Dan O,
Can't keep a good man down,,,,or away from maple:D
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Dan O,
Can't keep a good man down,,,,or away from maple:D
been workin in the woods pretty steady getting ready for the 2011 season. added a good 75 taps today shootin for a other 75 tomorrow added 350 new taps so far. looks like ill add about 400 new taps and 250 got new drops. hopin for a good season
hope everyone is doing well and getting the woods work DONE!
Not maple related, but we butchered 2 pigs yesterday using our (food safe)
wooden butcher tables and cast iron kettles. just like the days gone past
Yesterday I just plowed out the sugarhouse AGAIN and started cleaning out the sugarhouse for the season. I had 2 rototillers stored in there, but now I put them in my shooting house deer blind until they are needed again. I also kept looking at my solar charge controller. Even on a totally overcast day it fully charged the battery bank. I can't wait to see how well it will run the sugarhouse this year. (new system, larger and far more efficient)
Dano did you take up Dr. Tim Perkins offer and lending a hand? Curious cause that would be a great opportunity for anyone. Spent the day yesterday plowing after all the new snow. Got to get to the woods yet though but seeing the thermometer is reading 2 degrees I think Im staying inside today. Tuesday temps are back up in the 20's. Almost go time just a few more weeks.
I'm going out in a few minutes, the temp is way up to 5 above!!!
We had our annual maple meeting yesterday. The turn out was excellent. Quite a few new backyarder's showed up. Hoping everyone has a great year.
A couple of guy's on here seem to be excited about this cold weather. Their expecting a great season. They must have already forgot about last year. Cold until the last week of February. One week of decent weather and then 60's and sunny for most of March. The guy's up north were making syrup before we were:o Only time will tell what mother nature will bring us. Hopefully by adding vacuum things won't be as bad whatever the weather.
Thanks to backyardsugarer, I've got a salamander running in the new syrup kitchen today. Putting in outlets, switches, and OSB walls.
Picked up an old Garland six-burner stove with 2' griddle over the past summer for finishing and an occasional pancake breakfast, for me and crew, during the season!
Stay warm.
Gary,
Folks that were at our NWPA maple meeting seen me try to do a demo on making maple candy with our candy machine. I did good getting the light syrup cooked to 240 in the pig. Started cooling it, got to 200 degrees and hit the switch on the screw. Grunt, groan and very little movement. Had seven syrup makers attack the machine pulling, pushing, probing, prodding, twisting, nothing! Just seemed that the bearings were locked up in the motor.
So I brought the candy machine home and took the gear end off the motor. All the gearing was in good working order and had plenty of grease. This motor had a small magnet type attachment on the end opposite the drive shaft. This seems to be some type of a motor brake. Maybe to stop the motor as soon as the power is shut off? I took this end off the motor pulled out the entire armature and found the bearings to be in like new shape and all free.
Went back and looked at this magnetic motor brake. It had a fiber disc that the motor shaft had to engage and turn. The thing was not working so the brake was on all the time. I took this apart took out the fiber disc, tested the motor and it worked fine. The gear motor will function fine without this brake, so we are back in the candy business.
Morel: Try the equipment before the demo! Also a reminder things tend to go wrong when trying to show a group.
Regards,
Chris
been distracted from maple trying to get my machine back running.
But got back in the maple groove today and headed over to Maine to get my new syrup pan and 16 x 28 finisher that Bill Mason has been building.
Bill did an amazing job putting some custom touches on the finisher. Some we talked about, some he did of his own creation. Nice to have someone doing the fabricating who has sugaring experience as he can invision what improvements might mean...
He put a v-groove in the bottom of the pan and a bottom drain so it should all drain to the outlet. Then he put what I'm going to call a "kick-stand" for the pan so you can prop up one end of the pan with ease. Should make sure everything makes it out of the finisher...
final touch is the jug rack- he made it a tray and put some stainless mesh over the top so that if you drip out of the valve it drops in to the tray, not on the mesh or the shelf. All that I was hoping for, and more...
Bill also did an excellent job making a copy of the 2.5 x 2.5 syrup pan. All I need now is sap...
Cannot speak highly enough about the service and quality of Bill's work. Was done when he said it would be done, and for what he said it would cost- a heck of a lot cheaper than any evaporator company in Vermont...
stay warm everyone...