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The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby is an excellent read.

A peregrine falcon has been clocked at over 200mph when in a dive. This was recorded by a Spitfire pilot in WW2, the bird overtook the plane.

Instead of decking boards you could use scaffolding planks, cut to length as you describe. Not pretty, but you'd need fewer and they'd last a lifetime.

Not in the same league as luxury kit cars but in the mid-eighties there was a project called Africar. The idea was to provide a low tech vehicle that could be mass produced in developing countries, it was basically a plywood box with the drive provided by a Citroen GS engine and powertrain. The...

Slow grown spruce.

Oak grown in open parkland would have a spreading habit resulting in low hanging boughs with a natural curvature. Trees in closely spaced woodland grow straighter with fewer side branches. Hockey sticks were made from Ash cut from old coppice stools which gave them a curve at the base. Horses...

110/120 v tools usually have a thicker supply cable which doesn't fit comfortably in a 13A plug,

One of Jack Hargreaves excellent series - I can't remember if it's "Out of Town" or "Old Country" - shows how a wooden wheel is fitted with solid rubber tyres. Exactly as you describe a length of rubber tube is forced into a steel channel.

Looks like Ash to me.

Could the machine be sited onto a square of ply with a batten around the edge to contain the feet?. Wouldn't be able to move very far then.

A simple method or sharpening fine-toothed saws is to find a hacksaw blade of the same tpi as the saw being sharpened. Clamp both in the vice with the tooth profiles aligned but the hacksaw blade slightly lower- just a mm or so. File each tooth down until the file hits the hardened hacksaw...

A few layers of "Bendy Plywood" glued and laminated?.

The 52cc Chinese engine is, as you say, generic and is used on many badged brands. Chainsaws, 5-in-1 multitools and Brushcutters are favourite applications If you can find a user manual for any of those it will give basic information regarding petroil ratios etc.

A very common problem on small 2strokes is gummed-up piston rings. The engines starts OK but has no power and "bogs down" during use. As mentioned earlier it's easy to inspect the piston by taking off the silencer and viewing through the exhaust port. Eventually exhaust gases bypass the gummed...

About 12 years ago I visited Australia for the first time (Sydney area, NSW). I was surprised by how much corrugated iron roofing remained, These were dwellings not outbuildings, it just seemed an odd choice of building material for the sunniest and hottest continent in the world.

The wheel in the first photo could be a Wheelwrights Traveller, used to measure the circumference of the iron tyres. Possibly Coopers used these as well. It's certainly a mixed bag - interesting though.

Certainly looks like a Prunus species.

Chestnut, if you can get it.

The leaves of Yew are deadly poisonous, just a few sprigs can cause death if ingested. Having said that, a few years ago a drug company was asking for clippings as they could extract a chemotherapy drug from them (Taxol). I think it's been fully synthesised now so there's no need to save your...