February Journal THE COUNTDOWN!!!

Sat in front of the TV this morning watching the news and made up another 50 drops. Hope I can get in the woods today. The big white dial out on the tree still says 15 degrees so i think ill wait a little bit. Im pretty much ready here other than cleaning the head tank, cleaning a few buckets and taking my tanks to the bush and setting up my seasonal lines and tying in a few more laterals in to the main line, plug in the fridge in the shack buying propane for the stove. :o OMG gotta go good thing Im on vacation.:rolleyes:

well i will throw a "food grade" plug in her and see what she doesn going to need in on sunday, going to get 2 1/2 cord of slab, we will see if that solves the problem, its just slabs so the 61 will work fine if it comes down to having to use that old girl. I just miss all that power of the 268XP (really a bored out 372XP) the 61 is a gutless wonder with over 2000 hours on her from what i was told by the previous owner probably could stand to be rebuilt or at least tuned i know the jets need to be tweeqed and tuned, but its reliable and works when no other will so i keep it around and keep her running.

We're in a good cold spell here. Can't do much more then wait. I don't see much chance of taping before march. Last year it was Feb 26. Didn't get sap till the next week. Got more bacon to slice and package. Best yet Red maples!!!!!

it gets better the more you do it. takes practice.. my first ribs were just ok really not that good, but now its easy figured out the perfect rub time and temp and they come great. We don't even go to the local BBQ places anymore because they are a let down...spoiled the family on another thing.:rolleyes:

I hung eight hundred feet of mainline today. All wired up except the side ties. I think I'll let it set for a day or two to work the kinks out. In the last two days I have managed to cut myself twice. Once reaching down to pick up the two handed tool and ran a finger nail onto the tube cutter blade and today cutting a plastic pipe with my jack knife I managed to fold it's non locking blade onto my middle finger and cut to the meat. Bandaids on both hands and using a pair of pruning shears for all tube cutting. I don't know what to do about the two handed tool. The blade is looking at you at all times and very close to your fingers when you close the vise grips. Working in a foot of snow on steep slopes the unexpected can be expected.

Sounds like the VTer's way of doing things. I cut myself on the two handed tool last Saturday. I went to squeeze on a drop and misalligned the tube to the barb. Of course this was a tight one against the bark of the tree and my fingers were in there trying to reposition things when the blade became exposed 'cause I twisted the tool just enough to push the blade handle back. Fingers were froze so it didn't hurt...bled like a stuck pig though!

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Originally Posted by farmall h

Sounds like the VTer's way of doing things. I cut myself on the two handed tool last Saturday. I went to squeeze on a drop and misalligned the tube to the barb. Of course this was a tight one against the bark of the tree and my fingers were in there trying to reposition things when the blade became exposed 'cause I twisted the tool just enough to push the blade handle back. Fingers were froze so it didn't hurt...bled like a stuck pig though!

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It's not the hurt right then that bothers. A very sharp knife and I hardly felt it. It's the throbbing that night thats the bear. The two handed tool I have has the blade exposed at all times. I suppose thats the difference between the $135.00 tool and the $210.00 one.

I have the blade on my two handed tool wired back. Don't use that blade. Usually clamp both ends of the tube in the open position and use a pair of shears and cut the couple inches of tube out between the clamps.

Figure on an 8 tap lateral, I'm cutting about 15" of lateral out. Can't have those laterals too tight:)

i do the same as danno=for as cutting sections out of the tube when cutting drops in= open tool all the way put the jaws on the pipe cut one end with the cutter built on my tool with CUTTER GUARD then take the cutter i have in my pocket and cut the other side take that shove in my pocket and line up the drop and BAM on to the next one:D

My home-made tool has a scalpel blade for the cutter. That is sharp! I have a piece of 3/8 hose that I remove and re-install over the blade each time I cut with it..
Yes, it's not the initial injury that's bad but knocking off the scab and bleeding all over everything for 5 days.

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.

I did the same thing. Hated the blade too. Cut it all off with bolt sheers. Theron

I Like the cutter on my tubing tool, and use it all the time. I have even sharpened it also. As for cutting pipe with a knife ,that is an accident waiting to happen. I use PVC cutters, and a hack saw for the pipe that is too big for the cutters.

OUCH!! Man that does sound like it would hurt, but not at 1st, once your fingers warm up.

When I made my tubing tool I didn't even think twice about not put it on. I am accident pron. I just use a pair of hose cutters to cut the lat to put in fitting.

The cutter needs to be respected but we still use it. Without sharpening the blade we've probably put in 3000 droplines.

The blade did attack me once! My brother fell down in deep snow and I jokingly jumped on him like a WWE wrassler coming off the top rope - just as he lifted the 2-handed tool out of the snow. That cutter in the chin makes for a lot of red snow!

Ennis- you know better...leave those types of moves to the 'professionals'

Somebody tackled me in the snow they would get something alright. I hate cold wet snow.
Weekend is upon us and of course the temp goes down in the basement again. And warms up Monday again. Somebody hates me out there. Finally got my insulation for the arch today with out dealing with D&G.

Ken did you get the pans all done? Glad to hear you got the insulation. D&G seems awfull pricey to me but maybe it is the currency exchange thing. I did get out he big saw today and clear a pine that blew down on one of the tractor paths. Tractor drove right on top of this hardpack so I am thinking it is time to get across the narrow swamp and haul some logs out from that side before she thaws. Pretty much looking for things to do. There is no warm weather in sight. But we don't usually tap till last week in February. Heres hoping for a good year.

vts, I have the $210 one, actually it was $185 when I bought it 3 years ago. This one has a flat piece of steel that the blade rests against. Some protection...until you pull back on the handle by accident. I am almost healed. Hung more drops today and noticed all the blood stains on my tapping vest.:)

The pans seem to be water proof. Now have to insulated and then try it out. I am hopeing for something good. Who knows if it will work or not untill it's put to work.

LOOKS LIKE WINTER IS HITTING PENN. STATE TONIGHT. That is what the weather station is saying. Big snow of 2" per/hr.:o

And maybe a whole inch up in NH.
Just made a wicked score on 3 sections of used 10 inch stainless stack with a top cover. Spent the day at the Farm and Forest expo. Now I can barely talk and I'm all out of business cards. Made a few appointments but told people, if you want evenings or weekends its right now or in april cause I'm tapping on president's day.
So the weekend plan is to get the stack up, figure out a feed tank, arch board, brick and plumb the evap. And then? Hibernate for 2 weeks?

Yes we are getting snow!!

We are getting about 2" of that white stuff an hour looked out the back door and looks like we have around 5" since supper time. It will be interesting to see what we get by morning. I know it doesn't sound like much to you guys but for us here around Harrisburg, this here is a big deal.

I am hoping that the snow will help insulate the ground from the cold spell that we are to get this coming week. It is not to get above freezing for at least 7 days. Oh Yeah!!!

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Originally Posted by farmall h

vts, I have the $210 one, actually it was $185 when I bought it 3 years ago. This one has a flat piece of steel that the blade rests against. Some protection...until you pull back on the handle by accident. I am almost healed. Hung more drops today and noticed all the blood stains on my tapping vest.:)

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So we have identified a problem. Now if we can get the guys down in engineering to work on it maybe we can come up with a new improved model. I have one idea that might work out.
Of course there is no hope for a Vermont woodchuck that will try to cut a plastic pipe with a folding pocket knife when its seven degrees outside.

Hey Guys We in NW PA have about 8 inches on the ground at 7;00am at it's still snowing real steady. Looks like about 1plus inches per hour right now.
Glad we moved tanks and Gena into the woods LAst week end!

Jim

I'm getting a little worried. Not a day above freezing in the 10 day forecast. Could be nothing for a mid March warm spell and end it for us down here. I did buy 50 plastic tubing taps. Also got a few hundred feet of 5/16. Don't know what I'll do with it yet. May have to make up for a possible short season.

Dave Y, do you have any tapping dates set yet? Let me know. I probably should attend a forestry seminar in Fryburg on the 20th.

GaryR,
I hope to tap the tubing Presidents day weekend and the buckets the following weekend. I know there wont be any sap but would like to have them in. I am going out this AM to install electric at my tanks. I hope to get my vacuum set up this week. This looks like it will be an all March season. Which is OK with me as I am still trying to get things done.

vts, in my opinion these tools are crudely made considering the cost of them. Probably don't even have $25 worth of material in it.

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Originally Posted by farmall h

vts, in my opinion these tools are crudely made considering the cost of them. Probably don't even have $25 worth of material in it.

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Crudely made or not, they work great and are worth it to me. You guys need to spend $ 20 and get one of these tools, they are awesome. Something new Craftsman just came out with and they are awesome for cutting tubing, small branches and they change the blades themselves in about 2 seconds, you just drop the new one in place and it does the rest. Also, you carry 4 new blades inside a storage compartment in the handle.

Best $ 20 tool you will spend for syrup.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...e+razor+cutter

well im running on reserves now... had a big snow storm last night dropping 20 inches of snow on the ground. had 6 calls lastnight and just as i fell asleep a salt truck flipped over. so it was back to the station. havent done to much with maple. been at the fire station more than ive been in the sugar house. being a cadet is tiring especially when im the one carrieng the tools haha. well its not work if you enjoy it.

Just for the fun of telling you guys, my wife just got off the computer from her most enjoyible past time(face book) and says to me" maple people are on face book"( as if I did not know). So I reply to her "yeah, I know". so then she gets pissy and I tell here" Its the maple guys, right". With a disepiontment in her breath she says"yes" and that is when I tell her that there are more of us(maple people) than there are of her kind( nieve fools that think that I am the only one sufferring from this desease(maple bug). Totally blow her mind that we have now migrated to facebook now.:cool: :cool: . And I am just smiling from ear to ear.


Smitty76

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Originally Posted by maplekid

well im running on reserves now... had a big snow storm last night dropping 20 inches of snow on the ground. had 6 calls lastnight and just as i fell asleep a salt truck flipped over. so it was back to the station. havent done to much with maple. been at the fire station more than ive been in the sugar house. being a cadet is tiring especially when im the one carrieng the tools haha. well its not work if you enjoy it.

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This world would be a much better place if all the kids were like you!

Im on Face book So is maple crest, Dano, And Jim the aministator

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Originally Posted by WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER

This world would be a much better place if all the kids were like you!

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Yes there are only a few kids left that work for anything. I've seen way to many drug heads in middle school. Kids complain about the stupidest things. Most kids need to get paid to do any thing including take out the trash. It makes me sick sometimes what some kids get paid for doing nothing.
Back on maple. I split some more pine and wooed on my sugar shack today

Soon to be son-inlaw and I ran 700 feet of half inch mainline down the hollow on Daughter'sland. Minus 2 this AM but got up to fourteen and was getting a bit stuffy down in the hollow. Nice break to walk up to the saddle and catch that fresh breeze direct from the pole. We should get 80 to a 100 taps on that line but have to run it to a tub and fetch it with the JD tractor. Got to rig up two 55gal. blue barrels for fore and aft tanks on it. Now I have to run out what 5/16 tubing I have and see how much more I will need to get to 300. I'm glad that snow stayed south (sorry you southern guys). It was easy walking on the well frozen base 9" with just four inches of loose on top of it.

As I was running mainline in my new toasty carharts today with temps struggling to make low teens, I remembered that I wanted to let you guys know that Tractor Supply has all their winter carharts (tops, bottoms, combined) at 30% off. Good prices.

My wife was sick of seeing me in my 10 yr. old Artic Carhart - man did that thing wear well. Picked up new tops and bottoms for under a $100.

Geez Danno wish you would of posted that earlier..... I got back from taking my daughter to her competition horse rifding lesson and drove right by one. Was looking at them in the Ace store a few days ago and they wanted 150 just for the bibs. Good to know. Wole up this morning feeling about 20%. Sinuses hurt, head hurts and my eyes are on fire. If I am feeling better tomarow I will make a drive back their.

thanks guys for the kind words. just maybe starting a tradition. hopefully when i have kids they love maple and the sound of the tones as much as i do. ive noticed on here that alot of the sugarmakers are fireighters haha. can never be to safe

Yeah, we had a couple of calls last night too. All low budget, but I'm not complaining. Spent tidy shoveling out here and got called to work to shovel and plow some more. Tommrow I think I'll be on the trail snowmobiling this may be it for the year. Maple season is in the air, I keep looking out at the bush and seeing my ribbon in the trees, thinking Am I ready? I guess I'm as ready as I can be just need to get a little more storage and we are good to go!!

Western PA guy's. We get a free classified paper called the "Area Shopper" in it Friday was an add for buckets, spiles, tubing, gathering tanks and evaporator. I called Sat. morning just to see. An older woman answered the phone and said it was all sold. I asked about the evaporator. She didn't know what size it was. She said it was new and in 3 seperate boxes. Anybody know what I missed?