December Journal

[Parker]

Got Sanborns Sugarwoods ready to tap,,took alot longer than expected but should make a big diffrance this spring...Off to Hill

[Maplewalnut]

Deer hunting is done for a few days and just in time. Monsoons have struck again. 10-year old got a buck Monday as part of mentor program. One shot dropped it at 7:30am. Not bad for first year deer hunting. I shot a doe Monday afternoon, and didnt see any deer all day yesterday. Need to wait a few more days to see if I had any lines shot.

[red maples]

Got a bunch of stuff done the last 2 days. Took a walk on my neighbors property with the chainsaw She had a bunch of pine down from the wind storm storm so spent a tank of gas starting to gut that up once I get it back to the house I will have enoug wood for about 2.5 seasons of sugaring!! more trees than I thought up there!!!

Problem is there are 3 nasty nasty widow makers snapped off about 20 feet up and then got hung up have to get the comealong up there see if I can gettem loose!!!! but need enough cable to stand clear!!!

[whalems]

Made up 350 drop lines last night. Man are my hands sore today:cry: I need to buy a tubing tool!!

[SV Sugarer]

Spent the last weekend clearing a new sugarbush for tapping this season. 10 hours worth of cutting to get the debris cleared from the ice storm that hit us 2 years ago. Hoping to add 100-150 taps in this new sugarbush. In between hunting, I'm looking to hang mainline and tubing in the next couple weeks before the snow sets in. Need to start looking for a bigger evap. for next year. Anyone have a 3 X 8 or larger they want to unload?

[Sugarmaker]

Deer hunting in shirt sleeves Monday, rain gear on Tuesday, will hunt in 6 inches of snow tomorrow. I have several places, to still hunt, small patches of woods and small creeks with overgrown brush.
Maple related: Not much happening, considering CV spouts on the gravity systems.

Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Chris 6" of snow already! We just got a monsoon down here. almost 3" or rain in just over 12 hours. The bottom is about to drop out of the temps around here the next few days.

I sure hope this cold weather we are getting is a good sign for the coming season. Last year just sucked.

I got more trees lined up for tapping, they will be on buckets though. The guy was more than happy about. He actually never tried maple syrup and when I told him I would share some for letting me tap his trees he said giver me minute I will be out so you can show me maples that I wanted to tap. Very cool.
There will be maybe 30-50 trees that I saw there, nice ones too.

[twobears1224]

has anybody ever tapped maples on uncle sams land??.. i,am talking on a military base..just wondering.
this weather sure has been wild,sun one minute,rain the next and snow the next.we had a heck of a snowstorm friday afternoon/night and early saturday morning.monday it warmed up and poured and melted all the snow,today it poured and then turned to snow again.the ground is covered in white again...uuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! !

delbert

[Randy Brutkoski]

I was in the woods today fixing squirell damage and trees on lines, until I had to evacuate the woods. I noticed the wind was really picking up. Well lets just say 30 minuites after I got out of the woods 60 to 70 mile an hour winds were coming through for about 4 hours. Trees down every where. Its going to be a long winter. I hope the snow holds off for a while.

[twobears1224]

i,ve never liked being in the woods in high winds.but,now i won,t even stay there in high winds.i lost a coworker and friend a few summers back from a very strong summer storm every time the wind blows over 30 i think of him. :cry:

delbert

[HobbitMannor]

A lot of changes/upgrades have been made to the tubing system-still just going with gravity but lets hope it is an improvement over last year! Time is ticking away so fast and the season will be upon us before we know it.....

[ennismaple]

We got our 2500 CV's from Leader this week and will start on replacing 1400 5/16" spiles with stubbies this weekend. If we have time we'll replace more but replacing that many will take upwards to 4 man days and we've got many other things to complete before the season.

[Brian Ryther]

Working hard every day. New Taps. Fixing old taps. Half way through re piping the sugar house. All sap will only touch SS now once at the sugar house. All tanks and pipe will be SS. The hope is that everything will be easily cleaned therefore better / lighter / syrup. I hope to produce a larger percentage of table grade syrup before dropping into the commercial range. And the SS looks cool.

[Sugarmaker]

Brian,
Looking at your photos, which by the way are very good shots, of your woods and work on the arch. That last shot is of a oil burner that you are going to use as a blower for the AOF system correct? Did this work out OK for you? I plugged in one of my old (I mean old) burners and it didn't seem to have enough air flow to put out a match?

Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Sorry guys I fibbed, weather man said we were getting another three on top of what we had, but the lake effect storm hit the Buffalo area instead of Erie. So I hunted almost all day and did not see a tail. Granted I did not cover as much ground as I used to, and hunting by yourself its tough to sneak up on one. After hunting whitetails for 45 years I must say that this doe killing, antler restricting, kids can kill anything, a hunting day for everyone and every weapon thing, is not providing for much catching just a lot of hunting:)

Its official the deer herd in PA is under control!

Also I am not seeing massive ammounts of large racks. A few but not many! We are not seeing as many hunters out either I think the kids and youth mentoring is good for future hunters but Im not seeing them out there.

I thinks its time to dial back to a two day doe season and make the 4 points per one side restriction for everyone. Then in a few years you could get a larger rack and fill the frezzer too.
My two cents! I'll be back out there Saturday:)
Regards,
Chris

[collinsmapleman2012]

been puttin up lines at school between the monsoon and the inch of snow... where we are we dont get much until everybody else does... hoping the ground freezes too before we get snow because i would like to get more wood done. putttin up lines are slow, someone let the wire go instead of getting a spooler so it undid itself and is in a tangle on a stick... gotta wind it through itself again and again and again and again... :o:mad:

[Brian Ryther]

Brian,
Looking at your photos, which by the way are very good shots, of your woods and work on the arch. That last shot is of a oil burner that you are going to use as a blower for the AOF system correct? Did this work out OK for you? I plugged in one of my old (I mean old) burners and it didn't seem to have enough air flow to put out a match?

Regards,
Chris
I built my arch 4 years ago. One year before I was aware of AOF. I use the two 6" oil burner fans to feed the fire under the grates. They produce an awesome amount of air that consumes wood like it is going out of style. It is not an efficient arch but it burns hotter than hell. I can keep the stack in the 900 degree range, 17' from the front of the arch. It will consume 300+ gph of sap. I do have intentions of re building the arch to be AOF but it is rather low on the list. I have a ton of wood and a over sized RO.

[Parker]

Been over setting up mainline for Brother Bob..Had a mainline spinner built,,works very well (still needs a couple of upgrades)...Yesterday we got up and tight 4000' of wire and 4000' of one inch mainline.(conductor lines)..they are going to tie it off over the weekend then back there monday for the lateral mainlines,,,he is hopeing for 700-900 taps on that bush this year....cant get over how nice it is to pull mainline off that spinner,,no twists when you unroll it!!! Make 1000' rolls very nice to work with!

[Jim Brown]

Parker ;we bought a spinner from Tractor supply($29.00 i might mention) and like you guys we put a 2000ft roll of 200,000 ftlbs high tensel wire on it and man was it great to not be fighting the roll We also put a 500ft roll of 3/4 line on top of the wire and rolled that off the same way! Amazing what $30.00 will buy a person!With the spinner one person can almost put in main line wire by themselves but not quite!

Jim

[whalems]

Going to work on rebuilding the arch today. Need to get moving on this project or it will be back to boiling on the "old stove" again!:o

[red maples]

Deer hunting yesterday one tree stand is on the end of a mainline branch and caught a squirrel chewing on the mainline:mad: Didn't see any deer but saw a lot of squirrels. so to day were gonna go get some squirrels for sunday dinner:)

[Revi]

I've been using the sugarhouse to get cast iron frying pans ready for my other small business/hobby. We have a bigger woodstove up there, so I put them in to clean them up and posted some signs up in the woods, came back and scrubbed them off with a wire brush, sprayed them with cooking oil and they looked good as new.

It's a great way to multi task.

[steam maker]

so i picked up my new vaccum pump today.. as i was chatting with the salesman i was sayin that we got plenty of time to get it ready . he looked at me and laughed,, said son we got 60 days till we start gettin ready to tap. that said i gotta lot to do. pump needs a shed and the ro will be in next week. this fulltime job thing is startin to hinder my sugarin problem :o better get movin

[red maples]

I've been using the sugarhouse to get cast iron frying pans ready for my other small business/hobby. We have a bigger woodstove up there, so I put them in to clean them up and posted some signs up in the woods, came back and scrubbed them off with a wire brush, sprayed them with cooking oil and they looked good as new.

It's a great way to multi task.

I did that I actually found 2 of them in the woods. in a pile of junk and what was left of a rusted out 55 gallon barrel they were rusty and nasty. took em and hit em with the angle grinder with the wire brush got them cleaned up pretty good. and put them in the oven on the cleaning mode which is 550 or what ever for about 4 -5 hours (oven got clean too!!! took em out hit em with the wire brush again. oiled them up and baked them for a few hours again. you wouldn't belive the were in the woods for that many years. the one had a little pitting on the bottom and on the handle but the cook surface was smooth. great find!!!

[twobears1224]

STEAM MAKER: i work a job thats three hours a day split into two shifts for 180 days of the year and i can,t get done what i need too...you guys with fulltime jobs are in big trouble if your not ready by now.. :D
winter came to the north country and really messed my plans up..i,am really worryed right now.i can,t buy any tubing or fittings until x-mas so everything is kinda on hold right now because of that and the weather.all i can do is work in the work shop for now..i,ll get my door done and work on my arch if i can.

delbert

[caseyssugarshack93]

Lastnight someone took two 5 gallons pails filled with mainline tools wire tools. 5/16 tubing tools around 730 lastnight. hasnt been a good weekend. but on that note. got alot cleared out of the sugarbush this weekend.

[Amber Gold]

Casey, sorry to hear that...it sucks is an understatement. Do you have extra tools handy?

I took Thursday and Friday and tomorrow off and am getting a bunch of work wrapped up. As of now, I have all drops in on all but one mainline. I've installed 105 saddles and ran out and will probably need another 30 to finish things up. I'd estimated 500 taps, so maybe I have more than I thought?? I got one of my star lifts built and will finish the other tomorrow. Next weekend, the vac line will be run and the last of the laterals/drops (50+ taps) installed and these woods will be done. Then it's off to the RO room and SH.

[red maples]

sorry Nate. We all know that stuff is expensive!!!

Did the x-mas tree drive around today!!! Man went to a cut your own place 60 bucks for a cut your own and you had to pay in advance!!! if you didn't find a tree they give you your money back. We said the hell with that place!!!

it still in my head $60 bucks for a cut your own. Sorry you people are high!! So we went back to our friends place and bought one from him. It was still $45 but I feel better giving it to him...he needs the money!!! And he is the nicest guy!!!

he owns tree service and he took down a few trees closed to the house for me. but a few years ago he was suppose to come back with a crane to take out a few more nast poplars but he wasn't returning my calls. turned out a tree fell on one of his workers I think the kid was 19 and it killed him!!! poop happens but he was guilty and had to pay fines out the yingyang, probation and what ever else. too bad such a nice guy!!!

[3rdgen.maple]

There isnt much in this world thats worse than a thief. Nate I hope you catch the low down peice of Sh#t that took your stuff.
Finished up N. Tier deer season today. Was bitter sweet. Got a call today that my great Aunt passed away. She was a lady that always brought a smile to your face and lightened up any room she was in and will greatly be missed. She loved maple syrup. Was a suprise to all. Happy and healthy as could be at thanksgiving dinner.
Spent last two days cutting up 5 more cords of wood for the house just incase and I love being outside when the first snow of the season starts. Gonna spend a few more days hauling out some softwood logs and park them by the sugarhouse. It will give me something to do while I wait for tapping. Not long now. Lets hope for a quick mild winter, what am I thinking I live in a snowbelt where we measure snowfall with yardsticks. About 10 inches on ground now and doesnt look like the gound will freeze up again this year.

[Revi]

Nate, check out the local pawn shops. There probably aren't many tubing tools around, and the ratfinks probably went to pawn it. We have had problems too, so I know what a pain it is.

Redmaples, it's amazing how great minds think alike. We both have Phaneuf 2x6's with around 300 taps, and collect cast iron pans. We're thinking of vacuum too. How do you like it? Now that we have our crime problem under control we're thinking of installing it.
Do you have to use it all the time? I think we'd use it for weeping runs, and let the rest come down by gravity when there is a massive run. That's what i'm thinking anyway.
We're thinking of a half horse electric system or something like that.

[red maples]

I love the vac. yes I use it all the time I tap mostly reds and sometimes they run sometimes they don't run good from tree to tree when they are on vac they run like crazy. Last year it saved my season without it I would have made nothng!!!! I orginally set up for gravity tubing and had alot of taps per lateral which I am changing out this year and basically re running all my laterals to a maximum of 5 taps per lateral some as many as 2. I made enough money this year to switch over to CV's too. Got all my drops made btu have to switch out Tee's too. lots of work but getting there.

I got a bb2 and it runs great!!!

[twobears1224]

i got my PID controller in the mail yesterday.after,work i went to the shop and worked on my rollup door again.i have three panels done and the last one almost done then it,s paint and put it up.
it looks like winter has came to the north country.yesterday,at 4pm i was out by my sawmill and i whipped out the ruler..16 inchs of snow on the ground and counting.it,s snowed all night and it,s still snowing and snowing hard right now.

delbert

[Parker]

Nate- sorry to hear about the stuff getting ripped off! I had a releaser stolen a couple of years back..We put a sine up at the tank where it was taken from (next to a major road) and got 2 eye whitness reports..Police were able to "take down the bad guy".and after a while we got the releaser back....Hope you are as lucky...
Over at Bobs agine yesterday...Got another 1500' of wire and 3/4"lateral mainline up,,laid out the rest of the lat. mains, and moved a whole bunch of supplies into the heart of the bush..(a 4wheeler would make that job eaiser!)..cant express how wounderful that mainline spinner works,,what a timesaver!

[Rhino]

Last 2 days i was repairing lateral lines that the trees and squirrels made a mess of. Lots of branches down/damage this year. I know we had a freak 6 inch snowfall in May when the leaves were on and i think thats why all the damage. One more full day and i think i will have the obvious damage repaired. We have a inch of snow on the ground so it's nice walking but the mornings are starting at 8 degrees so thats real fun working with tubeing repairs. Yesterday, when i was done for the day and went back to my truck with the 4-wheeler, I seen that a wolf trotted past my truck sometime as i was working in the woods. Getting a little to brave i say!! I know the gut piles all over from the past gun hunt dosn't help much to make them shy away from human activity. Today i found myself looking over my shoulder when i heard something.

[danno]

Nate - sux about the tools, hope you get a lead on them.

Figured I had plenty of time to add another new section and re-work part of another. I did get started a few weeks ago, but then got sidelined (steelhead fishing). At least we were able to brush a new mainline run. Anyway, I like tubing best in cold, snowy weather.

Well, after 30" of snow since Saturday, I can't find my mainlines. This will slow things down a bit. I was able to break a trail with the snowmobile to the bush today - so at least I can get up in there this weekend. Quite a lake effect storm for this neck of the woods. Never thought I would get the snowmobile in there, but the snow is pure fluff.

[jrthe3]

39 inchs of snow and more still coming pretty much put a stop to all things maple

[Sugarmaker]

Boyd,
Some of that 36 inches missed us. But there is still time. We may have 16 inches. Yea glad the wood is cut. I can ride the trader a little more.
May go out and put the WRU on and get the hoods in place.
Chris

[danno]

Our lake effect blitz ended this morning - final count was 50"+/-. Heard Perrysburg down near the PA/NY border picked up 72". Sounds like we're supposed to do it all over again early next week. Gonna be tough to get tubing work done unless we thaw.

[3rdgen.maple]

Same here Danno had a final tally of 50 inches also. Rain sunday then same deal all over. It has been a rough few days keeping up at work and trying to plow 5 driveways. Wanted to drag out some more pine for sugarhouse we will see though. Tractor had no problem getting through the woods yesterday all fluff. Really debating if Im going to run some tubing this winter or not. Just been so busy and booked with work till second week in febuary so I dont know if I will get it in or not. I wanted to do a section of 150 taps that are hard to gather with buckets. Nice and close to the house but not so easy to get to by tractor. Easy hookup for vac.

[ennismaple]

Just got an update from the farm - a grand total of 1" on the ground! Those of you snowed in but itching to run some tubing can come help me for the weekend - I need someone to run the 2-hander while I stretch.

I do sympathize - it sucks when you can't work in the bush because of the weather. I hope things get better, not worse, before tapping time for y'all.

[twobears1224]

this week i,ve been puttering in the workshop.i built and painted three panels for my rollup door,the forth and last one is started.i also started working on a auto drawoff.i cut the hole and mounted the pid temp controler in the plastic box,mounted a switch to shutoff the valve and ran some wires in the box.i also ordered a valve off ebay.i,ve been looking at probes but haven,t desided which one i need yet.

delbert

[Farmboy]

Cleaned up the woods a little today. Hopefully I'll finish this weekend. Its all junk for the wood furnace. I plan on running my mainline this weekend and after school this week. One of my friends is going to help me because he wants to learn how and then I'm going to help him put a few lines up at his house this winter.

[Sugarmaker]

Deer hunting today off and on. Saw a couple of button bucks that I let pass by unharmed. Toes are froze!
Maple related:
I did get all the pans and hoods set back on the arch last night.
Broke a handle off one of the valves inside the WRU.:( ball is still stuck, stem broke off) Not sure if I will just leave it or cut it out and replace. Not in a great spot to work on. I realized some valves have a very small stems compared to others that I used. The WRU will function I just wont be able to try running in a parallel flow through the WRU.
Hope things are good in all of maple land!

Chris

[BryanEx]

Im out on the ocean all the time and dont keep an eye on the bush as much as I should...
For someone living in Eastern Ontario that statement sounds both very cool and very unusual. I tend to associate sugar bush with (land) farming and/or a day job but maple syrup and lobster or crab? Sounds to me like you have really good eating at your place. I don't suppose you run a chocolate factory part-time also? :D

[Randy Brutkoski]

Jeremy, It is probably coydogs. They rip my 5/16 line every once in awile.

[Dennis H.]

Did not do much maple stuff today, had to go get the tree for xmas.

I do now have all the pieces needed to setup my filterpress.

[3rdgen.maple]

Does anyone know what causes the one gigantic fang puncture in the 1" mainlines? I have them everywhere, scattered. Im starting to think it might be a moose? Or doggies? Im out on the ocean all the time and dont keep an eye on the bush as much as I should to learn my animals and observe.

Fisher, martin or coyotes would be my guess. Having 3 enviromentalist in the family coydog does not exist according to them. They say a coydog is rumored to be a domestic dog that bred with a coyote and hence the name coydog. From what they tell me Domestic dogs do not breed with coyotes ever and a wild, once domestic dog is often called a coydog thinking that it is the offspring of the 2.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Terribly sorry, you are right they are coyotes.Around here alot of poeple call them coydogs.

[Revi]

They are coyotes, but they say that they are the biggest coyotes in the world here in Maine. Since we don't have wolves they are evolving into their spot. They got bigger and bigger as they came east I guess. Eventually the wolves will show up and take back over their niche. They say the only thing that causes a signifigant drop in coyotes numbers is when wolves show up. They have such a high reprocuction rate that they will make up for hunting them if the pickings are good. We hear them around here all the time, and there are lots of people who do coyote hunting around here.

I hope they don't bite my mainlines, or I'll start hunting them too!

[TapME]

Jeremy, sounds like they are after something in the pipe. My question is did you clean your tubing system and if so what did you use that they woould want to get at. Salt or any form of it in the pipes will make them bite at it along with squirrels and other critters.
Revi, had a cyote here last winter and spring that was the size of a german sheperd. He found out about lead poisoning.

[3rdgen.maple]

Randy dont be sorry at all. I just had to throw the coydog thing out there and show you guys how smart I am. lol Okay so maybe Im not all that bright:lol:
I found out that there is still some hope with some of our youth. I had a young man (16) show up at my house last night and asked me for my permission if he could date my 16 year old daughter. I was set back a bit and was rather amazed and impressed that such things still happen. We had a nice talk and laid down some ground rules and sent him home with a quart of maple syrup and let him know if he liked maple syrup he would have my blessings. My daughter thought that was rather funny. Hey I got to make sure he likes real maple syrup right. Only a sugarmaker could understand.

[waysidemaple]

Well rifle season has ended here. No big buck for me this year only two doe. Maple related: the drains around the new sugar house are in and rebar set. Last week of finals this week and then Christmas break. Hopefully the shack will be done and the evaporator in and running by the start of the spring semester.

[Revi]

Nice sugarhouse on the way, Wayside! We fixed up some of the tubing that was knocked down, chewed, etc. We added a few more taps and checked out the sugarbush. Now is the time, because around here we only have about an inch of snow and the ground is frozen. It was fun to get out there again and get ready for next season.

[Brokermike]

Finally got a deer yesterday, 112 lb doe (muzzleloader). Looks like I'll have venison sausage for sugaring season this year!

Got the vacuum pump wired today with a 1/2hp farm motor had that old massport dairy pump pegged out with the valve shut and she never got hot. Better yet got the oil recliamer setup finished too.

Also finally got the new (to me) 2x6 raised flue in place. It takes some finagling to get a fully bricked arch moved around in a gravel floor sugarhouse. Ended up rolling her on pipes.

Only 50 more taps to finish setting up and I'll have reached my 2011 goal of 225 on vacuum, and 75 on buckets

[Sugarmaker]

Brokermike,
Congratulations on the deer with the muzzle loader. And deer harvested with that weapon is a trophy! I will be out with the smoke pole (TC Hawkin 50 cal.) after Christmas.
Regards,
Chris

[tuckermtn]

pouring here most of the day. good day for inside projects.

Spent a few hours swapping out one of the contactors on the RO- if the hour meter is correct on my machine, that contactor/breaker lasted for more than 3,000 hrs and almost 30 years. hope that this doesn't mean the rest of them are getting ready to fail....

logging the first half of the week then back in to the woods to finish running the new 5/16 over on Putney Rd.

still tons to do in order to be ready by early Feb.

[Amber Gold]

Not a productive weekend with the rain today and stuff going on yesterday. I did get a new mainline tool fabbed on Friday and got to use it. I took a wire stretcher, a couple of vice grips, and a split conduit coupling and made a tool...say $60 in material. It worked great. It was able to pull the mainline about 6-8" to get it onto the fitting. I clamped and released it and everything held...we'll see what happens when we get a cold snap. If anybody's interested, I can post some pics of it.

[ennismaple]

Stretched about 2500 feet of tubing on Saturday - an easy half day. No need to kill myself trying to stretch 6,000 feet in a day if I don't have to. I've probably got another full day to finish up stretching before we replace another 1500 5/16 spiles with stubbies.

Lots of freezing rain and straight rain today so I stayed out of the bush. I managed to rig up a syrup pump to drain 35 gallon drums. Direct coupled a gear pump to a 3/4hp 110V electric motor with a switch to turn it on and off. It worked well but I still need to make a few modifications to avoid losing the prime. Once it's fine tuned I should be able to drain an entire drum in about 4 minutes!

[Farmboy]

Took down the old stack from my barrel evaporator today. I also set up some staging so its easier to work on the cupola and putting up a new stack. Hopefully It will be water tight for this season. Way too much to do before February. If it stays cold out im probably not going to get a cement floor till after the season. I dont want to risk pouring cement on ground with frost in it and having the floor crack when it thaws.

[boneheadben]

i proved i am one saturday, i tapped the maple next to my house, in 2 hours on sat, i got a quart of sap, sunday i got another quart. and it was 2%. and for my 2 cents on forcasting, would not be supprised if we could be making syrup in jan.

[danno]

1 day maple, 1 day snow removal. Took a road trip to Ludlow to vist Scott (Powerdub) from the Trader. Great meeting you Scott. My dog and I enjoyed the scenic trip through Vt. Thanks to Scott, I bought home a 1000 gal. SS tank and 5 hp Sihi. Yea!!!

Spent Sunday getting the 1000 gal poly permeate and SS tank placed and then got after the snow on the barn roofs. There was about 28" of heavy, wet condensed snow - what fun;) Just wanted to get it off before we get the 2' forecast over the next couple of days.

[Parker]

Hopeing to finish the installation at Brother Bobs in the next 2 days,,Cutting the brush out of the way for the mainlines has greatly slowed the installation,,,over 8000' mainline up,,half of the 12 boosters built..going to be one heck of a system,,he has some big old trees out there and I would not be surprised at all if he gets over 1/2 gallon of syrup per tap...there are many, many young maples that should grow into being tappabel in the next 5 years...very nice spot!
I am REALLY ICTHCING to get back to my woods in Hill and finish the upgrades there befor we get a bunch of snow!

[Dennis H.]

Just to darn cold to do anything outside right now. I'll have to wait till the temps get back up in the 30's!

[Thiems sugarshack]

Amber Gold
I would be intrested in seeing the pics of the tubing tool Thanks

[Yellzee]

Not much to report around here. Very little snow on the ground and things freezing nicely. Key project for myself is to get some rock put in last years ruts so I can drag out the sap, trying to take rock of an old fenceline but it's gonna be frozen and buried if I dont' get it done soon.
I'm holding off on fixing the lines as I seem to have so much damage to them I'm sure I'd have to replace again by spring.
Also have to build my addition to the sugarshack as I've torn one wall off and it's going to be very cold in there...

time is ticking isn't it.

[3rdgen.maple]

Was working at the warehouse today and the guys from the raceshop came over from next door. I get gabbing with them for a bit and one guy says hey you got a need for and arc welder or a tig welder. I said sure bring them over and I will take a look. They brought back a brand new arc and a brand new tig welder. Rods, wire and a bunch of accesories. He said make an offer. I opened my wallet and pulled out all my cash in it and said I got 175 bucks cash kidding around and after a couple funny looks The owner said good enough its been sitting in the shop for 2 years and never used since they are big on mig welding. Now just where to hide this stuff from she who must be obeyed. I think I might be able to find a few maple related things to build. Got to make a few batches of maple candy for the holidays this week and I need some me time in the sugarhouse cleaning and tinkering. Snow is just pounding us here and been plowing more than I would like to for december. Almost go time. Get going guys.

[Brokermike]

Nice find! want to double your money!

[Yellzee]

I'm willing to help hide them for you.

[Homestead Maple]

Amber Gold
I would be intrested in seeing the pics of the tubing tool Thanks

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=2477&highlight=mainline+tool

[Sugarmaker]

Like someone said the Christmas rush is on Cheryl and I bottled 15 lb of honey last night and sold the last of the syrup in 250 ml glass today too. Nice to have a few extra dollars around the holidays!
Hope things are good in maple land, as folks wind down for the holidays! Be safe traveling. We want all of you back for maple madness!
Regards,
Chris

[3rdgen.maple]

I'm willing to help hide them for you. LoL to late. When I got home she asked me what I bought. I looked at her and said what makes you think I bought something? Reply- the smile on your face. Its amazing all the stuff I found that suddenly needs welding.

[Sugarmaker]

3rdgen,
Nice score on the welders! You will find many maple uses for the TIG , I am sure. I only have three and really need a TIG to round out the herd.
Chris

[twobears1224]

when,you get that tig tuned in let me know..i have some welding for ya.. :lol:

delbert

[3rdgen.maple]

If this turns out like most things in my life I will soon be upgrading to a better one. Delbert if I get this tig thing down I would be glad to help a fellow mapletrader.

[Dennis H.]

Sell it on here when you don't need it we all know what you paid for it now!:evil::o:lol:

[3rdgen.maple]

I actually probably would offer it up on the trader. Just not any time soon got to get handy with it first before I would upgrade lol. I would pass along the deal as well Im not going to get rich of a welder and if it made someone elses day down the road Im good with that. Now lets not flood my PM box with " I want it's" lol.

[gator330]

Checking in from Lyons, NY Going to be hard season. The snow is over a deers back and its only December. It's just out of hand here! Breaking out roads with the team now just in case it keeps coming. All the lines are down and under the snow. Can't get to the fire wood that didn't get cut yet. The sugar house has been taken over by 100 hens. So, as far as things go around here. Every thing is right on track. Hope every one has a great holiday season.

[Parker]

Well...finally got Bobs instalation finished,,9800' mainline and wire,3200' from the tank to the last tap,19 lateral mainlines,,over 270 hose clamps,,,would have been finished much sooner (the original plan was for 9 lateral mainlines) but wound up spending alot of time cutting brush for additional mainlines....the system is set up better than any of my woods,,,cant wait to see how it runs this spring!! It was a ball setting up this system!

[tuckermtn]

spent most of the day yesterday and till noon today over at Putney Rd. trying to get that all ready to tap. I am hoping that we are over 200 taps over there once we get the sap ladder all set-up. some nice fast growing 9-10" trees down low that I think will run well. probably have about a 1/2- 3/4 of a day more over there and it will be ready to tap. Then its off to Hattens in Salisbury Heights to reconfigure that set-up.

Like the Lapierre slide fittings for bringing in laterals in to the main- the more perpendicular the better...

taking the rest of the week off from maple- heading up to Jay Peak on Wednesday to get a little pre- x-mas skiing in...

have a good one...

-eRic

[Amber Gold]

Parker, How many taps are going to be in those woods? Are you getting the sap from it?

Not much happened this weekend...holiday stuff. Installed the last of the drops and other misc. items. Went through the entire woods and counted taps and made a punchlist...tap count is ~590 and hopefully have the punchlist wrapped up Christmas weekend. I ran my 1" vac. line, but ran about 160' short...need to go out and get a roll of 1.25" to finish it off. Hopefully the 1" will be big enough, but if it's not, it won't take too long to roll out 1.25" if needed.

The woods I had last year is officially off the books, or at least the bulk of it. My neighbor would like me to continue tapping the trees on his property...about 60 of the 380. Unfortunately no vacuum, but all sugars...hopefully I can get 15 gal of syrup out of there.

It's looking like next year's tap count will be 590 on vac. and ~60 on gravity...debating now if I try to stretch another season out of the membranes, or buy another set.

I'm on vacation between Christmas and New Years. Plan is to knock off the punch list, get the vac. setup and the vac. shed built, and get the RO room built.

[Parker]

Amber- Bob boils his own syrup,,I have set up 2 other orchards for him,,Last year he made 1/2 gal-tap on the 2 smaller orchards I set up with him,,he made about 20 gallons off the "Big bush" we just finished..last year there were 600+ taps there...I think he will be around 1000 there this year...in 5 years there should be around 1400 tappabel...lots of maples growing in to tappabel size...He will have a very hard time keeping up with the sap, I believe...

[danno]

[QUOTE=Parker;122335]Well...finally got Bobs instalation finished,,9800' mainline and wire,3200' from the tank to the last tap,19 lateral mainlines,,over 270 hose clamps,,,

I was just thinking today as I was hose clamping a mainline connecter - how many hose clamps do we all have in our woods/sugar houses? Ridiculous! I should probably be buying them in gross, rather than bags of 10 from HD for $6.00

[mapleack]

We had a busy weekend, Dave Y delivered our new RO Saturday morning, we got our sap and permeate tanks set on the bank behind the sugar house, did some more work in the bottling room / RO room. Started figuring out how we wanted to plumb in the RO, I think it might be easier to build a startrek warpdrive than figure this plumbing out! Still tons of work to do inside and out, and sap weather is coming soon!

[Jim Brown]

Andy; Did your RO come with the 4 valve control system mine did ?If not when I get home this evening I'll send you some pic's of the set up my lapierre came with . May help with the plumbing.
Jim

[Maplewalnut]

Andy- Looks like I have the same unit as you this will be my first year with it. Best advice, just start plumbing. I put it off for months also but once I started it all makes sense and really isnt that bad. I did go with the valve panel after much thought hopefully to idiot proof it when I get home after work. Jims pictures are great take him up on the offer it you have any questions.

Mike

[Amber Gold]

I was just thinking today as I was hose clamping a mainline connecter - how many hose clamps do we all have in our woods/sugar houses? Ridiculous! I should probably be buying them in gross, rather than bags of 10 from HD for $6.00

I've converted over to using Oetiker Clamps. They're much cheaper, quicker to install, and they're cheaper.

http://www.oetiker.com/content.asp?l=4&idNavig=26

Lowe's sells them for <$2 per bag of $10. There's a local landscape supply which sells bags of 100 for ~$12.

[mapleack]

Andy; Did your RO come with the 4 valve control system mine did ?If not when I get home this evening I'll send you some pic's of the set up my lapierre came with . May help with the plumbing.
Jim

I got the three way panel to help deal with the output, but not for input. I know how to hook everything up, just a bear to diagram it all out. I'm making things more difficult by having wash drains for both the permeate and feed tanks plumbed into the system. I'm going to build my own panel for the inlet valves, instead of having stuff spread out on the wall like some do.

[tuckermtn]

Josh- tell me more about those clamps- how do they hold with vac? special tool to install?

intriguing...

[chipa]

These clamps have been used in irrigation for years.I used them last year on a 3000 tap bush.They are fast,cheap and clean looking.You use end nippers to tighten them.Two thumbs up from me.

[tuckermtn]

so you slide the clamp on then pinch the ear on top to squeeze the pipe? do you have to cut them to take them off?

[waysidemaple]

Spent the day picking up supplies for the sugar shack.....got the preheater plumbed in now all I need to do is cut the holes in the hood for the pipe and that will be ready to go. Next I will start dry fitting the firebrick so that will be already to go once the sugar shack is done. 160$ worth of copper fittings...that stuff is exspensive. Also picked up the 2 by 6's for the rafters...those will go up the next time we have a semi-warm day (no wind). Still need to move the head tank into place. Marked up an area that will have around 70 taps in it yesterday. Ill start tubing that after christmas. Lots to do and the days are ticking away.

[Dennis H.]

Those clamps are awesome, I ordered 2 100 packs from Mcmaster-Carr and use them for the 1st time this year. Very fast and very cheap.
I picked up a pair of end nippers from Harbor Freight to crimp them. When I put them on I am sure to put the ears out of sync by 90 degrees. If I need to remove them I just grab the ear with the nippers and squeeze and twist and off they come.

I use 2 per fitting to be on the safe side.

I just got tired of buying those cheap hose clamps from HomeDepot and Lowes, they would strip out right before I got them tight enough.

These were the answer.

[chipa]

so you slide the clamp on then pinch the ear on top to squeeze the pipe? do you have to cut them to take them off?

yes if you have to take them off you grab the pinched portion with the end nippers and twist.They are pretty fast to remove .

[Amber Gold]

Like Chip said they're used a lot for irrigation work which I used to do. It took me a while to find a source for them. One time use, but they're cheap enough it doesn't matter.

Lowes sells the tool you use to tighten the clamps and it's with the clamps. Here's what the tool looks like.

http://chadstoolbox.com/1098oetikerclamppliers.aspx

I haven't had any problem with them holding vac.

[Gary R]

Visited the "Maple Baron of Forest County" yesterday. He was working on the feed lines to the Force 5. I bought a 5" filter press from Daryl last weekend. Now I need to find a small amount of food grade DE. I'll probably set up the mobile sugar shack in less than a month. I plan on tapping on any decent warm spell around Feb. 1.

[Father & Son]

Gary,
I can help you with the filter aid.

Jim

[Jim Brown]

Gary R I have a full bag you can have some !


Jim

[Dave Y]

Gary,
You should have said some thing while you where here yesterday. I could have give you all the filter aid you would need. Good to see you again.

[maple flats]

I'm finally back to maple. To work in my lease woods I had to wait until deer season ended. It ended last Sunday and I started working in the woods Wed. I walked the woods and cleaned up branches down. I have no mainline down , nor branch lines, just latterals. They cleaned up easily. Next I started getting the inwoods abandoned cellar ready to set my Vac tank. It is only about 40' from the road, is 6' deep, dry floor, but need to remove some brush. The house must have been here 1800's or early 1900's. My plan is to set the 1000 gal Zero in there to use the lines I have with out needing a sap ladder except from one direction with about 60-75 taps. I will be adding 2 branch lines not needing sap ladders and 1 needing a sap ladder or 2 for a total lift of about 10-12' and up to about 150 taps.
I recently removed the 240V motor from my Alamo vac pump and need to design a motor mount adapter to mount a 5hp motor off an old but reliable snow blower. I hope to get a season from that and will likely buy a Honda for the next season. To get the vac tank into the cellar, I need to hire an excavator about 2x the size of mine. I lifted the tank with mine but could not carry the weight very far out from the machine (only about 5.5'). To place the tank it will need to lower the tank while holding out about 9 or 10'. I just turned on my solar power at the sugarhouse this morning (see another thread) but am taking until Sunday afternoon off for the holidays. From there I need to work on the tank, the vac pump, new branch lines, sap ladders, a dry line for about 500' and then rewalk my latterals for chew damage. I usually get very little after starting to clean with food grade hydrogen peroxide. Time will tell if this continues. On Wed, I saw no chew damage, but I only looked where damage used to be the worst, around the end tree loop. When I do my next walk I walk and check every foot, by running my hand the full length of every latteral. As for snow, We had about 38" in 3 days about 2 wks ago, and no melting, but it has settled to about a foot except where it drifts the most at fields edge.

[maple flats]

I have a permission to get before I can set the tank into the old cellar. The landowner says it is okay to put it into the cellar, BUT he does not want a roadway from the field to the cellar, where snowmobilers can blindly race in and land in the cellar smashing into the far wall. I need to see if he will let me make the opening and then plug it with big boulders and downed trees and brush to block it. I might need to get him to walk the area to get him to allow me to make that opening. If I opened it and left it, the opening, about 11-12' wide would go straight off the end of a long field that tapers down and this would be inviting to race into, with the cellar, tank and certian injury or death only 30' off the ields end. I need to assure him I can effectively plug it up and that I will keep it plugged every year until the brush fills the drive back in.
I also had a landowner(?) ask me last year if I was interested in tapping his 75 or so mature roadside sugars just a mile or so from my main bush. I looked last may and said I was very interested. Then he said he had to talk to his mother (who still really owns it), he has not gotten back yet. As soon as I get the woods done on my lease bush I will go ask him again. At this point I'm guessing mom said NO! It shouldn't be him deciding no because he was real happy with what I said I would pay per tap.

[Revi]

I hope you all have a great Chrismas out there in Mapleland!

[twobears1224]

now that deer hunting and christmas is outta the way it,s back to maple on sunday.i,am on vacation until jan 2th and i hope to get alot done.i have been puttering around.i,ve built a auto drawoff i do need to get it programmed yet.i,ve also worked on the syrup pan valving.i have all the parts and the tubing cut..i,ll solder it all together tomorrow.
i need to plane out one more piece of lumber and i can finish the last panel for my roll up door.i,am putting one on the woodshed end of my sugarhouse.

delbert

[caseyssugarshack93]

look at the size of these beast...

[caseyssugarshack93]

heres a few more

[caseyssugarshack93]

heres some more

[caseyssugarshack93]

a few more:)

[caseyssugarshack93]

just a fewww more then you guys will be caught up:D

[caseyssugarshack93]

done, This is what i been pretty much doing all fall up tilll now. i deffinly wont be done thinning out the sugarbush this year if i plan on adding taps i wont have time to clear. so looks like this summer and next fall thats what ill be doing and hopfully into a other sugarbush shooting for 5000 by the time i graduate in 2012.

[tuckermtn]

Like it when the numbers work out...

I've been working on updating and expanding a bush on and off for a few weeks. 98% ready to tap. Was hoping for 200 taps in there (previously was set-up for 160). Well did the tally as I was finishing up today and it looks like 280. Merry Christmas to me...Glad I got the bigger stock tank!

[twobears1224]

nate:way to go..it seems good to see a young man your age doing something useful and getting it done.

delbert

[Revi]

We are getting our first real snowstorm of the winter finally. We've had a couple of little storms, maybe 3 inches or so, but we could get over a foot and a half from this one by the time it's over. It may be time to break out the snowshoes after this.

[TapME]

Nice work Nate. That will be some nice firewood for next year.

[Revi]

When I woke up I looked out and it looked like it had only snowed a few inches, then we dug out and it looks more like around a foot in places. It is blowing around so much it's hard to tell how much we got. We are plowed out now, but it's blowing back in.

I guess the blizzard isn't over until it's over.

[ejmaple]

the sun is pokeing out, looks like we onle got 8-12'' tough to tell wicked wind blown, 50 mph gust. we were forecasted to get 22'' :confused: went out after plowing this morning to check on my lines, was expecting to see some downed limbs but none:cool:

[Farmboy]

Got about 6" in the woods. I was out plowing all day. I might start hanging mainline tomorow.

[danno]

I love hangin new line this time of year - snow, cold and everything is so clean and tight.

What's your favorite - wire, mainline/dryline, saddles (not), laterals, drops?

I like laterals best. Well, actually tapping is the best ofcourse, but laterals will do off-season.

[3rdgen.maple]

I dont even start plowing until theres atleast a foot of snow in the driveway. Windchill is awful here and thats bout all right now. Got almost 90 inches of snow this month and calling for 50 saturday and rain. Makes me want to tap now.

[Dennis H.]

Wind! Holy cow the wind!
We had a Train on the Rockville Bridge in Harrisburg get blown off and into the river today because of the wind!

But no snow:(

[Farmboy]

I love hangin new line this time of year - snow, cold and everything is so clean and tight.

What's your favorite - wire, mainline/dryline, saddles (not), laterals, drops?

I like laterals best. Well, actually tapping is the best ofcourse, but laterals will do off-season.

This will be my first time hanging tubing. I'm not using wire but I think laterals will be my favorite too. I've got all school vacation to put up tubing n my neibors woods of 75 taps.

[maple flats]

I got my permission to cut the roadway to set my tank. Loaded the tank onto my trailer today, a 8000# excavator has trouble lifting a 1000 gal Zero tank, took a while to get loaded. Now I need to make arrangements for my local farm dealer to deliver a 12,000# excavator to unload, carry to the site, and lower it into an old cellar, about 6' deep. That is where the tank will be set up. It will make running lines to it much easier and will conceal it from view off the road, just 40" away. I will also set my vac pump in there of near by, a little deeper into the bush, but not too far from the tank. I hope the dealer can deliver the excavator tomorrow, late morning or early after noon. Then I start installing my dry line etc, and expand the bush from 400 to 550 using about 3-4 sap ladders. I still need to make a motor mount to put the gas motor on where an electric was.

[red maples]

Finally got back in the woods yesterday to work on tubing!!! :)

Wind sucked though. I was OK until the snow blew in my face. Going out for a few hours today wanna try to have it all finished this week!!!! I hope anyway gotta get things replumbed at the sugar house!!!

[maple flats]

Excavator coming tomorrow. I called the dealer to get one delivered today, but their delivery trucks big enough to haul the 12,000 # were all out at other stores (they have 3 or 4 locations). They will have have the truck tomorrow. After setting the tank I start my dry line above the existing wet line. Then I have a section to move a branch line. After that I add about 150 taps with sap ladders and plumb it all to the zero tank. I'll need a new sap pump, bigger to pump faster, and about 40' of hose. I'm thinking of getting a 1.25" but might go 1.5". Got to check the specs. Will be pumping about 300 gal/trip and don't want to wait for the 1" pumps to do it, since I'll be shutting off the vac while pumping.

[Farmboy]

Went out to the woods this afternoon and put up 200' of mainline. I tightened it but I need to go back and tighten it again and side tie it tommorow.

[waysidemaple]

Ran 600 feet of laterals today and got all the droplines cut in. Picking up mainline and saddles tomorrow from Russells. Hopefully ill have that section done by the 1st. Roofing for the new sugar house will come tomorrow sometime. Hoping to have that mostly on by the end of the day thursday.

[PATheron]

Dave- What are you using for a vac pump on your setup? Wayside- Are you going to have all your taps hooked together so you can use vac on them? Theron

[maple flats]

I have an Alamo, rotary vane pump. Because I'm using the Zero as a vac tank at least this season, I will be using a vac regulator to keep vac at 18-19". In a year or 2 if I decide I need more vac I will get a liquid ring pump and a releaser.

[waysidemaple]

Theron - eventually yes, but not for this year...its just not in the budget. My plan has been to start at the collection tank and slowly every year run a new section farther and farther away from my starting point until I have the whole thing running to one spot. By this time if all goes as planned I will be out of college and it will be time to change the drops out. Ill put all new check valves in and hook it up to vac. I'm shooting for the strive for 5 from the start so that when I do hook up vac I wont have to rework any mains or lats.

[PATheron]

Thats what I was wondering about using it on a zero tank. Should work good. Wonder how bascom uses all vac tanks, Im pretty sure he is all ring pumps. Must be those big tanks of his will take high vac. Im going to stick with releasers but someday Im going to have all of them with the tanks in little buildings so they dont freeze up. Big pain in the butt. I think thats going to be next years project making that little chore go away somehow. Theron

[PATheron]

Wayside- How many do you have that are hooked together now going downhill to one location? Theron

[PATheron]

and do you have electric there?

[waysidemaple]

Theron - As a side not I'd really like to get over to your place and check things out sometime between the 4 and the 16th of Jan. I have to go back to school on the 17th. PM me if it will work out sometime in there. I'd also like to bring the grandfather along if I can talk him into leaving the house.

[PATheron]

Your welcome to come over anytime. I may have some stuff that would work for you to put vac on your taps if you have some of it all hooked together. If you have electic there I know I do and if you dont youd just have to come up with a little gas engine. Theron

[waysidemaple]

No electric unfortunatley...Right now ill have close to 100, but I haven't even scratched the surface as far as tappable trees. I don't have a steady income so when I do have some money I use it to buy tubing. Its going to be a slow proccess for know but Im going at it steady.

[waysidemaple]

The gas engine wouldn't been to big of a problem to find I dont think.

[PATheron]

Wayside- Ive got a glass bowl releaser you can use and a vac pump that a buddy let me use so Ill let you use it if you want to. Only thing is its got an electric motor on it. If you can find a real small gas engine and you have time to mess with it your welcome to use it. Theron

[ennismaple]

I was only home for a few days at Christmas but I got some time to spend in the bush. We've got very little snow (a few inches) so the going was good. I stretched 4000' of laterals in about 5 hours on the 23rd. I've split the laterals up as much as possible to keep the taps to 5 max, fewer on many lats. I managed to pick up another 50 or so taps on trees that were missed or were too small when the tubing was first run in this bush around 20 years ago. ALL OUR 5/16 TUBING HAS NOW BEEN REPLACED!!!!! <insert happy dance here> I figure I've stretched up to 70,000 feet of laterals in the past 36 months. It's well worth the time and effort to get rid of the old green stuff that was taken down and put back up every year. I also managed to get about 30 saddles installed so another 2 hours and that task will be done. If only my dropline guy would come back from vacation and get his butt in gear...

If anyone is interested, we have a couple of pans for sale - both are leak free. The flue pan is a welded 5'x10' and comes with a steam hood. The syrup pan is 5'x4', soldered (lead free) and has 4 channels. Send me a PM with your email address and I can send pictures.

[red maples]

Gotta few hours in yesterday moving right along!!! about an hour in this morning then took the kids back in the woods for some sled riding, had a few more minutes on tubing then I put my thumb in the wrong place "slice" mmm yes nice blood trial back to the house!!! all bandaged up now!!!;)

[waysidemaple]

Theron - I won't be able to thank you enough for the vac and releaser.

[maple flats]

I set the tank today, but I guessed wrong. Since my excavator (8000#) lifts the tank at 5' out in front, I though a 12,000# would lift it much better. I had to pick it up and walk it to the old cellar hole, I could not lift and just drive even with the tank as close to the machine as possible. I had to raise the main boom as high as it would go, then pick the front of the machine with the front blade and then extend the dipper (the part that has the bucket attached) and set it down. Then crawl ahead about 2 ' and repeat. Once I finally got it to the foundation It did a fairly good job, with the blade full down, of extending the dipper and slowly lowering the tank into the 6' cellar hole. If I ever have to re do I will get at least an 8Ton instead. The one I used was in good shape, a Kubota industrial 6ton, didn't check model# but it had a hard time crossing a 3' deep x 4' wide ditch with about a 25 degree incline on the field side. The tracks spun so I turned around like I do with my rig and lifted some and pushed while trying to climb with the tracks but it did not have enough push. I had to swing around facing up hill (without the tank all this time) and dig in with the bucket and pull while walking up hill. Once I got to nearly level the rig moved around fine empty but as I say, I had to walk the tank about 2' at a time. But it is finally in place, not one got hurt, and the tank suffered no damage. I did accidentally hit a road sign and bend the post while swinging one time but I straightened it to almost like original with the bucket. I'm glad to have that part done. Then I strung about 500' of 1" black for my dry line and attached it to my anchor trees. Tomorrow I finish tightening (using a winch), anchoring and then side tying for final tight. I am trying to do it like Rapi Tube shows in their video, with no support wire. I will finish with the Rapi-tube strapping. Does anyone know where I can order it online? When I go to the Rapi-tube site I don't find a way to order the tube or the strap. If I can't find the strap I will do like I did with wire supported except with no HT wire to hook to I'll find something to spread the force so the wire doesn't cut into the tubing and I will pull on that with my wire. Friday I should be ready to begin adding a new branch line and adding more taps/laterals in the section where I hope to add 150 +/- taps and will be using a sap ladder. For 150 taps how many tube of 5/16 should I have in a sap ladder? I haven't decided yet but I'll either use a 2 pipe system or the older method with a bunch of 5/16 to do the climb.

[Revi]

I have been sick as a dog for weeks, but today I finally got out to stomp out the bucket trail. It felt good to be snowshoeing with the dog again.

I think I might be on the mend now.

[twobears1224]

it warmed up into the low 30,s today so i worked on the inside of my sugarhouse.after,a trip to the lumber yard i put insulation up and osb on two walls.after supper i went out in the garage and figured out how much arch board i needed and how many firebricks i need.
i also ran a 2x4 thur my wood planer for the last panel in my roll up door.i,ll finish that tomorrow night after supper.
in the morning i,am going rabbit hunting with a buddy of mine and his new beagles..then it,s back to the sugarhouse.

delbert

[PATheron]

Wayside- The releaser will work like it is. The pump is electic so if you want to use it youll have to put a gas engine on it. Chances are I wont be able to have time to help you do that but if you can than you can use it. If not and you want to wait till next year Ill help you rig one up. Theron

[waysidemaple]

Theron - With having to go to school and being at school during the season I might as well wait until next year for the vac. I go to school in Lock Haven and during the season I drive back up during the week every other day to boil and come home on weekends. My dad collects for me on the days Im not home and Id hate to make him worry about on more thing while Im at school. I will definatly take the help rigging it up next year. Thanks again!

[PATheron]

Next year no prob at all. I wont sell the pump becouse it was given to me so Ill let you use it. The glass releaser Ill let you use too untill you get bigger and get a real one then you can give it back. When your up here this summer Ill help you rig up a nice little gas engine on the pump. Theron

[waysidemaple]

Sounds great to me! Thanks again! :D

[Sugarmaker]

Revi,
Glad your feeling better!
I have been hunting whitetails every chance I get. Four of us will hunt tomorrow with the smoke poles.
Chris

[Farmboy]

Tightened the mainline I put up yesterday and side tied it. Started building my one handed tubing tool today. My dad was going to weld up part of tonight and we can finish it tommorow. Then I need to make a two handed tubing tool.

[danno]

Rapi-tube strapping. Does anyone know where I can order it online? When I go to the Rapi-tube site I don't find a way to order the tube or the strap. If I can't find the strap I will do like I did with wire supported except with no HT wire to hook to I'll find something to spread the force so the wire doesn't cut into the tubing and I will pull on that with my wire. QUOTE]

Hi Dave - you may be able to find some Rapitube strapping at the Verona Conf? I was able to find some at a wholesale landscape company in Cicero on Rt. 11. I think I paid $12.50 for 250' rolls. It's the 1/2". I can find their name/number if you want it. I guess landscapers use the same strapping to support saplings.

[ToadHill]

Try this,

http://www.cdl-dallaire.com/index.php?module=produit&action=view&search=rapitube

[red maples]

Good sugarin' weather coming this week end fri/sat/sun cold nights upper 40's in the day. Only problem wrong time of year!!!:cry:

[3rdgen.maple]

Been working my butt off at my job and have been thinking about if I have enough wood for sugaring. To my suprise when I got home my neighbor must have gotten bored and plowed out the road to my sugarhouse and left a nice x mas present today. A couple cords of split dry stacked and tarped wood. Man I love my neighbors. Been trying to get in the woods to haul out some more pine logs and just cannot find the time. He also left a little note saying more on the way. Well thats settled IM going steelhead fishing tomarrow instead lol.

[SeanD]

Good sugarin' weather coming this week end fri/sat/sun cold nights upper 40's in the day. Only problem wrong time of year!!!:cry:

No kidding! Walking through the snow in shirt sleeves, bright, warm sun on my face, and I can smell somebody's fire going. All that was missing was the music of drops in the buckets. It feels like March and it's still December. Good weather for washing buckets, though. I put it off all fall. Looks like a caught a break.

Sean

[220 maple]

Who will be the first post of 2011? Not I

[Haynes Forest Products]

Not me Im going out with the Wife, Exwife and the lady across the street with all my Famn Damley They say things happen in 3's :rolleyes: I might be the last

[twobears1224]

what a day to be outside!!!..it was awesome!! i worked in my sugarhouse from 11am until 7pm.i have all the osb cut and on the walls.tomorrow i,ll put my roll up door tracks back up and start putting the door in.i also hope to get started on my head tank.

delbert

[IPL Technical Support]

...I am trying to do it like Rapi Tube shows in their video, with no support wire. I will finish with the Rapi-tube strapping. Does anyone know where I can order it online? When I go to the Rapi-tube site I don't find a way to order the tube or the strap. If I can't find the strap ...

maple flats,

You might to look here for Rapi-Tube and Rapi-Fix (strapping):
CDL USA
39, Rewes Drive, St. Albans, Vermont 05478
Phone: (802) 527-0000 / Fax: (802)524-3666
Toll free: 1-800-762-5587
www.cdlusa.net (www.maplepro.com)

Regards,