Depth of taphole vs thickness of bark

[pdr]

Am installing new high vac system and intend to drill 5/16 tapholes to 1.5" - Since the bark thickness seems to vary greatly from tree to tree, I'm wondering if and how to maintain that depth. Seems like 1.5" will not be adequate on older, 30" plus diameter trees.

[wiam]

Forget the bark. Just go 1.5" into wood. I put a mark on the tapping bit with a
Sharpie at 1.5"

[pdr]

The thickest bark is on the older reds. By "forget the bark" do you mean remove the thick, curled pieces down to the wood before I drill? My dad tells me in the old days they used a hatchet and shaved the bark off even hard maples before tapping and hanging buckets. Seems like it would be better for the health of the tree to drill a little deeper rather than removing bark. Thanks for your input.

[jasonl6]

he means go 1.5" deep regardless of the bark thickness. That's plenty deep enough, you can go too deep if you try to over think it. Just mark your drill bit and stop when you get to the mark on every tree regardless of the thickness of the bark. The old days are long gone because it didn't work as well and damaged the tree. They use to do some nasty stuff including formaldehyde spray into the tap holes.

Jason