That’s a car in decent looking condition.
Mine is significantly newer and looks much worse because of road salt.
And I notice there is not much dirt around.
Maybe you have less sand and road salt in use out there.
Lucky you if that’s the case.
For some reason many people who live in the north lands think roads should be dry and clean all year long.
This is madness.
Buy some studded snow tyres and skip work for a snow day if its really bad ( dying to get to work is crazy too ).
Its unreasonable to expect the roads can or even should be clean and dry.
Our lakes and rivers also suffer the effects of our road salt spawning grounds do not need more silt from sanding
It’s been too cold for the sap to flow the last few days. The forecast shows we may have another week or two to collect sap. So I found a scrapyard for restaurant supplies. In their mountain of stainless I found some goodies to increase my sap evaporation.
I was able to get my 5k Coleman generator to weld some thin metal for a half hour straight.
I am going to have to spend time welding brackets in the shipping containers to gain some room to work inside because we have snow in the forecast for this coming week.
Actually yes, about 20 minutes away from the farm implement scrapyard. I paid $1/pound for this stainless. That is right at scrap price. This is good to know if I ever want to build some gasifier parts if I have a slip roller. They had all kinds of stainless tables and dishwasher stations up in the pile. The pile was about 10’ tall and 40’ long.
I was glad I found this place, I just wish it was closer to me.
Burning the paint off the evaporator. I found the limit to the 5k generator, it’s about 1/8". It just feels good to be cutting and welding again. One interesting thing I learned is that if the generator isn’t within a certain Hz, the welder won’t work. This makes me feel a lot better. I discovered this because the welder turned on when I shut the generator off. I plugged the ‘Kill-a-watt’ in a 120 outlet and leave it there. I adjust the gas screw until I hit the target Hz range.
Carl, I know none of this is wood gas related to most people here but to me, it is. It’s all a part of the bigger picture. Wood gas is my goal. I just have to take a detour to get there. There is so much experience here in all areas I’m going through. It’s people like you that gives me inspiration to go on with excitement. I used to see a 55 gallon drum as trash, now it’s like gold. It’s so versatile and still trash in other people’s eyes.
Atkinson maple supplies in Barrie make a unit just like that one but with 3 pans built into a cut in half oil tank… I think they wanted 900 for it a few years ago… 25 or 900 I know which one I would pick. Congrats…
Bill, Looks like a great design. What I would add are grab handles on the ends of the SS pans, allowing a two-man lift to change or rotate pans while hot. Might have to add braces to top of pans to prevent bending of sides.
Wonderful! Got Pancakes?
Thanks Steve. I am getting a better understanding of finding efficiencies from the wood with different applications. Before DOW, I never thought about it. Now that I cut it and split it and use it for most everything, it becomes really worth the time figuring it out.
Thanks Bryan. The best syrup I ever had. Now I will have something to look forward to next spring. What a great way to use up time while waiting for the snow to melt in the spring.
Thanks Mike. I surprised myself on how it all fit and came together. I too was thinking of handles but pouring one into the other wasn’t bad at all with leather gloves by myself. I opted for French toast rather than pancakes but maybe next time. I will take some of the darker syrup and make some Maple Sugar.
Here’s my thread trial runs. Left to right= 1st to 3rd. The second run I didn’t scrape the burnt sugar of the sides so the result was a dark syrup. Lesson learned.
Good to hear from you this morning Bill. I made a fire log like you told me about. It was slow to start, I’m sure due to me stuffing to much wood in to fast for the air it could take in. Once I just left it be it took off and burnt clean. I cooked some bacon eggs and potatoes first then a boiled dinner. By that time it was getting burnt pretty thin and to windy to let it go, so I carried it to the garden and hosed it down. I added a little chicken coop soup, some rotten wood,and some garden soil. Then I planted a strawberry plant in it.
It appears I explained myself well over the phone, kind of rare for me sometimes.
So what did you think? How long did it burn? Was that Maple? I’d be curious of the difference on burn time with a few different species of wood.
Today will be a good day.
The day will start with clear skies= free electricity. It will be 40°F = Only one flannel shirt. I have a lot of sap= syrup and I found a guy that needs to get rid of some 55 gallon steel drums = projects. The drums all had Palm or coconut oil in them so I don’t have to worry about possible contaminates. He said he would trade 20 of them for a pint of syrup. I love this life! In the cities these drums would cost $20 each. Now I get to have a barrel boneyard. I would never have thought I’d be excited about that 5 years ago.
Yep, I know that feeling of joy when landing a good piece of “Junk” . Often I don’t know exactly what it will be used for, but the potential is obvious. being able to build stuff from used, traded, scrounged materials is a big hunk of freedom in itself.
Even the wife was excited when I told her I want to dedicate at least 6 of them to composting barrels. We have poor growing ground here and will use compost with raised garden beds for the first few years. We had great success with it the last couple of years in the cities.
Yes Bill you explained it as well as could be, The amazing part is I followed directions. It was the cherry log that sat on the shop floor all winter , so the driest I had on hand by far. It was a bit restricted and slow to start . I would say it burned very well for cooking about 2 hours. It was still burning well but was pretty windy and I was done watching it so I extinguished it in the garden and made it home to a strawberry plant. I will have to dig some more rounds off the back of the wood pile and get them in some sun. Lots of wood here but not much real dry. I will be taking down some standing dead pines soon. They are drier than a popcorn fart and should make for fast cooking fires. I also want to try a couple multi burners from very large stumps. It is all fun. Nice score on the drums I haven’t been able to find any within 100 miles. I could at one time get plastic ones right here in town at Jack Links. They get seasonings and liquid smoke flavoring in them.
Sure Bill, I only have two here now and my connection don’t work there anymore but I will talk to others who do. I 've been looking for the clamp on lids of course but will try and grab some plastic ones any ways. they make nice planters as do tires.They warm sooner in the spring
