count your tools

[barrelstove]

so before i started to boil today i was installing some new gasket between my stove and pan. i was using my leatherman to cut it.

about 3 minutes after i got my fire started i was smelling somthing that wasnt right and i couldnt track down the source. oh well.

an hour later i needed to do somthing and found that my leatherman was not on my belt. after searching for ten minutes i got that sinking feeling.

its ontop of the brick that forms my arch. the plastic peices are burned, not just melted, burned.

so learn from me, count your tools after working on your rig and BEFORE lighting your fire.

[powerdub]

All I can say is that sucks!

[mapleman3]

left a hammer atop a halogen light once...... once.... sniff and smell the rubber handle....

[325abn]

That stinks!! Pun intended :)

Plastic parts on a Leatherman???????????

[barrelstove]

yeah plastic parts on a leatherman. see the pic here

http://www.leatherman.com/products/tools/Blast/default.asp

i also learned yesterday that 175 degrees is still to hot to pour syrup into old juice jugs. i dont have the space in my apt to do any canning i pour finnished syrup into old plastic juice jugs for transport to my motherinlaws kitchen. i didnt wait long enough and i melted the adhesive that holds the label on!

so thats how yesterday went. hopefully this weeked goes better, despite the weather.

[Homestead Maple]

You certainly aren't the first to have something like this happen.

Maybe Leatherman will have a recall for defective parts and you could luck out and get a replacement. Call them and tell them the temper has gone out of your blades!!! kidding

[Brent]

I was adding wood when I heard a funny clunk noise from the evap. No I didn't do that tossing in the log. What the hell was it. Couldn't see anything wrong. Shrug.

I found out 10 minutes later when the temp alarm went off for the syrup pan

I like to keep my Accu-cup warm by placing it over the syrup pan. Gets me more stable temps to read the hydrometer.

So where did I put the cup. Oh no ... it's swimming. Fished it out. No display. No battery. No battery cover. Toast.

[danno]

Hi Brent -

My thermo has gone in the drink as well. It's the same thermo as they use in the accucup. When it came out of the syrup pan it looked dead. I took it completely apart and let it dry out for a few days and put in a new battery. Other then the fact that the c/f button now acts as the power button (not sure how those wires got switched) it works fine.

[peacemaker]

was boiling the first day on my barrel stove preheater since i didnt have enough sap for the 2x6 and was snowing and everything i had on was soaked all the way down to my Socks


next day i fire up the preheater and then a few minutes latter fill the 2x6 ... she is warming and things are starting to smoke and stink like high hell ... cant figure it out try a few things no good getting worse soon black smoke and flames coming of the 2x6 stack ... oh crap my socks from yesterday are on the stack drying oh what a mess

[Justin Turco]

I lost a crowbar for a year out in the sugarwoods. Lost a carhart jacket a couple years ago. And right now I can't find my bowsaw. It's OUT THERE......somewhere..

[barrelstove]

peacemaker,

similar story, i left a pair of gloves on a cold stove that somone later lit, when i found them they were stiff as boards!

i also take care and remind people visting my stove that coats made of plastic will melt if you bump it accidentally. i havent had anyone do it yet, but im sure the day will come.

[matrob]

Just this morning, I looked all over the kitchen while finishing a small batch. I could smell something. Found it really quick when I grabbed the handle of my stainless spoon> It had been too close to te burner and the plastic on the handle melted to my hand.

Happens to everyone.

Matt

[Brent]

Danno my thermo on the Accu-cup came back to life. The cover for the battery chamber won't stay on so I wrapped it with duct tap ... but it works again.

I started clean up today and found a stick of firewood in the flue pan. Sunk and laying on the bottom. Oak cured maple syrup ???

[peacemaker]

barrelstove i bet them cgloves stunk leather is never a good smell and as far as coats a friend of mine hung his coat one night near the back of the arch ...lol he forgot he had a bag of peanut MM in his pocket opened of course ..lol ...and brent ask Supper Sappy about wood landing in his flue pan ...

[ennismaple]

Our sugar bush eats pliers and knives. We dropped 3 pairs of pliers in the bush since last fall - found 2 of them so far and I know roughly where the 3rd pair is so hopefully it turns up. I couldn't count how many pocket knives are somewhere in our bush. This year I put my knife on a lanyard around my neck so I wouldn't lose it in the deep snow.