XLeblanc

[IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0002.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0001.jpg[/IMG]   A couple of pictures of a small platform I made for Horse Riding for the disabled France. In one of the pictures you can see a metal ramp. They were worried that the children would fall off ther other side of the horse when being lifted on so I designed and made the platform for them.Some of you may recognise Patrick McLoughlin in one of the pictures who runs horse riding for the disabled France. as well as the stage courses for the Chambre D' Metiers in Limoges. Cheers

[IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0009.jpg[/IMG] Here we have a similar picture with oak for my new kitchen ceiling/bedroom floor and a Moretens multi moulder with a power feed fitted. It is quite a special machine as the angle of the spindle is adjustable through a hundred and eighty degrees meaning it can be used as an overhead router. It also has a router spindle so router bits can be used with supplied collets and lastly an XY table which alloes the table to be moved backwards and forwards as well as left and right. Cheers

[IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0011.jpg[/IMG] This image shows the extraction system for the D630 thicknesser and the extraction feed to the tenoner at the back right of the picture.. In the foreground under the blue dust sheet is a Robland 310 planer thicknesser. Cheers

[IMG]http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u324/XLBtoolate/DSCF0012-1.jpg[/IMG] Her is a picture of my workshop with a few of the machines sited. In the foreground there is a Robland D630 thicknesser. middle left a Robland E45 dimension saw, back right with a cover over it a Multico chisel morticer and lastly back left a sedgewick three headed tenoner. As you can see the workshop is not that wide but very long. Cheers

It still is not quite big enough as it is 20m by 5m and as such the wrong shape to be able to work in efficiently. I still have to site the crosscut saw and bandsaw. The crosscut saw I got from a local guy along with a big three phase compressor. It actually runs on rails which must be twenty feet long. So if you are cutting heavy timber you can move the saw instead of the wood. I also have to get some more ducting from truduct in the Uk to get another couple of the machines permanently ducted. I don't suppose anyone knows of anywhere who sharpens planer blades in the Limousin. Incidently where are you located Postie? I will try and figure out how to put some pictures on here so you can see what I mean. Cheers

I bought a new set of Bahco chisels a few weeks ago and decided on a little experiment. I had a quick shot of chiselling some oak and then decided to regrind and hone the whole set of chisels. Whilst doing so I found that they had not been ground very well in the first instance and when the long arduous process was complete there was a marked difference in the performance of the chisels. The Tormek to me is an invaluable piece of kit and makes the job of re-sharpening so much easier. I have been watching this part of the forum for some time with great interest and hopefully soon I will be able to contribute with some pieces of my own. I have everything I need, a one hundred metre square workshop, panel saw, tenoner, thicknesser, planer, moulder, four sided moulder, bandsaw crosscut saw, morticer, auto copy lathe, full workshop extraction system and an abundance of kiln dried, air dried oak and beach. I have just not had the time unfortunately with working away from home. My first project I have to complete is two kitchens one for our house in the Limousin and then a second for our house in Brittany. I plan on making the first one using plywood and fitting an oak facia to the front of it. The one in Brittany will be solid oak with stand alone movable units and not fitted. I am particulary interested in the restoration of medieval woodwork and have so much to recreate for our medieval house in brittany as we intend to restore it to how it would have looked when it was completed in 1671. Cheers  

I am in Aberdeen at work. I did ask my wife to completely remove the power from it for a few minutes as Sky themselves have asked me to do that before. My wife called Sky and they mentioned something about an error 29 and she would have to get an engineer out to fix it. I will check with her again today, many thanks for taking the time to reply. Craig

Following the storms over the last couple of days our satalite system is not working although signal quality and  strength seem ok. Does anyone know of anyone locally who could repair it without us having to take out a mortgage for the repairs.   Cheers Craig

Unless the rules have changed since I done the business start up course in Limoges which I doubt as I know the guy who runs the course well. You will be able to start your business without any trouble. You will easily be able to prove to the chambre d'metiers that you are experienced in what you propose to do. You are entitled to compete with other people in the same line of work as you are whether they like it or not. That is competion, and competition is a good thing as it keeps standards high and prices competative. You will have to attend the business start up course in any case and you should be able to do it in Limoges in English even though you live in Creuse and the course is in Haute Vienne as I did and I live in Creuse. The trouble with these forums is there are an increasing number of poeple who give their opinion rather than fact. My rule of thumb is if you don't know don't post.  

Hi Zoe, Have you been working in the Uk and paying National Insurance contributions? I think the criteria is that you have to have paid full National Insurance for the last two years. If so then you would be entitled to an E106 which should allow you to get your Carte Vitale. Good Luck

The actual name is "Chauffe Eau Mixte" available form Castorama to order, six hundred odd euros when I bought mine a couple of years ago.   Cheers

I will have a look round when I get home from work on the 18th and see what is available at the suppliers near where I live. The kitchen cabinets of which there will be two will not take too many sheets of whatever kind of board I end up using. I am more interested in the finished article than the cost as I will stil save money making the kitchen in any case. I have a few cubic metres of oak and all of the appliances so my only outlay will be for the boards to make the carcases. I had heard somewhere that plywood was really expensive. The daft thing is I brought a sheet of 25mm back with me from the UK a few months ago to make a new table for my crosscut saw and a couple of sheets of MDF to make some router jigs. I could easily have thrown another half dozen sheets of ply in the bottom of my trailer. Nevermind I am sure it will still be cheaper than driving eight hundred miles to get some. Cheers  

The answer is simple I was going to use hydrofuge chipboard floor boards and paint the interior, then make an oak facia for the cabinet but my good wife decided this would not be good enough therefore going down the plywood route as it will look like wood inside. I would have used other materials but do not know how resilient they are to liquids as one of the cabinets will house the belfast sink. I have seen horrendous reactions between MDF and water in the past. Cheers    

Maybe I just need to look a bit harder, was it expensive? Cheers

Thanks I will get some on order today so they are there waiting on me getting home from work. Cheers

Another question if you please. Where can I buy collated screws in France for a Makita collated screw driver for fixing platerboard. I usually just order them from Axminster but they have none in stock currently. Thanks

We sign for our new house in Moncontour Brittany on 9th May and would like to rent a Gite for a week whilst we sort the new house out. The dates are the 8th until the 15th of May. Does anyone know of any Gites within a short drive from Moncontour or actually in Moncontour. I have found a couple on the internet one owned by a French person which looks very nice but unfortunately it is booked and another from an English person which is available but twice the price and supplements for everything else on top. It is not booked for obvious reasons. Cheers

I need to purchase some good quality plywood to make some kitchen unit carcases. I have seen some in the Brico Depot catalogue but it is not thick enough. I am looking for something about 20mm. Does anybody know where this can be bought in Creuse or Haute Vienne or do I need to add it to my next UK shopping list. Thanks in anticipation of your replies. Cheers

We currently have a house in Creuse and have lived there for four years now. Recently we bought a new house in Brittany which we sign for on May 9th. Our intention was to sell our existing property in Creuse later when we have the outstanding work completed.   As the work progresses however I am becoming more and more loathed to sell the house. The problem I have is that along with the house there is a huge barn and four and a half acres of land. Due to work commitments and living in Brittany I would not be able to cope with the land but would like to retain the house as a holiday house.   This brings me to my question. If I split the barn and house and sold the barn off along with the land what would my liability for capital gains tax be?   I have not increased the value of the barn much apart from the architect’s drawings and the planning consent to convert it into a large house and a four bedroom Gite.   Cheers

I stumbled across a website yesterday of a farm in the Limousin offering wigwam and yurt holidays in the Limousin. It seems a yurt is a round tent of asian origin. From a family holiday point of view it looks like a lot of fun. If it wasn't so close I think I would try a holiday there. Regards

All you need to register is a letter from your previous employer (which will be your building company) stating you have been employed as a joiner with them for a number of years. You will however have to attend the mandatory course with the chambre du metiers, which is only three days and not a week. The course in Limoges is delivered in English by a friend of mine so you will have no bother understanding the information. Even if you do not live in Haute Vienne you can still attend the course there as I live in Creuse. We have lived in Creuse for three and a half years and you would have no bother at all finding work there. It might be slow at first to pick up but when people hear you are good then the work will roll in. If you are intending rennovating initially you could build your customer base up slowly. I see no reason why Haute Vienne and Correze should be any different. I was intending starting a joinery manufacturing business but other work committments have not allowed me to do this although the barn is full of all the required machinery. We got the opportunity to buy a house we regretted buying in 2003 in Brittany so our house, huge barn with building permit for conversion and four and a half acres will be going on the market in the next few months. Cheers

My wife has an imported eunos in the barn which is now under a cover and doing nothing. I was thinking of taking it back to the Uk on a trailer and selling it as I put a lot of new expensive parts on it before we moved to France three years ago and would like to recoup some of the cost. Have you now registered your eunos or are you still in the process? If is possible it is worth doing as it ia fun little car to drive. Cheers

If you have not already got the Rayburn then I would consider looking for a Solid Fuel Stanley Superstar cooker / boiler. I bought a Rayburn and having owned a gas fired Stanley in the UK sold it on and bought a Stanley as they are far better built than a Rayburn. I get back from France in the next few days from work and I intend commencing installation of it next week so I will let you know how I got on. I bought an idirect HP hot water cylinder in France which I had to order but brought the safety header tank from the UK. The rest of the matertials are most likely available in France but I am going to source the safety relief valve while in the UK this weekend. I will let you know how it goes. Cheers

I have a colleague at work who currently lives in Koh Samui in Thailand with his wife and children. He is currently considering moving from there to France. However he has two dogs which he would be bringing with him if and when he moved. Does anyone know what he would have to do to be eable to bring the dogs with him to France.   Many thanks in advance.

Does anyone know of an agency in France who can provide a registered Nanny serice to look after a child. This positon would be live in. Thanks