How much firewood wood to get?

[Lazarus]

Hi everyone,

This is my first season at this, and I will be using a Mason hobby evaporator with about 20 taps. How much wood would you recommend that I acquire for this season? 1/2 cord? More?

I feel ridiculous because we cut down six 80' trees a few months ago (siberian elm & silver maples, literally on top of the house), right after we bought this place and before we started thinking about tapping. Unfortunately, we did not keep any of the wood as firewood, but we now have several bus-sized piles of aging wood chips out back (smelled like moonshine for weeks).

I'm looking to get some hardwood for the arch, but I honestly don't know how much I should get. Recommendations?

Thanks!

[The Birdman]

I would get at least a cord split it up small.

[michelle32]

Hi Lazzarus, It's tough to say what you'll need for wood. How many taps do you have are they on buckets, tubing or vac. Buying fire wood will cost you dearly at this time of year. The wood will need to be very dry and split small. So if you do buy wood plan on splitting it again. We use mostly pallet wood in are 2x6. This is free at the dump or at a pallet recover and repair place. You can also get slabs of wood at most saw mills for small money. Just make sure there dry. Are first year boiling we had a half pint and went through about half cord of wood. We had 120 taps on buckets all on red maples. Sugars and reds on buckets or gravity is produce much differently (my opinion others will probably say differant). You will get much more sap on sugars than reds. Happy taping to all when the time is right. Keith

[BarrelBoiler]

we did about what you describe (20taps with a barrel stove) 97% reds. took about 3/4 of a cord but only had one good run that year so a cord ( 4'x4'x8' - 128cuft) would be a good start.. pallets are usually hardwood and softwood slabs work well .. buying wood for a small operation is costly.. check your local swap papers for folks looking to get rid of the tree they took down and thought they would use in the fireplace and now the cut and split wood is taking up space they want to use for something else...scrounging wood is part of the fun too..pallet ash will have nails so be careful where you throw it

as far as your syrup keeping goes we always finished inside and hot packed in canning jars widemouth prefered so the gravy ladel fit inside.. its a great sound to hear ..pink-pink -pink as the buttons on the lids pop indicating that the jars are sealed and ready for the shelf:)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Be nice if you could get some of the chips dried out. Throwing a shovel full in all over the fire every few minutes should work pretty good.

[maple flats]

The basic formula for a typical evapoator (syrup pan and flue pan) if you get long boils (fewer starts and stops in relation to syrup made) is 25 gal/full cord. That being said with that small of a rig and only flat pans you will way under that. Even on my 3x8 with a 3x6 flue pan (here is where most of the evapoation takes place) I get close but only hit it on big runs because there is more full steam ahead and less % of start up and cool down time. I think you might want to get at a minimum 1/2 full cord or a well stacked pile of at least 4' x 2' x 8'. Good luck.
Dave

[red maples]

another thing for soft wood pine hemlock etc. is check if there are any local guys that do split cord wood or logging and see if they have any soft wood laying around that is where I get some of mine from ( what I don't get out of the woods) in trade for part money part syrup. my guy usually sells it to the mills for either pulp wood or mulch.for about $250 for a full grapple load which is about 5-7 full cords depending on how straight the wood is what ever

so check around you might be able to find some. you may have to cut and split your self but a 1/2 cords not too bad.

[markct]

softwood works good, hot and fast burning which is what ya want for an evaporator, and especialy in a small hobby size evaporator it burns nice. here i burn anything wood, old lumber thats not painted, pallets, hardwood, softwood, basicly if its a tree of any size or shape and its surplus it goes in the woodpile. dont get hung up on hardwood, you may be able to get a deal on softwood since most people refuse to buy it for hardwood for heating. with an evaporator its always burning hot so no creosote issues like a woodstove too

[Grizz747]

Check Craigslist and any big box stores for pallets as they are easy to cut,dry and burn hot with good surface area.

[StewieSugar]

I've got a 2x4 flat pan and had 23 taps. I went through a little over a full cord (4 x 4 x 8') last year to make 6 gallons of syrup. I have 2 cords ready to go this year with plans for tapping 40 trees.

[slammer3364]

Hi Guy Any body cut timber around you in the last few years. I f they did and you can get in there and cut a couple loads now you should be alright,the wood will be seasoned and have a chanc to dry.I have a 18x48 small rig and about 95 taps made 14 gals. of syrup last year and used two 6 ft. pickup loads mostlu maple and oak Good Luck and Have Fun