November Journal

[maple flats]

Lots to do to get ready for the 2018 season. First I've got to finish prepping the site for my new storage barn, almost ready. This Sat. I'm going to the maple presentations at Countryside Hardware, Deruyter, NY. The first will be tubing and tapping, showing newer concepts and fittings in both 3/16 and 5/16, Then after the FREE lunch is a presentation on RO's, small and large.
Even though I've tapped every year since 2003 and a few more years before that but not every year, and I have about 1/2 or a little more of my taps on 3/16, I still like to see new ideas and fittings (and a free lunch is a bonus).
I've got to pack more syrup, both grade A and bourbon barrel aged to have enough to get thru the Christmas season. Then, in the woods I'll check for trees and limbs down. Then I'm changing my leased bush from a vacuum tank operation to a releaser design so I can run the vacuum higher. Then I'm changing the pumps, from an Alamo 30 to an Alamo 75-100. It now has a 6.5 Honda on it but I'm changing that to a bigger size, the 6.5 won't turn it at any higher than 18" or the double belts slip, and when I change the engine pulley to any larger it bogs down. It now has a 2.25 double A belt. I think on the bigger engine I'll run a 3" double A. Then I have new after market adjustable drippers for the oil. Hopefully those changes will let me get 23" or better.
I'm also changing more taps to 3/16, in the end for the season I should be at about 65-70% on 3/16. I also will be adding a moisture trap, using that tank as a vacuum tank I never had the tank get full in a day's time, thus I had no moisture trap, going with the releaser, I'll need one. I plan to start tapping about the first week in Jan., depending on the repairs needed I'll be tapped in 1-3 weeks (we have had lots of wind events this year).

[Maple Man 85]

We're finishing up the last of our laterals and then putting up the wet/dry lines. Need to pick up and install a furnace Saturday to keep the sugarhouse toasty warm while making products through the winter months (happy wife happy life :lol:). We've got our inspection on the new sugarhouse 11/6 and will be working in the pump houses finishing up electrical. From there cutting wood and making sure we are ready to run in 2018.

[minehart gap]

I’m running late. Got my site preped for concrete today. Weather permitting, floor will be mixed and poured next weekend then cut more firewood for 2 weeks waiting for the concrete to cure. Then assemble and stand up my timber frame and roof and siding. Oh, I still need to do a little more work on my evaporator. With a little luck. I can have everything ready just in time to tap.

[maple flats]

My new storage shed site is ready. The shed (14x28) arrives later this week. Next I have 2 fairly large dying trees to drop so they can't end up falling on the new storage shed, but before that I need to drop 4 other trees that they would get hung up in or at least get knocked down by. 2 are good size hemlocks that I'll saw to make my loft floors, walk in cooler and blacksmith shop out of.
Then as soon as gun season is over it's into the sugar woods to get ready for the 2018 season. We stay out during gun season for safety reasons. I need to bottle my last barrel of Dark and my last bourbon barrel aged maple syrup so I don't run out for Christmas sales and hopefully have stock until my new season starts.

[VT_K9]

We are still working on the shop in the garage, but will be getting back to the bush soon. We hit the woods and started clearing trees for the new mainline run during a dry spell. The majority of the work is done. Still need to thin out some smaller trees. Then we can put up about 4 telephone poles to support a high run of the mainline and run the wire to the new sap shack. The sap shack site is prepped and ready to be built. It's going to be a 10X12 building to house the 788 gallon tank. We'll build the shack out of pine since we dropped a lot of large white pine to clear the site. We will probably finish up a couple weeks before the start of the season. We had minimal storm damage from last week, one tree on a mainline.

Mike

[minehart gap]

My new storage shed site is ready. The shed (14x28) arrives later this week. Next I have 2 fairly large dying trees to drop so they can't end up falling on the new storage shed, but before that I need to drop 4 other trees that they would get hung up in or at least get knocked down by. 2 are good size hemlocks that I'll saw to make my loft floors, walk in cooler and blacksmith shop out of.
Then as soon as gun season is over it's into the sugar woods to get ready for the 2018 season.

Dave, how did the tree removal go? And how do you like the new storage shed? Is it too small yet? Mine always seem to be too small before I even start.

BTW, what is there to do in the sugar woods before tapping? Other than maybe double checking the existing lines or adding more. I’m just trying to make sure that I’m not missing anything that I should be doing, not questioning you.

[bmbmkr]

Dropped 800' of 1000' of mainline that I put up last year so i can take it down the hill about 50' and put it up again to gain another 100+ trees. I'm connecting it to 600' that I put up last year and didn't use due to 3/16 yielding 2+ gpt most days- overwhelmed my little 20 gph evaporator. I just bought a used deer run 125 so I'm adding another 200 taps. Ordered another couple 800' rolls of 3/16 and 250 taps and 3/16-5/16 tees. We're goin to try the 5/16 drops on 3/16 this year. My aunt just bought a new house right up the road and gave me the 15x24 metal sided & roofed shed attached to the garage, have to wait til she moves in- next month to tear it down and rebuild it into a 12x16 temporary shack- drew up a blueprint to make the floor framing and trusses so I can take it apart and move it in a year or two- Puttin it in my driveway, need to be able to move it. Will probably use it this year and next til we get our 24x32 built. Picking up 800 and 300 gallon milk tanks in a couple weeks. Put up 330' of 1600' woven wire--wait that's the entry for my wife's sheep forum! So busy this past week, it all runs together. Our second year, felt good last month to be ahead- now I feel behind.

[maple flats]

After 3 weeks of hurrying to get the site ready for a new shed, it is finally in place. I had to move logs, canoes,farm equipment, wood stove, and then remove the top soil. Then I got 16 yds of fill sand and finally 32 yds of crushed stone to make a pad suitable for placing the 14x28 shed. I also had 2 large, real dangerous trees that could have fallen on the shed and my planned additions to it at any time. In order to take those trees down, I had to open a place for them to fall, that involved removing 7-8 trees, hemlocks and beech, plus drop and roll back a mainline to drop the first tree. At first I thought about dropping the second tree in the same place, but as I studied it, I thought that a bad idea. The tree, a large cherry with about 30% of one side of the trunk hollow and/or rotted, and with a lean in a direction facing about 90 degrees off, I decided to go with gravity in my favor. To drop the tree that way, I had to remove 6 or 7 more smaller healthy trees, again, hemlocks and beech. That cherry was 29" across the stump (after cutting) and with the hollow part, the but log was in a shape of the letter C. There was only 5-7" of good wood left all around the remaining part of the tree. On bigger trees, I use my excavator to reach up about 10-12' and push, rather that using wedges like I did before I had the excavator. The hinge ended up being on the very top edge of the letter C, then With some pressure by the excavator, I plunge cut thru the trunk and cut towards the hinge to define it. Then I cut the rest, out from the hinge to the back of the trunk away from the hinge. When I came out the back, it still stood, but just a slight additional push using the boom and bucket of the little 8000# excavator, the tree tipped in the right direction. But before it could bend the hinge, the trunk split up to about 10' high and it barber chaired. With the excavator bucket still there, where it had pushed (I operated it from the ground and was not on the excavator,, as the butt end raised, riding on the top of the barber chair back, it lifted the excavator tracks about 12" off the ground on the end facing the tree. I believe, had I not faced the excavator under carriage away from the tree and put the blade firmly down, the whole thing would have been flipped over. As I barely started to lift the bucket, the butt started to move towards the excavator. With just enough track on the ground, I lifted the blade slightly and backed up. After about 2 or 3 feet back the butt stayed in place and I was able to take the excavator to one side, and use the bucket to push this mess over. Finally 2 dangerous trees were on the ground (plus several others) and nobody nor any equipment got hurt. What could have been a huge disaster ended up to be a good day.
My shed was delivered the next morning.
My plans now, are to next year, add a blacksmith shop off the back of the shed (north side), a lean-to roof off the west side for open farm equipment storage and build a walk in cooler on the east side with a wide door that allows me to set drums in it using my tractor forks.
As it is, the south side is a set of double doors 7.5' high and 8' wide so I can drive my tractor inside. I'll be placing benches and shelves along each long side and across the back end, except where the man doors are on the north and west sides.
Now, tomorrow, I uncap my last barrel of bourbon barrel aged syrup and bottle it, after that I clean the equipment and then pack my last barrel of Dark into retail containers, since I do not have enough left in retail containers to last the Christmas season.
Then it's time to split my firewood. The logs have been stacked for 1.5-3 years, but have not yet been processed. This is the first time I've not had all my firewood all split and stacked more than a year ahead in about 6-7 years. Then to the woods to fix lines and remove trees or limbs that fell in all the high winds we've had since last season. Sometime in there I've got to buck all the trees I took down and stack the logs, the hemlocks that are big enough will be sawed into lumber (3 or 4) the rest will all become firewood (unless some of the big cherry higher up is good for lumber).

[n8hutch]

I've been chugging away on my new sugar house. I have a crew coming to put the steel roof on this week I hope, I don't really have time to do it myself, hoping to move the Arch in before new years, then I will start working in the woods. Hopefully get another some more taps out this year. I'll get some more pics when I have time.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

After 3 weeks of hurrying to get the site ready for a new shed, it is finally in place. I had to move logs, canoes,farm equipment, wood stove, and then remove the top soil. Then I got 16 yds of fill sand and finally 32 yds of crushed stone to make a pad suitable for placing the 14x28 shed. I also had 2 large, real dangerous trees that could have fallen on the shed and my planned additions to it at any time. In order to take those trees down, I had to open a place for them to fall, that involved removing 7-8 trees, hemlocks and beech, plus drop and roll back a mainline to drop the first tree. At first I thought about dropping the second tree in the same place, but as I studied it, I thought that a bad idea. The tree, a large cherry with about 30% of one side of the trunk hollow and/or rotted, and with a lean in a direction facing about 90 degrees off, I decided to go with gravity in my favor. To drop the tree that way, I had to remove 6 or 7 more smaller healthy trees, again, hemlocks and beech. That cherry was 29" across the stump (after cutting) and with the hollow part, the but log was in a shape of the letter C. There was only 5-7" of good wood left all around the remaining part of the tree. On bigger trees, I use my excavator to reach up about 10-12' and push, rather that using wedges like I did before I had the excavator. The hinge ended up being on the very top edge of the letter C, then With some pressure by the excavator, I plunge cut thru the trunk and cut towards the hinge to define it. Then I cut the rest, out from the hinge to the back of the trunk away from the hinge. When I came out the back, it still stood, but just a slight additional push using the boom and bucket of the little 8000# excavator, the tree tipped in the right direction. But before it could bend the hinge, the trunk split up to about 10' high and it barber chaired. With the excavator bucket still there, where it had pushed (I operated it from the ground and was not on the excavator,, as the butt end raised, riding on the top of the barber chair back, it lifted the excavator tracks about 12" off the ground on the end facing the tree. I believe, had I not faced the excavator under carriage away from the tree and put the blade firmly down, the whole thing would have been flipped over. As I barely started to lift the bucket, the butt started to move towards the excavator. With just enough track on the ground, I lifted the blade slightly and backed up. After about 2 or 3 feet back the butt stayed in place and I was able to take the excavator to one side, and use the bucket to push this mess over. Finally 2 dangerous trees were on the ground (plus several others) and nobody nor any equipment got hurt. What could have been a huge disaster ended up to be a good day.
My shed was delivered the next morning.
My plans now, are to next year, add a blacksmith shop off the back of the shed (north side), a lean-to roof off the west side for open farm equipment storage and build a walk in cooler on the east side with a wide door that allows me to set drums in it using my tractor forks.
As it is, the south side is a set of double doors 7.5' high and 8' wide so I can drive my tractor inside. I'll be placing benches and shelves along each long side and across the back end, except where the man doors are on the north and west sides.
Now, tomorrow, I uncap my last barrel of bourbon barrel aged syrup and bottle it, after that I clean the equipment and then pack my last barrel of Dark into retail containers, since I do not have enough left in retail containers to last the Christmas season.
Then it's time to split my firewood. The logs have been stacked for 1.5-3 years, but have not yet been processed. This is the first time I've not had all my firewood all split and stacked more than a year ahead in about 6-7 years. Then to the woods to fix lines and remove trees or limbs that fell in all the high winds we've had since last season. Sometime in there I've got to buck all the trees I took down and stack the logs, the hemlocks that are big enough will be sawed into lumber (3 or 4) the rest will all become firewood (unless some of the big cherry higher up is good for lumber).

What a great "Safe Start" (google it) story you kept your rig out of the line of fire that's what saved you.

[minehart gap]

Nate, that gable end is just screaming for a maple leaf shaped sign or cut out. I love the live edge siding. Good luck with the rest of your build.

Dave, glad that you got everything in place and stayed safe doing it. Turning trees or even putting trees down where I want them has eluded me. Something that I need to work on.

[maple flats]

Minehart, sign up for a Game Of Logging (GOL) course, levels 1 and 2. It is a great logger's training class, each is 1 day and well worth the cost and time. Before I took the course I had been cutting trees for firewood, both for my home use, my brother's and my parent's use along with selling firewood when my business had a slow spell for about 25 years. I did fairly well, after being taught by my father. Then I attended a 2 hour GOL mini demo at a maple training day. That spurred me to sign up for the course. At the course I learned a whole bunch about felling a tree safely, and techniques to make it safer. Cutting trees is inherently dangerous, but you can stack the odds in your favor by a huge amount by taking the GOL courses 1 &2. There are also levels 3 & 4 but they get into skidder use and log trucks and other big time equipment (so I hear, I never took 3 and 4).
There is also a great U-tube video to watch by Husqvarna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Teb2bQsqx44
This is a great one to watch before you go out to cut any trees.
However, the worst tree I talked about in my post above was so bad that the GOL training would have said "do not try" and certainly without an excavator (without which I would have had to make a road for a tree crane and then paid about $500-1000 to get it laid on the ground) to help and about 50 years experience that indicated to me that if I studied the situation and figured out the issues, I could do it and not get killed or have anyone else get hurt or worse. One thing I should have done but only thought of it after the fact, is that I should have strapped the tree trunk together, I have 4 HD binder straps that each would of gone around the tree 3 times and bound the trunk from splitting. I never thought of that until after the tree laid on the ground.
I encourage you and all other members to first watch that video, and then sign up for a GOL training when one is offered in your area. I had to drive 2 hrs to get to mine, very well worth it. I think I paid about $75 for each level but that was back in 2005. As a side note, at the end of level 2 each student (there were maybe 10) is assigned a tree to cut. Most were about 14-16" DBH (diameter breast height). We had to put a stake in the ground where we were going to drop the tree, then we cut the tree. All assigned trees had a little lean away from where we had to drop it. We used wedges to get it to fall the right way. After the tree was down, each was measured to see who was the closest to their stake. The stakes were all out about 40' from the stump. My tree hit the stake and I won a very nice Husky loggers helmet/hard hat for getting the closest. In my class there were a couple of students who had never run a chainsaw, to others who were professional loggers, everyone came fairly close but no others hit their stake. I understand many insurance companies require all loggers to take the full series of GOL (4 levels) before they will insure a logger.

[maple flats]

[QUOTE=minehart gap;337159] And how do you like the new storage shed? Is it too small yet? Mine always seem to be too small before I even start.

It's still fairly empty, while I get a few other things done. The shed is in addition to a 12x16 I already had, plus 2 10x10's. I will out grow it in a year or 2. My plans are to get another the same size next year and set it about 12-16' away from this one, then join them and have my tractor storage under the roof between those two.

[DrTimPerkins]

Minehart, sign up for a Game Of Logging (GOL) course, levels 1 and 2. It is a great logger's training class, each is 1 day and well worth the cost and time.

I'll second that suggestion. It is required safety training for anyone who works with a chainsaw at UVM PMRC. Well worth the time and $.

[wnybassman]

Spent the whole day in the woods today and got everything ready to start drilling holes when the time comes, and hopefully that doesn't come early again this season.

[Dennis H.]

Took advantage of the week off from work lets not forget that the temps were in the mid 50's so I was tank cleaning mode.

Now all the tanks are cleaned and should only need a quick rinse when the season starts.

Also gave the evap a little love'in too. Gave it a good rub down, so it is ready to go also.


about 2 months till go time, if it is anything like last season it might be just over 1 month!

[maple flats]

Dave, how did the tree removal go? And how do you like the new storage shed? Is it too small yet? Mine always seem to be too small before I even start.
Tree removal went OK, but it wasn't pretty. First I had a dying maple which after cutting the stump measured 36" the at the widest. I ended up having to remove 6 other trees to then take that one down. Not knowing how sound the trunk with a line of fungus growing in a "seam" for 13' up, I left the hinge much thicker than a tree that size would usually be. I left 6" rather than 3-3.5" (10%). That hinge turned out to be solid. After I made the cut, I pushed the tree over using my excavator. Then I studied to other tree, a very tall cherry with a large open cavity in the trunk, which was a void up until about 10' off the ground. That tree had a lean in one direction so I decided to use gravity. To remove that one (it measured 32" in the widest direction at the stump) I again left a thick hinge, about 6" again. Then I plunge cut to define the hinge, put a little pressure on the trunk about 10-12' high and then cut out from the hinge out the back. When the saw cut out all except the thick hinge, it still stood there. Not trusting what might happen, I pushed a little more with the excavator, with me standing on the ground for a fast retreat if needed. The tree started to fall, and I moved back, as it had gone about 5 degrees it barber chaired at about 10' up. With the excavator bucket still there, as the trunk raised, hinged on the top of the barber chair, the trunk lifted the excavator bucket, and one end of the excavator so the tracks on that end were about 15-18" off the ground, held up by the butt end of the trunk. Then as I started to lift the bucket to let the tracks touch the ground again, the trunk slowly started to move towards the excavator. I put a little more pressure down with the excavator bucket and the movement stopped. I then raised the blade just enough (the blade was on the side away from the tree, had it not been I'm sure the excavator would have flipped over backwards) to slowly drive the ecxcavator away. The trunk moved with it for about 2-3 ' and then I was able to lift the bucket and get away. I drove the excavator to the safe side of the trunk, perched on the 10' high barber chair. From there I pushed the trunk off and the back of the barber chair broke as the trunk fell harmlessly to the ground. The good part, no one was hurt and nothing got broke. I did have to drop 6 or 7 other trees (hemlocks, a birch and the rest beech) to make room to drop the rotten cherry. In hindsight I should have chained or strapped the trunk together to prevent the barber chair split, but hindsight is 20/20, foresight is nothing close. I'll have lots of firewood for maybe 2 seasons.
However, I might end up selling it, I'm thinking of switching to oil for the 2019 season, maybe 2020.
The storage shed, looks great. I have it set so I park my 36 HP tractor inside at one end. I had the end doors made high enough to drive in even with a full cab.
The shed will get 3 additions next summer, a full length lean-to for farm equipment storage on one side, a walk in cooler on the other and a blacksmith shop out the back end.

[DrTimPerkins]

The good part, no one was hurt and nothing got broke.

Sounds like success to me.

[maple flats]

Yea, but my Game of Logging instructor would not use a video of it in his classes. That being said, I used several things I learned in GOL to get the tree safely on the ground without any damage nor injury.

[spud]

I was able to get my woods all cleaned up after the big wind storm a few weeks ago. Everything is ready to go and I plan to tap mid January. We have very little snow on the ground right now due to warmer weather and rain. I hope that when I tap there will be very little snow so I can move faster and get done tapping fast. Muzzleloader season starts Saturday and last until next Sunday. As I hunt I will be looking for down lines that I may have missed.

Spud

[minehart gap]

I just today finish setting the posts and beams for my sugar shack!!! Kind of excited about that.

Also found out that there is a very good chance that the timber frame that will be my sugar shack was built in the 1800’s by my Great Grandma’s Grandfather as his farmstead. We will be looking through tax records to see exactly when it was built and if it was a house or out building. That makes it even more special. When we took it apart, I didn’t even know that my family had a history on that farm.

[maple flats]

Wow, that would surely give it even more importance and a great story to pass on to visitors.