Hello all. I'm new to the forum and this is my 1st post. Really green to the logging industry. Found some great info on this site and decided to join. There's many years of experience and knowledge here to be had. Thank you all for sharing what you've all learned over the years. A little bout me. From the time I was 14 til I was 24 I worked at a local dairy and vegetable farm where we also ran 9000 taps in the spring to make maple syrup. In the winter we made around 100 cord of firewood for sugar camp and for heating the house and shop. I went to work in town at the foundry but still worked part time at the farm and also worked part time in another farm. Was always involved in making firewood and lots of it. I make about 20 cords of firewood for myself each year. I still work a full time 40 hour a week job in town. This fall a buddy of mine and myself took on a logging job of 250 cord of scotch pine aspen and white ash. I bought an iron mule 5510 forwarder to do the skidding. We do all ctl in the woods by hand cutting with saws. Since the time change we only cut weekends now and take turns during the week after our full time jobs skidding at night. Anyways that's me and just wanted to say hi and thank all for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
Welcome to The Forum. I do think when starting out Logging,a forwarder is a good first machine. I'm wondering what kind of chain saw's you run?
Cub,welcome to the forum.
Sounds like you could teach some of us a thing or two!
Beware the carpal tunnel and worn out joints and stuff that come with repetative manual labor like firewood. If its hurtin ya a little now, its gonna be a lot worse later. Anything you can do to mechanize parts of the process will save you pain and cortizone shots down the road.
Welcome to the forum. Amazing resource and a lot of real cool people... with similar interests.
Yeah, you sound like quite the industrious beaver.
Of all the facts you said..... 9000 taps! Holy smokes.
Welcome to the forum. You are a busy man! If you have time post some pictures of your equipment and operation. Everyone enjoys pictures.
gg
Welcome Cub. I think you are from my area in the Door County area.
DaveP
Welcome from another not too far from you
Welcome Cub. Sounds to me like you fit right in.
You are correct, this is a great group of people, willing to share their expertise.
I run stihl saws. Ms440 046 026 ms260. Actuall marinette county. When I was on the farm we had a jd 440a cable machine. Good machine but snow was your best friend to keep from having to constantly sharpen saws. We cut a lot of big hard maple and beech and white ash. With a forwarder you can cut year round. And yes 9000 taps. Thanks all for the welcome. And yes I like to keep busy.
Correction ms 440 036 026 ms 260
I grew up in Marinette co town of grover
Currently live in "downtown" porterfield . Grew up in peshtigo.
I hope to go at it full time 1 day. But now just starting off. Also plan to get a small processor after a while to save on the aches n pains n carpel tunnel that all eventually catch up to hand cutting with saws. But for now I'm perfectly happy doing it this way.
welcome to the FF a full time job and log on the side that's the way to go 8)
Welcome. 👍 alot of good information to be had here.
Welcome Cub and good introduction post. It's good to see young motivated guys on here.
Welcome to the FF. What's taps?
Teakwood, taps in maple trees to make maple syrup. While I am no expert, I believe 9000 tapped trees would be a pretty darn big operation. We tap 15 trees for our own personal fun where we live.
Welcome cub
You sure as heck aint lazy!
Welcome Cub!
I'm tired from just reading and thinking about all you are into!
All this before your time. My father used to buy his ramblers in porterfield. I went to high school in Peshtigo also. Worked for a year at the sawmill there and ended up running the saw for 6 months. Circle saw back then with 110 hp electric motor.
Welcome Cub. Good to see a neighbor :) I would be lost without the FF. Sure have learned alot the last couple years. Good bunch of woodsmen
Not quite 9000 trees. Just 9000 taps. We had many big trees that got 3-5 taps a piece. Some had 7. Lots of big old maple. All gathered by hand in 5 gallon buckets and walked to the wagon pulled by a couple John Deere tractors. Yes the building where the ramblers were sold is still standing. And we still have our own post office. Thank you all for the warm welcome. I look forward to learning more from all you that have way more experience and knowledge than me!! I'm out in Connecticut right now for work. But I will try to get some pictures of the old iron mule and what we are cutting when I get back home. MO
Welcome to the forum Cub!
I'm about an hour north of you in the U.P. Sounds like we are doing something similar, run a forwarder after work and weekends. Would love to do it full time, but not in the cards right now.
Good luck to ya!
Nick
Wow.. Thats a big operation for buckets. Is plumbing in a gravity collection system not feasible?
They just never wanted to make the investment. And once the plumbing is in you can't do much logging. Although I haven't helped in years they have decided to start slowly going to plumbing and a vacuum system simply because they can't find help to tap and gather anymore.
Yeah , a lot of the bigger producers up my way are milking the trees with vacuum pumps. ;D A big tote here and a big tote there, pull up with your even bigger tank and transfer. Seems to work pretty slick but I have no idea of what kinda investment it takes. But then when I was told by one guy who put in a new evaporator for 22K I thought there must be money in it to be made. Maybe you just have to go big. :D
Food grade totes are $75-150 usd used. Chinese vacuum pumps start at $100. Good hvac grade units probably go up to $1000 or so. Tubing probably isnt that bad by the pallet.
Id bet a vac setup is cheaper than wages and workmans comp for manual collection in the first year.
A high vacuum pump capable of 25"hg on a tight tubing system will double your sap output. A complete unit ready to hook up, sized for 1,500-2,500 taps costs in the neighborhood of $4,000.00
Average production with buckets is around 2/10 of a gallon of finished syrup per tap per season. Average per tap with high vacuum is 4/10 of a gallon.
All maple equipment must be certified NSF.
Quote from: mike_belben on January 19, 2018, 08:24:43 AM
Food grade totes are $75-150 usd used. Chinese vacuum pumps start at $100. Good hvac grade units probably go up to $1000 or so. Tubing probably isnt that bad by the pallet.
Id bet a vac setup is cheaper than wages and workmans comp for manual collection in the first year.
We have two $25,000 Busch screw vacuum pumps. A typical vacuum tubing installation will run $12-18 per tap. That's just the tubing system, less tanks (SS sap tanks upwards of $2-3 per gallon) releaser, vac pumps, transfer pumps, on and on and on. It is not a cheap game and you have to do it right. It's a food product you are selling.
We are installing a 200,000 tap operation, we built a 75x150 sugarhouse on site. Sap is piped upwards of 4 miles before it hits a tank. Tubing is $45 per 500' roll, we did 2000 rolls this year, that many again the next 3.
That many buckets is just too much work. Like Corley said, you want a 2/10 of a gallon per tap (maybe a good year on buckets) or 1/2 gallon per tap (good year on vac/tubing)
My new Leader set up with evaporator (pans, hoods, arch, stacks), vacuum pump (3hp 1,500-2,500 taps ;) ;D), reverse osmosis machine, tubing, fittings, tools and accessories for 2,000 taps, filter press and other necessary stuff, along with renovation to an existing farm building to house it all is about equal in value to a new extended cab 4X4 diesel pickup.
M wife and I are looking at buying our first house (150-180k) and my boss said the RO machine that just arrived costs what your house does :o
Yikes. Canada better keep those prices stable.
Finally figured out the picture thing. So as requested here's a picture of the old iron mule for you guys. Not fancy or pretty but works good and does the job(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/48256/IMG_0635.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1521001218)
them things always crack me up when looking at them they all look like there going to brake in half the way the front goes down hill like the center pins are long gone remember most things with fancy paint makes a fancy payment :D
Those center pins are bad I'd say. They shouldn't sit like that 😋
Thanks for the picture.
I always like to see pictures of it working too. :)
Welcome cub , love to hear about a young guy not afraid to work . Its getting to be a rare,thing these days. This is a great forum and you will learn a lot from these guys
Yeah horizontal pin needs replacing. Vertical pin is good yet. But I have to work it a little bit to make some extra money to get it replaced. All in time.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/48256/003050D5-99AB-437D-AC82-ECD28F450A96.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1520909697) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/48256/IMG_0660.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1521082011)
If you can catch it before it wears into the pin. The bearings aren't that much money. What's the other mule?
I know the parts aren't very expensive. It's the labor to have someone do the job. I don't feel confident enough to do it.
The other mule is my buddies 4510.