Spouts

[Shawn]

Same question that others have asked but here goes again. In talking to a buddy of mine he hangs some buckets along with his pipeline he has up as we do also. When we put the spout in for the buckets we always put them in a slight downward in the tree, but in reading post on this site some say no straight in no slight downward angle. Makes sense to me as some of the post have said you will get leaks around the spout in which I have seen and or a split. We do not use the plastic spouts as with our pipeline and those we put straight in. So the question is spouts for buckets straight in or slight downward angle.

[Maple Ridge]

I have been to different seminars and get different answers. A slight angle seems to be the preferred answer. True that too much angle will cause a leak around the tap. Pressure in the tree will push sap so a slight angle would be my answer. At least that is what I do.

[spud]

I was always told straight in is the way to go when tapping. Dr. Tim would have the answer for this.

Spud

[maple flats]

I tap with a slight angle downward on the spout. If you leave a pool of sap to freeze in the tap hole it can push the tap out enough to cause a leak.

[BreezyHill]

The method I use is a slight angle of 1-2%. I only use a supper sharp tapping bit and only use it for not over two seasons.

The angle will reduce the amount of sap in the hole that will loosen a spout during the freeze/ thaw cycles during the season.

The sharp bit will reduce the chance of an oblong hole; that was the main reason that the old bit brace system used the straight in approach.

An old bit runs the risk of contaminates, like rust, and bacteria. I clean the bit in a 20% Clorox solution in preseason and rinse in hot water and allow to dry before tapping. Hot water heats up the bit so it will evap off any moisture. End of season the bit is also cleaned and stored in a vacuum sealed zip lock. The new bags could change me to maybe a third season as long as the bit is still supper sharp.

For about ten seasons we used a power point that went on the Stihl chainsaws. This had a leveling bubble that was set at 2% slope for tapping.

The most important thing is a good tight fit and maintaining this fit all season long.

I always cringe when I see a person using a metal hammer to drive in spots. The sound of a seated tap is not as noticeable on a metal hammer as on a wood or plastic mallet and the metal hammer can easily send the spout to deep and split the tree leaving a season long leak which is detrimental on vacuumed tubing more so than on buckets.

Good Luck!

Ben