this problem?

By the way, AMc, how big are your bits of plasterboard? Roughly where in Norfolk are you?

 

[philpjuk100]

It stated that Gyprock is >95% gypsum, and 4-9% paper lining (don't ask me about the arithmetic or how they can fit >95% + 9% of material into a product. I dunno).

The worst risk they mention in relation to Gyprock is that "repeated exposure may cause skin dryness", and, if you get hungry enough to eat the stuff, you may experience "abdominal discomfort."

The "Hazardous Decomposition Products" listed are: "None".
I broke up some that had become damp and put it in my compost heap and it "dissapeared"! I do not grow anything I eat but even if I did I do not think there would be problems!

 

[philpjuk100]

I used to live near the british gypsum plant at east leake,workers from the board plant used to bring lumps and sweepings to break up clay in their gardens,one even built a rockery from it which dissolved in the rain!

 

[Feltwell]

The worst risk they mention in relation to Gyprock is that "repeated exposure may cause skin dryness"

I can testify to that - it's dried the skin out on my hands so much last week from repeated cutting of plasterboard that the backs of my hands have cracked and bled. Mrs F's posh handcream has been deployed, I am now a man who moisturises!

My local "tip" has a special skip for plasterboard. From t'internet:-

Since July 2005 the landfilling of gypsum bearing wastes (i.e. plasterboard) with bio-degradable waste types has been prohibited. The Environmental Agency took the view that seperate disposal was not necessary where the waste to be tipped only contained small amounts (up to 10%) of gypsum bearing wastes.

However, following a recently conducted scientific study and report it has now been concluded that the 10% rule is to be abolished. Which, it is believed, will reduce the potential for the production of hydrogen sulphide gas at the landfills.

Because of this new directive, not all landfill sites will take gypsum based waste from January 1st 2009, meaning the product will have to travel further distances in order for it to be recycled. Inevitably this is likely to affect the prices charged for the correct disposal.

 

[wobs]

There are plasterboard recycling sites throughout the UK. One is somewhere off the A15 in Lincs that we've used before. I think it usually goes into fertiliser.

Although I do recall them saying that they struggle with finding a home for the foil backing that you sometimes get on plasterboard.

 

[Penners]

There are plasterboard recycling sites throughout the UK. One is somewhere off the A15 in Lincs

Excellent! That's only a 200-mile round trip for me.

 

[AMc]

LOL - it is a problem with disposing of things that you're not supposed to put in landfill.
I'm resigned that I will end up having to hire a skip to remove a bunch of stuff which is clogging up the coachhouse and is unlikely to be used along with about 1/2 a ton of rubble and a bunch of broken bricks.

I'm also lucky enough to gave an asbestos reinforced bath panel and water tank. I can take them to the recycling centre for free disposal as they were DIY removed - however I'm advised not to transport them inside my car. I don't have a roof rack and it might be risky to tie them on to one anyway as it risks crumbling the material.
I could borrow a pickup truck & trailer from a friend but as it'd be a commercial vehicle relating to a building trade I would expect some grief about the "domestic" nature of the waste. So for now they sit wrapped in polythene in the drive.

 

[Moo]

The Environmental Agency took the view that seperate disposal was not necessary ...

I don't know why, but I find it difficult to trust institutions that can't use spell-checkers.