What to do with an unwanted orchid?? (apples and stone fruits)

[Stephen N]

I have got to expect some critisisim from such a stupid mistake so thats ok I guess. My father had the place open for offers for someone to lease it out again but had no offers. Thats what he would prefer - someone to lease it out No offers either to buy it. He says it is a shame that he has to rip it up He is in poor health and unable to run it himself and I guess I might be a bit incompetant so I cant run it(parents split up and I left before learning anything about farming). Im not sure we would have the capital to run it anyway - The old leasees (spelling??) spent large amounts of money on the place( they didnt go broke cause of us they bought a massive place 3 times bigger then ours and overextended) Due to ill health he would want to do something about them within a year probably. The photo was taken in winter so the trees are dormant particle board sounds like a good idea - get them to come in and rip them up. After setting aside 1 or 2 trees for knife handles of course. Thanks for the ideas - sorry bout the mistake. Stephen Nixon PS Andy Dingley your are a knifemaker arnt you??? Your name seems familiar are you on the knife list??

[Mark & Juanita]

Well, you see, the rules don't really apply to the instructors. :-) If one were to put that kind of statement in the composition, then the instructor would reply with your "do *what* over?" comment, just as they would do when one used a pronoun in a sentence following a sentence in which a formal name was used. As in, "George Brown was the university president at the time. He was the first son of an immigrant to attain such a post." Instructor would invariably mark up the paper with a red, "Which 'he'?"

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Mark & Juanita]

To be honest, it took me a bit to finally figure out to what the poster was referring. There definitely was a confusion factor there.

However, a simple, "do you mean orchard?" would have been sufficient to correct the problem.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Dave Balderstone]

I'm curious. If the land is not saleable as an orchard, what will it be when the orchard is gone? Is it close enough to an urban center that it can be turned into housing>

[Leon]

Yeah. That is what I posted.

[P van Rijckevorsel]

"Andy Dingley" schreef We don't cut much timber from orchids.

*** Still, once upon a time, I heard of "orchid wood" ;-) PvR

[Andy Dingley]

So why rip it up? Even if there isn't a demand for it, there's no _need_ to remove the trees.

Lets suppose you sell the whole lot for a shopping mall and Narnia-themed Orcworld Experience tomorrow. The developer can grub the trees out in no time - having them standing isn't a problem.

You're not going to get rich by selling timber from these trees. Trees just aren't worth much - they're only worth money after they've been felled, converted and dried - and that costs labour. Now if you _had_ to do this, optimise your revenue by selling the trees to the best buyer

- almost certainly a fine timber specialist who wanted fruitwood, not just a chipper who buys solely on bulk.

So in the meantime, keep your orchard.

No, I'm just a passing psychopath with an interest in sharp objects.

Any cutlery making has been more to do with bronze casting lately than it has been with woodwork.

[Stephen N]

about 2/3rds of the place has trees on it, the other 1/3 has about 80 cows and calves. He will put more cows on it. He is healthy enough to look after cows. I could probably manage well enough looking after cows too if he needed some help. It is about 25 km away from a resonable sized inland city, so too far for housing or shopping centres. Would be a good location to break up into 4 or 5 hobby farms though probably. There may also be some legal issues with some of the trees. Without going into the specifics some of the trees may need licencing fees paid that the previous tenants avoided if fruit is sold off them. One paddocks worth of them might die this year too over summer they were stressed last year apparently. He isnt trying to get rich just trying to get rid off them as cheaply as possible (hopefully without having to buy the $85000 machine to pull them out). Leaving some of them in for a few years sounds like a good idea though - i will suggest it to him. I really like the casting you are doing Andy - great stuff it looks fantastic. Thanks for your help too Stephen

[mac davis]

The spelling troll, of course... and he gets bites every time..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Andy Dingley]

Thanks! Sadly my last batch was a total failure. I think I was trying to cast too thick a layer of bronze in my cuttlefish. Bronze is a bit hot for cuttlefish anyway, but previously I've managed to chill a layer to shape before the mould started to collapse. This time though I lost the lot - one minute I'm holding a crucible of molten metal, the next I'm wondering why I'm pouring and pouring into a seemingly bottomless mould. According to bystanders I'd disappeared behind a cloud of black ash from my burning cephalod. When I finally stripped the mould box down I'd cast a single solid slug weighing a pound or two.

I did manage to sand cast some tentacles though. Another project is to make an oak Craftsman table lamp, but instead of ball and claw feet it'll have bronze tentacles peeking out from beneath it.