February Journal THE COUNTDOWN!!!

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Originally Posted by jmbinventions

I had a person dump my buckets of sap and pull out all of my spiles today, I am considering electrifying aluminum buckets at this point. I have had this happen at least three times this year and it's only february! Anybody have a suggestion to deter anymore destructive people, this is just getting ridiculous. Thanks if you have any ideas, I need them.

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thats terrible. I like 3rdgen idea. is it your property? if so then also tresspassing. but I would notify the police.

Why do you think they are dumping buckets and pulling taps? Are they kids being stupid or could it be more calculated than that?

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Originally Posted by Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp

I was wondering how many of you northern producers have to tap on snowshoes? We have 32" of new snow on the ground and I have 6500 holes to drill in the next few weeks. No warm up in site either. How well do snowshoes work? Is there any particular brand that may be better then the other? I see some of the maple supply catalogs have them.

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I just ordered a set today off of ebay. Hopefully I will have them by next weekend so I can start tapping. I am well south of you, but in the same boat as you and more snow on the way this week and no warmup in sight.

You can get an inexpensive pair of snowshoes from Campmor.com. They have red feather that are not the best but will work for under 100 dollars. If you order they ship in like less than 24 hours -I have used this company for 20 years and never a problem -SS

just came in from re-adjusting the main line...had to move it up about 1 foot. What a suck job that was. it was plumbed for gravity tubing but now the relaser sits a bit higher so I had raise it all up. but its done...vacuum is all plumbed to releaser and and the pump is mounted just have to run the wires tomorrow pick some oil and hopefully do a little test run!!! :) want ot be done with everything by wednesday (I hope). then I can relax a bit maybe get in a little more ice fishing before the season starts.

gotta run to get food for the game (getting junk food from applebees this year) just me the wife and kids. last year I had some folks over and did the BBQ galore...smoked brisket(smoked it for 10 hours best I ever made) ribs, pulled pork. smoked sweet potaoes, green beens with chorizo sausage. and lots and lots of beer!!!

the year before was south of the border. enchilada, nachos, mini burritos, tacos.

this year I am having a year off.

Made some progress this weekend...things are looking up for the season. Yesterday I replaced the used mainline from last year and ran a 3/4" mainline to the releaser.

Today I finished my sap ladder (photos coming soon in my photobucket page)and got my 2 mainlines hooked to the releaser. I also got the LR vac. pump running, which for the most part was a success, minus a minor issue.

Next weekend I just need to get last years mainline/tubing system back up to snuff and I can start running more mainline and tubing.

We usually tap in snowshoes. We find the tap holes are about 2 or 3 feet higher up when we go to untap them. The snow helps with those taps that are really high so you don't need a ladder. It's a lot harder to get around with them, but it adds to the adventure.

We had a lot of problems with vandalism last year. I reccomend a game camera. Hide it some place they can't see it and see if you can catch them in the act.

We have two camera systems, lexan on the windows, plate steel on the door and a bulletproof box in front to protect the evaporator now.

I told the cops who it was, but without proof they can't do anything.

We'll see if we can get some proof. If we get anything we're prosecuting.

Well my sister and I went out in the woods to check on the lines and see what kind of damage we had to deal with. I must say it wasn't that bad. We have to cut three trees off the lines and make some adjustments to the lines but I think we are in really good shape! Can't wait to get things done and start tapping!!:)

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Originally Posted by maplwrks

I removed the cutter on my tubing tool for the exact reason you're talking about. Took a dremel tool and cut the entire cutter/spreader assembly right off.

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glad to see im not alone in this thinking, i had borrowed a tubing tool a few years back and when using it wasnt thrilled with the blade and its sharp edge near my fingers, so when i copied the tool to make my own i left off the blade and use a pair of battery cable cutters that cut the tube clean and easy, i like that much better!

Folks,
I hung some tubing while the sun was shining. Nice to get out and do a little light work. These tubing runs ( about 25 taps) are rolled up and hung in the sugar house for the summer. Generally I can hang about 100 taps in a hour. I should have all the tubing up by the weekend. so if the weather breaks we can tap. Did find one week spot from a fitting that was not formed all the way during molding. I replaced that tee and should be good to go.

Hope things are good to all traders out there!

Regards,
Chris C.