Scraping syrup pans

[ennismaple]

Since we're in the middle of a deep freeze we had nothing to do on the weekend so we took a drive to visit another maple producer in the area. It's always nice to talk to other producers and share stories plus tips & tricks. They were cleaning niter off their syrup pans by scraping them with a copper pipe! I cringed to see it but they said another producer had told them about the trick and because copper is softer than stainless steel it doesn't scratch the pans.

I needed to prove this to myself before I take a copper pipe to my syrup pans! A Google search yields:

304 Stainless steel has a Rockwell B hardness of 92

Hard drawn straight lengths of Copper pipe have a Rockwell F hardness of 70 and that equates to 23 on the Rockwell B hardness scale.

Therefore, copper pipe is much softer than stainless steel and cannot scratch it.

Anyone find fault in my logic above? Does anyone else do this themselves?

[Waynehere]

Very interesting. Did they flatten the end of the copper pipe to make like a scrapper or just use the round end?

[mspina14]

Very interesting. Did they flatten the end of the copper pipe to make like a scrapper or just use the round end?

Yeah, that's my question.

How does one scrape a piece of flat stainless steel with a round piece of copper pipe?:confused:


Mark

[ennismaple]

They heated it and flattened in a vice. I've bought a 6 ft piece of 1" copper to try it on the syrup pan that "someone" burned last week.

[RileySugarbush]

Anyone ever seen the brass bladed windshield ice scrapers? They work good and don't scratch the glass, unless there is gritty stuff on the windshield.

[SeanD]

They heated it and flattened in a vice. I've bought a 6 ft piece of 1" copper to try it on the syrup pan that "someone" burned last week.

6 feet?! How deep is your pan? I would think a couple of shots with a 3lb hammer would get a nice flat blade on the end. I'm actively following this thread. Your logic seems good, but boy I'd hate to goof with this one. How come some scrub pads leave marks on stainless?

[ennismaple]

The shortest piece Home Depot had was 6' and it was a pretty penny at that! I'd probably be good with 4' so you can put the pan on the ground and not need to lean over.

I'll definitely take it slow and easy to start. I will likely cut the corners off the flattened end to reduce the chance of scraping the pan. I have gently used a slotted screwdriver to get tough spots off the pan before

Plastic scrub pads might scuff the finish on bright annealed stainless but they don't scratch them. The trick is obviously to find something tougher than the niter (or scorch) but softer than the stainless.

[wnybassman]

Plastic scrub pads might scuff the finish on bright annealed stainless but they don't scratch them.

I guess you'll have to define "scuff". I've got plenty of stainless stuff that has become quite scratched up with micro scratches by green scrubby pads

[Sugarbush Ridge]

RileySugarbush,,,,, I remember the brass windshield ice scrapers. Oh how I wish I could find some more. I put them in vice and bend the brass to get more of a straight angle and then 'sharpen' with a file kind of like an old cabinet scraper. They were sharpened square across and then a steel rod was used to roll a sharp edge over.

[RileySugarbush]

Well you made me think a little. Look what I found:

https://www.amazon.com/CJ-Industries-F101-Fantastic-Scraper/dp/B000FW4LT4/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1489715087&sr=1-1&keywords=metal+ice+scraper

[Waynehere]

Isn't brass harder then copper though?

[RileySugarbush]

Generally yes, but there are a lot of alloys and tempers with a range of properties. i have no idea what these shapers are made of.

[ennismaple]

Update on this thread:

We heated the end of the 1" pipe and squeezed it in a vice. After a few times doing this we had the general shape we wanted. We then flattened the tip using a hammer. We rounded the edges with tin snips as we figured that corner was the most likely place we could scratch the pan.

After filling the scorched pan with a few inches of hot water I gently started to scrape away at some mildly burnt sections. It came off fairly easily - with no scratching! Long story short - an hour of scraping, a soak overnight in hot water and acid and another session with the copper pipe and some scotch-brite pads and it was close to spotless! The only scratches in the pan were from a previous attempt to clean some bad spots using a screwdriver.

A few observations:

- The 1" pipe was the right size. Wide enough to scrape with but stiff enough to not bend.
- The 6 ft length was ideal because you could hold the pipe on about a 45° angle and work on the pan that was sitting on the ground.

[Waynehere]

Good deal.... I also had a couple of burnt areas. due to float issues which I don't want to get into... :( Anyway, I took a 9" piece of 3/4" copper, hammered the end flat, and within a few minutes I had the stuck on burnt areas cleaned up. Not any more scratches on it then when I started. I went with a little smaller end because my bottom was pretty caved/warped. I should have rounded off the edges like ennis suggested. Will make that adjustment yet I think. My front pan is only a 2x2 so it is easy to take off and get it down to my level.... :)

[Paddymountain]

I've used a piece of copper pipe for years! Just flatten it and file a nice edge on with a flat file. It's definitely softer than stainless steel.

[abbott]

I feel like this is a trick that should be in every sugarmaker's repertoire. I had to see for myself, so I grabbed a copper elbow I had sitting around and tried to scratch the outside of one of my pans. No scratches, but I left some copper behind. I'll definitely be making a scraper soon.

[West Sumner Sugar]

I feel like this is a trick that should be in every sugarmaker's repertoire. I had to see for myself, so I grabbed a copper elbow I had sitting around and tried to scratch the outside of one of my pans. No scratches, but I left some copper behind. I'll definitely be making a scraper soon.

No doubt we will be giving this a try Saturday. We scrubbed our front pan yesterday and have one spot I couldn't budge. Cant wait to try this.

[ennismaple]

I feel like this is a trick that should be in every sugarmaker's repertoire. I had to see for myself, so I grabbed a copper elbow I had sitting around and tried to scratch the outside of one of my pans. No scratches, but I left some copper behind. I'll definitely be making a scraper soon.

Agreed! I've been around the sugar camp my entire life and I just learned a new trick! It pays to talk to other producers and ask questions.

[Gary Taylor]

Good tip! Heating up the pipe to form it in the vice will also result in a softer final edge(on my first steam ship we used pre 1972 Pennies that we heated with a torch to anneal them to make copper gaskets for the steam line Gauge Glass for the Boiler)

[Paul VT]

Sounds interesting. Just a thought. Is there lead in that copper? I'm sure this will make for another discussion.

[RileySugarbush]

Just made one for myself. 3/4" x32". Pounded flat and soldered gap before sanding edge. I put a slight angle on the flat. Worked good on the scorch😬 On my new pans.

[Zucker Lager]

My Mom had a copper scrubbing pad she used on her cast iron pans many years ago. So I looked online and they still make them, here is one made out of 100% copper. Might be a good thing to have around for cleaning. Jay

https://www.amazon.com/Chore-Boy-Copper-Scouring-Pack/dp/B005GVY126?th=1

[abbott]

My Mom had a copper scrubbing pad she used on her cast iron pans many years ago. So I looked online and they still make them, here is one made out of 100% copper. Might be a good thing to have around for cleaning. Jay

https://www.amazon.com/Chore-Boy-Copper-Scouring-Pack/dp/B005GVY126?th=1

Was telling my wife about the copper scrapers and she figured she should make one for kitchen use. These might just solve that problem - thanks!

[ennismaple]

Sounds interesting. Just a thought. Is there lead in that copper? I'm sure this will make for another discussion.

Nope - it's the solder that can be lead bearing.

Copper pipe is almost pure copper manufactured to the requirements of ASTM B 42 - Standard Specification for Seamless Copper Pipe, Standard Sizes. It may be manufactured from any of five (5) copper alloys (C10200, C10300, C10800, C12000, C12200) that all conform to the chemical composition requirements of alloys containing a minimum of 99.9% Copper (Cu) and a maximum of 0.04% Phosphorous (P).

[lyford]

Anybody try this on mirror finished stainless, results?

[RileySugarbush]

Results on my new syrup pan were good. I didn't have enough light to really inspect but the areas I scraped earlier looked shiny.

[GeneralStark]

This is an amazing trick! I picked up some copper scouring pads at the hardware store yesterday and made a pan scraper out of a scrap piece of 3/4" copper pipe. I heated and then clamped the end, then heated and pounded it flat against a flat piece of iron. Went at my syrup pan that I had soaked overnight with vinegar and the pan is cleaner than ever.

[DrTimPerkins]

Please somebody post before and after photos.

[unc23win]

Any pictures of the scrapers you all made would be good to see as well. Also do have to use silver solder or in this case is pipe solder fine? Thanks to you all for sharing.

[GeneralStark]

I will get some photos tomorrow. I don't think soldering is necessary at all...in fact you could likely just use a piece of round pipe and be set. Flattening it just makes more surface area to contact the pan.

[RileySugarbush]

I will try to get a photo tomorrow of the scraper. I can take an after photo of the scorch, but I didn't get one before I scraped it clean. Actually I scraped it clean with sweet in it. That is a big advantage of a scraper as opposed to the copper scrubber. Could actually do that hot!

I agree you probably don't need to solder it. I did. It makes it easy to sharpen the double edge with them soldered together. I just used plumbing solder.

[maplemas]

This is what I came up with and it works great !! Tried everything to get this build up off for 2 seasons now, and it came off in 20 seconds!! 16349 16348 16350

[RileySugarbush]

http://mapletrader.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=16354&stc=1http://mapletrader.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=16355&stc=1

[ennismaple]

Ours looks like RileySugarbush's - except with more of a hammered-flat-on-a-concrete-floor finish to it...

[doocat]

That makes me laugh Ennis because it is the same look mine would have!!!

Craig

[GeneralStark]

I had another chance to use my new copper pipe scraper yesterday. I soaked the pan for 24 hours with vinegar and then you see the result of that. Then I scraped and rinsed, and then scrubbed with copper scrubby. Took less than 5 minutes.

16358163591636016361

[Atgreene]

After reading this thread I talked my father into trying it. He had these copper pieces that my grandfather saved 50 years ago when he was a electrician/plumber/engineer at a local antennae manufacturer.

I've got to say, wow! Does a nice job! Thanks for the tip. 12 hours in vinegar then some scraping and it's cleaner than it's been in years.

[MapleMark753]

Our version of the copper pan scraper is just a little different. Trying to attach a couple pics, we'll see if they come through.
Basically we just have a wooden dowel section (scrap), and a three inch section of copper pipe. Attach the copper to the end of the doweling like you would an ax to an ax handle. Hammer the copper flat. File it sharp. Use. That's it, costs about 5 bucks, or less if you have scrap.
1637816379 :)